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’m one of those people if I get cold I struggle to warm up, particularly my legs/feet. I can stay freezing cold for hours and hours.
It’s sunny in the north east now the fog has gone. As long as it’s light I’m fine, I can’t stand having lights on during the day, I find it tiring. It’s the only reason I like snow as it brightens everything up.

We have had one near frost so far in SE England, and due to the rain, it has been warmer than usual. But every year I expect it to be cold in October, but it usually only starts getting cold in November. There are still frosts sometimes in March/April. So for me Winter now only starts around xmas time. Which I think is there as a midwinter celebration to try and get you through the worst bit. I propose shifting xmas into the last week of January or the first week of Feb. It's all very easy to romanticise Winter, until it actually gets cold. Pretty much everything goes by the wayside in our house when the temperature dips. Can't sit in front of the desk, use a computer etc. Can just about snuggle under a duvet and watch the TV. It's actually preferable to be outside most of the time as it feels somewhat warmer!

Spring is my favourite season, full of colour and growth…promise and mild weather.

winter, i have mixed emotions about. I dislike traffic, wet and dreary weather, the cold, higher heating bills, kids being indoors more and thus driving me insane, and most of all…winter bugs. On the flip side, our family relishes the festivals; we have navratri, Diwali, Christmas to enjoy. We love the family time, the decorations, the shows and food.

I love autumn and winter, you can sleep without sweating buckets, you have fresh, crisp air, not dealing with flying or crawling insects, not forced to endure hour after hour of neighbour noise from people who force their music, smoke, screaming upon you, you have peace, calmness and crisp air, walking with the dogs and kids is a joy, food and clothes are warming and comfortable, the winter festivals bring so much fun, the excitement of snowfall, frosty crisp mornings, I could go on! I’m a cheerful person who enjoys each change of season but winter is by far my absolute favourite

not dealing with flying or crawling insects, not forced to endure hour after hour of neighbour noise from people who force their music, smoke, screaming upon you

But those are your particular circumstamnces. We don't have loud neighbours who barbecue incessantly or smoke. It isn't the same for evryone.

I love the dark cold.
I can sleep better.
It is much easier to warm up than cool down and with the ridiculous summer temperatures I cannot wait for the drop come winter.
Christmas is in winter as is my birthday.
My bodily makeup is about 97% tea, which is so much more enjoyable on cold, chilly days.
Slow cooker meals feel that much better.
Big roasts.
No temperature ruined dog walks, dog walks every day, happier dogs, happier me.
I do a physical job, much easier in winter.
Baths. With a book. Yes please.
Cuddle puddles on the sofa with the kids and dogs without sweating to high heaven.
No massive application of suncream every single day on each and every child.
Wellies > flip flops and legal to drive in!
No hayfever.
My ginger husband is not a lobster.

I could go on. But I think you get the gist.

I too am an autumn/winter gal. Here are my reasons:

• sunrises/sunsets are just more spectacular
• crisp, clear, frosty mornings - yum
• I run a lot and find it much easier in the cold
• cosying up with candles and blankets and twinkly lights in the evenings, preferably with a malty drink in hand
• jumpers jumpers jumpers!
• leaves changing colour, so pretty
• ROAST DINNERS!
• Halloween, bonfire night, Christmas

The dark doesn’t bother me at all. I lived in Scandinavia for a while and mostly they just get on with everything even when there’s full snow and it’s minus 20 outside. It was inspiring! Our winters aren’t as crisp here but there is still a lot of beauty in them.

I think the main thing if you struggle is to try and get out in the daylight every day if you can, and maintain some level of activity

Halloween, bonfire night, Christmas

I could happily miss all three.

I take my kids trick or treating and they enjoy that....I enjoy it because they do but I'm not especially bothered either way.

I hate bonfire night. I don't want to go out in the cold and dark and traffic in London is always horrendous on bonfire night...so if you go to a display it has to be in walking distance. I would go so my kids can see the fireworks but I couldn't give a dam about watching them.

As for Christmas I utterly detest it. Too much work. Too much expense. Reminds me off relatives I've lost. Absolutely hate it.

I don’t understand the love for Halloween. Plus it’s one day. Doesn’t take the edge off 6+ months of crap weather! Ditto bonfire night.

yep @Delatron what’s a middle aged woman whose kids have left home, who lives in a flat so no passers by or trick or treaters to make of Halloween?

