To wonder if those who love winter have very robust mental health or very happy lives?

[Comedycook]

So I was thinking about this after reading a thread about weather. Lots of posters saying how they loved winter...some even said they love the dark evenings and what really surprised me was the poster who said they loved dark, cold mornings. I assumed everyone hated these!

Now I'm not in a terrible place mentally and I'm not depressed but I do find the dark, rainy, cold days do affect my mood. When the evenings are warm and light I feel so much happier.

I'm really interested in how others don't feel that the winter brings them down and actually enjoy it. Are they naturally happier, more positive type people?

I get very tired in poor light. I've told my partner just tonight, that I need to activate on an evening, otherwise, I'll sit down at 7.30 and waste the rest of the day. I need bright lights on, or the day is finished. I can still wake early and get up on dark mornings though.

I detest being overheated in summer. The arrival of autumn makes me feel refreshed and happy !

But in the summer there’s constant noise and laughter and smells from other people’s barbecues!

@WoollyBat And the feeling of being warm and cosy indoors with darkness, rain or wind outside is such an exciting, joyous feeling but I can't explain why really. I also like the contrast when you've been out in the cold and dark, and come indoors.

I love that feeling, one of my favourite things to when it’s raining and miserable outside is curl up in a chair in front of the window with some tea and a good book.

If you have plenty of time and plenty of money, every season is nice.

If you wake up shivering and have to get kids ready and drag yourself to work when it's still dark, and come home again to a dark, cold house, it's not so much fun.

I wonder if money comes into this. If you've got the snug warm cosy house and good waterproof clothing then perhaps winter can be lovely but if home is cold dark and damp and your shoes have thin soles then it's surely utterly miserable.

I love it. The closing ranks just the 4 of us at home, shutting the world out. Candles, games, wholesome food. Thick jumpers, fluffy socks, cups of tea, stews, red wine. Early nights with a book.

It is my time of year. Love it!

Exactly. And to add to that, some of us would take winter without the coping stuff over summer without the coping stuff any day.

You may well have a point

Same goes for summer though, ok if you have a garden to sit in, not so much if you live on the 10th floor of tower block and it gets really hot because of hot air rising.

I love Autumn and Winter, I think there's nothing better than a lovely chilly sunny morning, out for a walk where I'm not sweating, and the leaves are crunching under my feet.
I don't do well in heat, and my skin burns really easily, so I find the summer months stressful when having to cover myself and my daughter in sun cream and make sure I don't walk the dog at unless it's 6am or 11pm haha.
What I will say though, is that the darker mornings and evenings really affects where I would normally go for walks and things.

This is a fascinating question op. I feel very anxious and afraid at this time of year. I know people who love it though so very interesting to think about whether this means they have more robust mental health. I’m definitely a fragile person mentally.

I have depression and I prefer autumn winter and dark mornings and evening. I love heavy rain.

I have SAD and have GAD/OCD. I love winter. Autumn is my favourite. I love being inside and warm and watching things - it allows my solo self to really thrive - probably makes me more depressed

I hate insects. Love the hot weather. Hate the bugs everywhere.

It's my DTwins birthday at winter.

I love love love Christmas. Twinkly lights, great food, family stuff, cards, presents. Christmas parties!

I love the dark evenings. DTwins sleep better. I love the glow of the fire and sitting beside it watching a film.

I love the grass not needing a cut with a big garden that looks dishevelled after a week if you miss a cut the rest of the year.

I love bonfire night.

I love cooking a roast every weekend and not feeling too hot to eat it.

I love church at Christmas. The carols, the services. Fingers crossed DTwins will be well behaved enough to participate in the nativity.

I hate being cold, but winter cold isn't like damp autumn cold. It's a crisp, dry cold, with crunchy snow, it's far easier to keep warm when you can really wrap up. In autumn, you wrap up and get too hot, or don't and get chilly. When you know it's going to be minus two all day, the extra warm stuff goes on, and stays on.

Winter is my favourite by far.

The flipside to this is that money mitigates the nastiest effects of summer too. People with lots of cash can opt out of doing 9 hour shifts in polyester uniforms in kitchens when it's 30 degrees. They aren't likely to be lumbered with living in a tiny oven of a flat with small windows and no outside space.

Generally speaking, people with financial and other privileges are more likely to be able to opt out of what they find unpleasant, whatever it might be.

I like winter. I like all seasons - I like the variety and wouldn't want to live in any season forever. I don't particularly like wet, but as this summer demonstrated summer can be wet too.

I don't like being too hot and am naturally warm blooded so I don't mind the cold. I think that helps.

I don't think I'm more positive than an average person.

I can't stand Summer. Prickly heat, people showing flesh everywhere. SPF. Hate it

I hate hot weather. I love cosy autumn evenings, jigsaws, hot chocolate, hot baths. I am not emotionally resilient at all.

The existence of both SAD and higher suicide rates during heatwaves seems to me to suggest that lots of us are inclined to struggle with what we experience as harsh extremes of weather. Afaik there isn't an equivalent for either autumn or spring.

Nope I have manic depression and bad anxiety and summer makes me way worse.

I love the cold of autumn and winter as I can breathe properly when I'm anxious or having a panic attack. I just find life easier in winter. Weird I know.

This!
A big part of it depends on where you live. Living in a not-nice area, no trees etc, and no central heating or oven in our house, there was nothing to enjoy about the dark and cold
Now I'm living somewhere lovely with woods to walk in and a cosy house I'm trying my best to learn to love the colder months but it's not easy!

I like the winter. I like the summer.

I’ve a pretty stressful life and I just don’t have the luxury of not being optimistic. If I let myself get down over it being winter the whole load of burdens that I also carry would just crush me.

I don’t even mind rain. I mean not all the time but it’s raining atm and the sound is nice

I with the all seasons pp but there is one moment that really gets me every year and that’s the week or so leading up to the longest day

I feel like I want the hours to stay and it’s slipping, I get backed up but then after it’s ok as I actually like July / Aug then Sept

So it’s a blip but each year the same

I agree with this. I have very robust mental health, and am happy with my life, and I like the idea of winter, the reality not so much. There are aspects of it I like, and I imagine winter where I live is generally sunnier than in the UK, but the older I get the more I crave heat, and I love the long summer evenings.

I do however love autumn, it's my favourite time of year, but it is still warm here for most of the season.