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?

Winter makes me feel safe and rested. I am much better emotionally in the winter as sleep better, relax more, eat better, much prefer being cold than hot, also find winter more peaceful.

Summer is a season I dread, too hot, too bright for too long, days never end, can't sleep well, feel guilty if not doing summer fun things, flies, too much noise, I feel so tired all the time during summer.

Physically I prefer winter as I struggle with any warmth at all, I overheat incredibly quickly, rarely wear a coat or jacket etc. warmer months are unbearable for me.

mentally I prefer the rest of the year, I like the bright light and longer days.

i’d like to live somewhere with long, bright, cold days.

I think winter suits homebodies who like an excuse not to go out. The idea of PJs at 8.30pm and hot chocolate fills me with horror - but I don't like getting cold and wet either. It's harder to motivate yourself even to do things you want to do when you know you'll be damp when you get there. Roll on March.

Autumn is my favourite season followed by winter.

I prefer them because:

• I dislike being hot and prefer to be cold as I can do something about it
• I like being indoors with the curtains closed and lamp on
• i like winter meals
• I dislike the relentless brightness of the long days of summer
• I dislike the noise of summer - people are much nosier in general in hot weather
• i love the run up to Christmas
• I like the feeling of hibernation in cold weather
• I like the autumn and winter television - Strictly, All Creatures Great and Small etc

There are other things but I am stopping now.

When I was a teenager I was a real home bird - I just wanted to stay in and be with my Mum and Dad and siblings, really. I had a group of friends at school who loved to be out all the time, and would walk about in the local town, park etc. in the evenings. I pretended I liked going with them but I really didn’t. I remember that in winter, they all had to go home earlier because it got so dark. I LOVED the evenings drawing in - it meant that the chance of any lovely, yet pretty unwelcome friends weren’t going to come knocking!

I still feel safe on dark evenings now, snuggled up on the sofa knowing most people are ‘in’.

Maybe some people are genetically predisposed to like/dislike winter? For me, I don't like being hot/sun in my eyes/sunburn (pale skin), hay-fever. My neighbour is also annoying, so it's nice to shut the curtains and him be indoors not outdoors. I like being indoors. I wouldn't say my life's particularly brilliant. I'm a widow. Its just how I am.
I also like the run up to Christmas and then from January I like looking out for the first signs of spring. Birdsong, snowdrops etc.

I think I like the current season as it's my birthday, Halloween, bonfire night then Christmas. Plus going back to school which I always found exciting. So the dark and cold offers excitement, even though I'm now 52.

I love autumn. Those days when there's a crisp blue sky and a gorgeous snap in the air, and people are starting to put wood fires on. It makes me think of new pencils and school starting (in a nice way).

I do agree that very grey, wet days get to be too much around February/March. But so, so, so much better than summer and being too hot!

Slightly offended by the idea that it's about robust mental health.

I apologise because I have not yet read responses.

Based on your question alone I LOVE autumn and winter.

The colours, the family evenings. DH is a tenant farmer, we lamb 5000 sheep them go straight into harvest.

I prefer winter meals (hate salads and the pressure of organising food in summer)
I prefer knitwear to light clothes worn in summer
I love wearing wooly hats
I prefer being too cold than being too hot (easier to warm up than cool down)
I love having a fire lit
I love not having the pressure of having to do something or go somewhere like when the weather is sunny

But admittedly my mental health is not the strongest

I don’t get the pressure people are saying they feel to socialise more in summer. If anything I’d rather go out in the colder months.

I'm very pale skinned (no foundations are light enough for me) and I love, love, love winter and the cold, dark mornings/evenings.

I don't know why, the chill just makes me feel at home/natural and I feel really relaxed. It's almost an instinctive thing. I don't think it's anything to do with being happier than other people - I just genuinely love cold weather. The summer/hot places make me feel ill tbh.

My brother gets SAD and is obsessed with sunlight, also has very tanned skin (no idea if that makes a difference), so we're all different I guess.

Just to add, I am probably someone who's content with the basics. My mum goes nuts if she's not out doing stuff every day and can't cope with being on her own. Whereas I'm not like that.

I have moved to somewhere it’s a lot sunnier than the UK, so you might read this with some skepticism, but I love all the seasons and I miss them where I am. Autumn is beautiful with the changing colours. Winter has a starkness and crispness that is invigorating. Spring smells delightful and holds so much promise. Summer’s balmy days are a dreamy pleasure.

With the days pulling in I like the dark mornings because it means I get to see the sunrise without getting up at an ungodly hour. I love my room being freezing cold but my bed snuggly and warm. I like coming in from a bus ride in the pissing rain and laughing with my kids as we change into PJs and cuddle up with a hot drink. The contrast between the inhospitable and the cosy is part of the charm of it.

For me the trick is to change your lifestyle with the seasons. When it’s light late and warmer, spend more time outside, when it’s darker out retreat to your home and aim for hygge. You don’t need a big place in the country, a flat can be much cozier than a drafty farmhouse. But you might need to put some effort into making your home a sanctuary. Changing things over - blankets for the sofa, hot water bottles and thicket duvets, different clothes, heartier food - makes it something to look forward to. And change activities too. Picnic in the park or a trip to the seaside is going to be less appealing in the winter, but a Sunday lunch at a pub with a fire or trip to a Christmas fair are better then. Not that it has to be those particular things, find the things you like that are more appropriate at different times of the year and focus on them at those times. As one season fades you leave behind the things you’ve been doing and look forward to the stuff you haven’t had in a while.

