Clocks going back, SAD and The Dark.

[OtraCosaMariposa]

I know there are several of us on here who struggle a lot with the darker evenings so thought I'd start a thread to see how everyone is getting on.

Clocks went back today and this is usually for me the start of the gradual slide into crapness until the Solstice when we turn the corner and start heading back into the light. November is hell. The first three weeks in December is more hell. But I'm determined this year will be better.

I have my light box. Today in my part of Scotland is bright and sunny so I'm off out for a walk in a bit to get some sun on my face. I've been taking high dose Vit D for a month already.

(Oh and if you're looking for a thread to witter on about hygge and cosy and snuggling on the sofa with hot choc and the famalam piss off. This thread isn't for you.)

The number of daylight hours doesn't change when we change the clocks in the autumn, but the number of hours of daylight after work/school etc us reduced. I read it that in UK it's done first of all for the farmers' benefit?
Most people come out of work into the darkness.
Some countries don't change and I find it a better approach...EU is debating not changing from 2020, I saw the headline pop up, not sure about the accuracy. I really miss this hour of light in the afternoon/evening.

Sorry it’s not going great flamingo, pineapple and wageslave.

I’d prefer it is they did stop messing about with the clocks. It always seems to throw my sleep patterns in both directions.

I often hear people moaning about how crap January is after the "fun" of Christmas but that's not how I see things at all. After the Solstice the light starts coming back and knowing we're over the worst of it lifts my mood hugely. January is a fresh start, new beginnings. On 1st Jan the sun in Glasgow rises at 8.47 and sets at 15.53. By the end of January that's up to rising at 8.13 and setting at 16.47. Almost 90 minutes more of daylight. Huge, huge difference.

This is so true. Once we're past the solstice, I feel such a lift in my mood.

(I also had my head bitten off by the heat-haters for daring to suggest that they were being a bit premature to start their thread on about the second day of it being over 20 degrees.)

I suffer from SAD as well and this is how I try and deal with it. Always go away to the Mediterranean for the October half term that gives me a little last boost of lovely sunshine. I have a lightbox in my office at work because I don't actually have a window in there so I have the light box on every day through the year. My walls are plastered with pictures of sunny places. I take 5 HTP and vitamin D and vitamin B12 spray. I feel the dark nights as a physical pressure in my head. Last year we also managed a sunshine break over the Christmas New Year period because the children didn't go back to school until the 7th of January so we had a week in Portugal which was just amazing I've never felt so happy.

DH and I are currently planning a short break to Spain between Christmas and the new year. I really don't like flying and previously wouldn't have flown for 3 nights away but right now the idea of a bit of sunshine is winning.

I find January better as well, it’s like the getting the worst bit behind you!

ShinynewApple we'd never been away at that time before but every morning we got up with the sun and spent the entire day outside and sat and watched the sun go down about 5:30 and just chilled out in the evening. It really was the happiest I've ever been at that time of year and it was so nice to get away from all the commercial crap that is this country around Christmas and New Year time.

Today has been a better day. Bright and sunny here and I got out for a walk this morning. The tingly feeling on your cheeks when it's really cold makes me happy. Then I came home and stood at the velux window in the attic with the sun beating in for about 10 minutes - the neighbours must think I'm unhinged.

And The Crown season 3 is out on sunday.

Just found this thread. Fellow SAD sufferer (and fellow Scot too - seems to be a few of us north of the border suffering). I've only just started joining the dots and realising that every October my mood dips and my sleep starts getting really messed up. Have a light box sand it does seem to help when I get the time to use it. Also already on a high dose vit d for my fibromyalgia so don't know what difference that makes.

It's funny as autumn is my favourite time of year - I'm a fair skinned red head and burn as soon as I look at the sun in summer and have terrible hay fever, so I love the dark nights coming in and being all cosy inside but my body just hates it.

I agree about January-there's something also symbolic about getting Christmas out of the way. In fact if Christmas was in mid-summer, I'd probably love it, but with SAD it feels like something to be endured.
Does anyone else have a manic stint in early March? For me it's nearly always around 3rd or 4th, and suddenly I'm back, which must be to do with the amount of day length and light

I get very energetic in April!

Trying to remember, there’s a poem about November saying it’s all gloomy

No light
No cheer etc

How is everyone doing? I think my SAD light is probably helping, I find it quite bright though.

I've had the same SAD light since I was about 18/19. I'm 34 now. I don't use it in the summer and as soon as the clocks go back and I feel completely and utterly in the gutter tired and depressed, I remember my light, get it out and after a week using it for around 40 minutes a day at my desk, I feel better.

Marking to read later. Also hate the darkness with a vengeance.

I'm going to go outside as much as I can this weekend 🙂. It'll probably piss with rain 😂.

Agree about Christmas. It brings me no joy whatsoever. It just means more to do, more organisation, more shopping, cooking, expectation to be fun and jolly. All the "oooh are you excited and organised for Christmas"?

Here too, is it dark when I get up and dark when I come home from work.
DH is away with work and caring for his DM , so I have nicked the "day light lamp" from his office. And switch it on in the afternoon. It really is a different type of light, hope it works.

How is everyone feeling? I'm feeling a bit better this week, it's not been as freezing cold but dearie me, the darkness. My older two finish school at 3.55 twice a week and by the time they've walked home it's pitch dark at 4.30. Just awful.

Lots of lightbox use going on here. Fewer than 30 days to the solstice and I know after that I'll feel so much more positive.

On another note, i'm hating the constant wittering on about cosy, Christmas, fairy lights, blankets and hot choc. I was at a fundraising event at school on thursday and it was full of people selling those twee little handmade signs about cosy and snuggling with the famalam and I could have strangled the lot of them.

Found this thread today and it’s got me out of bed where I was lying depressed. Sounds stupid but, in my depressed state, I’d forgotten that I suffer from SAD. I’m sitting at my table with my SAD light and reading this thread. I feel a bit more hopeful that I can start up my coping strategies. It helps too that I don’t feel so alone. No one seems to understand how I feel but I think of all of you with compasssion so I feel that I’m part of something bigger than my quiet, dark house. Thank you for this thread.

“ On another note, i'm hating the constant wittering on about cosy, Christmas, fairy lights, blankets and hot choc. I was at a fundraising event at school on thursday and it was full of people selling those twee little handmade signs about cosy and snuggling with the famalam and I could have strangled the lot of them.”

Don’t blame you.

I’m still low and sometimes it really shocks me how much less I can do and how much my memory is affected. I nearly posted earlier in the week when it was shit freezing, which really tired me out for some reason.

I’ve just had a big cry over absolutely nothing.

Have an unMNetty hug Autumn.

It’s totally shit isn’t it?

I too long for the shortest day as after then everything gets better - albeit slowly. But we are over the hump and spring is on the horizon once we get to January!

Thank you Rafa, I needed that, much appreciated.

It takes so much energy just to clean the flat and the supermarket was horrendous today as well.