It’s so dark!

[35pEnergyDrink]

I don’t usually get SAD; I’m quite careful about getting out in daylight, being outside when the sun is out, taking vitamin d etc. It feels so dark at the moment though - hardly getting properly light even in the middle of the day - and there’s still six weeks until the winter solstice!

Is it an age thing (I’m 52, post-menopausal, no hrt)? It’s not even really that cold but I feel like curling up inside and not doing anything. I can’t take three months of this. Any advice please?

I agree. Apparently there has only been 18 minutes of sunshine in the last two weeks.
I don't care how cold it is but I do struggle if there is no sun. I have a SAD light which I got out yesterday after feeling miserably gloomy. It's no substitute for sun though.

This year I think has been cloudier than normal over the past few weeks so it will feel hard - "under the weather"

No advice other than to take opportunities as they arise - early lunch break if the sun pops out ; take an extra minute or two to pause and look at the sunset if it appears ( we have it just now )

Thank you both - yes I haven’t seen the sun for ages, despite being in the SE. For a couple of days I was actually worried about my eyesight as everything looked really dim outside; since then I’ve noticed my outside lights coming on at lunchtime rather than late afternoon, so it obviously is just dark

Just saying this to a friend today, it's basically dull until 4pm then dark, mornings are dark much later too. One of my kids said the other night that he hasn't seen daylight for ages, he leaves when it's dark, comes home when it's dark, their building is a hospital lab so no windows, the staff room has no windows, they have to leave the hospital which takes most of the lunch break so can't do that, I can see it really affecting him. I personally find the darkness draining, I feel tired all the time, don't want to do anything and I just feel so depressed and angry. When my alarm goes off it's dark out and I can't get out of bed, when the sun use to rise early and it was getting bright from 4am it was fantastic, I felt so alive.

Anticyclonic gloom. It's grim and the house is so cold without any sunshine. We got a bit on Wednesday and it felt so much better, even though it was still damp.

Yes it's like we've been under a moist grey blanket for the last couple of weeks. Today we looked at the forecast and glory be there was some sunshine half an hour to the north of us so we've been up there for a walk. DH is retired and I'm half time, one of the best things about not working ft is being able to make use of what light and dry weather there is.

Monday is forecast as clear sun.

I didn’t know there was a name for it @PickAChew in a way it’s a relief that it’s an actual phenomenon

I agree @ErrolTheDragon I’m usually good about dropping everything to get out in the clear skies; there just haven’t been any recently (but I’ll look closely at next week’s forecast as I am fairly flexible too)

Also referred to as Dunkelflaute - poor weather for generating wind or solar power.

Gosh yes, the energy dashboard only has about 10%wind today.

i find the darkness hard too. It’s the number of weeks and months we have to deal with it too. Winter feels so long. A SAD light helps a bit and just getting out as much as you can even if it’s cloudy. I’ve even taken to driving with the window slightly down so I can’t maximise the light into my eyes! And opening windows for a couple of minutes in my house and just looking out!

It feels really cold to me today, it's 9 degrees outside in London so I've had to put the heating on !

It’s miserable. This anticyclonic gloom is supposed to shift next week. It’s because we haven’t had enough wind to blow away the clouds.

I really miss the sunshine.

I've been getting out for a 30min run every day to try and get some sense of daylight. There has been colour in the trees but most have come off through this week. The lamp's been on all day for weeks, and it doesn't feel like daylight except between 11-2 when it starts going darker again.

I haven't seen any brightness in the sky since half term started 3 weeks ago. It's so demotivating.

We had a fair bit of sunshine certainly towards the end of October and now it feels like we have been plunged into dreary grey weather. I'm feeling the contrast.

It seems to have coincided with the clock change which hasn’t helped. Bit of double whammy.

I think we had your sunshine. Scotland here. It’s been weirdly warm and sunny. Worryingly so. My roses are still in bloom.

We often get fog as very high up and rural. Fog in the countryside can be very beautiful. So try and get into the countryside, find the beautiful. Lean into the season, slow down if you can and relax in the evenings. It works for me if I embrace each season. Sounds twee but I light the fire and have low lighting and listen to soft music. Eat hearty food.
Yes to a SAD lamp too.