I am a highly anxious person but I’m also pretty upbeat and I really love the winter in the UK with all the christmassyness and beautiful lights etc. My spirits genuinely lift at the first cold snap! I do love summer days but I find I am more “blue” in summer.

My theory is humanity is genetically divided into winter people and summer people like we are into morning people and evening people.

Maybe back in the day we needed a few people in the tribe who came alive in the winter and liked the chill and didn’t mind the dark to keep everyone safe and fed and the fire going, and then the summer people took over for the harvest once the weather warmed up etc?

I don’t have an aga or a log fire so I think it’s something more primal in me that enjoys the autumn/winter. I find the dark evenings exciting and the dark mornings cosy.

I am grateful I live in this time with all the mod cons like electricity and hot water though, as probably my enjoyment of the cold and dark would be somewhat dulled if I had to live in a hovel in the Middle Ages….

I love autumn and winter and I have quite high anxiety.

I prefer to be cold over hot, I enjoy being at home and I hate the pressure of having to go out and 'enjoy' the weather. I find it cosy to have dark mornings and evenings and use lamps and candles. I love Halloween and bonfire night and the run up to Christmas. I get excited by the prospect of an evening under a blanket with a film and candles. I just generally feel more comfortable physically and emotionally from September to May. I struggle more with my anxiety and mental health through the summer.

I mentioned my skin too in my response - I'm very, very pale skinned and I absolutely love the winter.

Both my mum and brother are very tanned and both hate the winter, love the summer.

These posters who describe their winter evenings seem to have idyllic lives. Happy families walking through the woods coming home to their big warm house with a casserole in the aga and the log fire going. Cracking open the red wine and having a hot chocolate whilst playing board games. Getting the bus home in an inner city area in the pissing down rain and cold just doesn't seem as cosy and lovely.

You're writing a script for other people's lives. I live in a nice place with a nice family now. But I still preferred winter when I lived in a shit flat, alone in South London.

I hate sandals (my feet hurt and I get stubbed toes), I like winter hats (I look all Anna Karenina rather than a curried tomato face in summer), I don't tan I burn (which means shade and sunscreen, which I'm allergic to), I have sensitive eyes so wear sunglasses all year and it's not enough in summer, I CANNOT STAND lobster red shirtless men everywhere sweating at me, drunk Brits in public places (urg), endless shit BBQ food, I'd rather be cold than hot and love blankets, I like all the winter foods, I LOVE Halloween, Christmas, Hanukkah and Solstice, I like the smell of fires, leaves, rain and Christmas more than coconut and sweat.

Stop assuming why people like it or not. You don't. Great. But lots of us do, regardless of income, mood or MH.

Yes me too

There are not enough words to describe how much I hate winter (and Autumn, if it comes to it). I loathe it. I detest dark evenings and mornings, and I despise "snuggling" and blankets and "hot choc" and all the other revolting shit that people come out with about winter. Christmas can fuck off, too. I have to be out and doing things and in the light the whole time - if someone wanted to torture me, they would make me stay at home.

I'm a pale blonde person so maybe I should love winter, but I love boiling hot summers. I had all my children in summer because I hate winter so much that I didn't want to lumber children with winter birthdays (mine is also July).

Nothing personal about those who like winter, obviously, but I'm not one of those people.

I love winter, cold, dark nights. I'm a positive person, never get depressed. I don't drive and I work in city centre so I'm out in all weathers.
I just feel alive on cool dark dry nights or gloomy grey clouds. I get energy. Summer saps it out of me, I can't stand it being so light all day. I love having blankets and fires. I love closing the world out. I love fashion for cold weather. I love wearing coats and boots. Love the peace on the streets.
I'd say it's 50/50 judging from here

My mum tans easily too. She's got brown eyes and olive skin. I'm pale like my Scottish grandmother. I was freckly when younger.

Yes I suggested this on another thread about this. I can’t imagine wanting to lie on a sofa under a blanket most evenings for 6 months..

I like the light evenings because I can go for a run, walk the dog along the river and sit outside a pub and have a drink, go to the lake and swim etc etc.

I find the dark claustrophobic and it means I can’t do as many things.

Also, those coming home from work and getting in to PJs mustn’t have children to ferry around to various sporting activities. This is also far worse in the dark and rain. I am not snuggling under a blanket in front of the fire, I’m standing in the rain and dark by a football pitch.

It feels awful and unnatural to me to get up in the dark. Our body clocks are designed to wake with light.

I'm always way more comfortable in winter than summer, so if I had to have a preference, it's winter all the way. Something about being too hot really affects me, I just can't do anything. I love walking but find that impossible when too hot, work is harder, sleep is harder, everything is just harder. With the right clothes I'm fine in winter, so I appreciate that it's not hot.

Because in my case the vast majority of family & friends are summer lovers, they people the winter they hate going out they moan it's too cold and once they're indoors they want to stay indoors.