In short nothing. Couldn’t give two hoots about it. Send my dd’s some sweeties in the post, that’s it 🤷‍♀️

Love Halloween! Just love autumn/winter in general. I don't hate any of the seasons or let any of them get me down. There is always something positive to be found in each one. I'm glad we have changing seasons I couldn't live in a tropical country where it's just heat or rain.

I don't feel anything about Halloween as it doesn't affect us. DD is 23 and living independently. We live tucked away and very rarely get trick or treaters. I always buy in some sweets to eat just in case we get some though.

I enjoy a good firework display, but wonder why they have to be so loud these days. It is perfectly possible to get pretty fireworks that are much less noisy. I feel for all the animals round about bonfire night.

Christmas is overhyped. Again as DD is not a small child there is no build up to Christmas and we do very little other than open presents and have a nice dinner with wine (just the three of us)

Yeah when you have a dog fireworks night really isn’t the highlight of your year.

The things I like about summer and warm weather are ongoing. Not one day like Halloween and bonfire night.

I saw that some places are selling noiseless fireworks, which I think is great for the pets.

I'm another one who loves all the seasons. I do really love hot weather apart from when I was heavily pregnant in a heatwave.

.

Specifically, why I like Halloween/bonfire night/Christmas:

Halloween - we theme our film choices, make a playlist, have some friends over for a few drinks and carve a pumpkin or two. It’s cosy! Or we go to a fancy dress party if someone is holding one, they are usually good for a laugh

Bonfire night - we walk to our local display with some sparklers and basically watch them set a load of stuff on fire; I find fire really interesting to watch (promise I’m not an arsonist…!) and it isn’t every day you see giant fires (thankfully, obvs)

Christmas - I get why people hate it and there are certain aspects (usually around the commercial side) which suck. And it sucks if it makes you feel sad or miss someone dear to you. I decided a while ago that our Christmas could be whatever we wanted it to be, so we now have the most low-key, chilled time imaginable. Wine, nice snacks, blankets and not seeing other people for a few days is our routine and it has genuinely turned it from a stress filled nightmare into one of my favourite times of year. We actually have very strong traditions around Christmas but they are the ones we have chosen to keep going that we actually enjoy and are meaningful to me and DP, not ones that we perform because we think we ‘should’ be doing that.

Also - my father died 22 years ago and a lot our Christmas traditions are things related somehow to him. I do always miss him at Christmas, every year, but the things we do at Christmas feel like a way to honour him and keep his memory close.

I’m not a great fan of getting up in the dark, but I love dark evenings and Christmas. Yes, I suppose I’m a happy person and I have got very strong mental health.

Mild summer evenings are lovely, but I cannot stand high heat, midges, sweating from the heat, muggy nights eg .

I have an anxiety disorder and love winter and short days. It feels cosier, safer and there are fewer people about outside. Plus I don't feel the pressure to get out and do something if I don't feel like it. Whereas I do in the summer.

You can give all the reasons why you like Halloween but it doesn’t change the fact it’s one night in a very long season.
Same for bonfire night- it’s one night in November. Doesn’t help in Jan/Feb does it? Or even mid November onwards. It’s done.

It’s like me saying I love summer due to one event on one evening.

Wow, OK! I like those events in particular - but I like autumn/winter mainly for the other reasons I gave. Hot weather makes me feel ill and the summers we have been having recently have been difficult to cope with.

This summer was rubbish! Very rainy in July and August.

Winter is healthy if you don't put the heating on too high and you do winter sport. Also this sounds cheesy but it's true - on certain cold days there's a blue sky that is much more beautiful than ima warm day, crisp and almost violet.

Good thing I like rain then, isn’t it? :-) (if you can believe it!)

The heatwaves here over the last few years have not been fun, even for people I know who are die hard sun worshippers. I have also lived in a Mediterranean climate for a short while and coped better with that than a recent UK summer. Their buildings etc are designed for heat; ours aren’t. They adopt a lifestyle which works in hot weather; we don’t.

No this country doesn’t do well in heatwaves. Last year was quite unusual. Often we’ll have crap/rainy/cool summers. 25 ish degrees would be perfect for me. Used to like warmer but I have a dog now who hates the heat.

We don’t consistently have hot summers over here. Which makes winter seem even longer. That’s the point. I’m not arguing that everyone loves 35+ degrees in this country. But a decent summer would be good and that’s really not too tricky for most people to cope with heat wise.

25 degress is my favourite temperature.

I keep beating the "it depends where you live" drum, but basically summers are more bearable where I live and winters less bearable - no urban heat island effect, higher altitude, higher rainfall and higher latitude than most of the winter lovers/summer haters.