Is this what they mean by Varsity Blues?

Experiencing SAD and the winter blues on campus

“VERY REAL THREAT for Friday snow in Ontario. BRACE for conditions to QUICKLY deteriorate.” The Weather Network’s website shared this advice on its daily forecast following a week of grey November days. Posted beside it: an ad for flu shots featured a bright-eyed couple beaming like they just vanquished the flu with the power of young love and puffer vests. This combination of marketing and weather hyperbole seems to be the norm these days, but in this case, it has a personal dimension: the line “BRACE for conditions to QUICKLY deteriorate” depicts a common state of mental health that many, myself included, experience during the winter months.  

We are all prone to “feeling a little blue” during this time of year. The shorter, colder days coincide with heavy course loads, essay deadlines, and the threat of looming exams. The darkness, the chill, and the mounting school pressures naturally bring on stress and a yearning for warmer days. But for some, these blues are more deeply biological. The eve of winter can trigger anxiety, reduced concentration, lethargy, fatigue, and a desire for isolation that makes it difficult to leave bed, let alone submit assignments. This more visceral response to winter weather is known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and can be severe and debilitating. Although SAD is often used to explain the winter blues, only 3 to 6 percent of people experience the disorder’s symptoms, which are caused by a lack of sun disrupting their internal body clock. 

That’s not to say that only those with SAD or depression suffer during the gloomy winter months. Runners miss the chance to jog in slush-free parks, extroverts lose their energy when friends cancel plans to avoid the cold—all of our circadian rhythms are off. I lose touch with mindfulness once the season changes. My mind, body, and energy fall out of sync and I struggle to make sense of why I feel the way I do. To fight isolation, I find myself reaching for comparisons. Friends are stressed because of school—that must be why I’m feeling down. Everyone hates the rain. Look, another post about self-care; maybe I’ll feel better if I do more yoga. Acts of self-care such as eating healthily and exercising are helpful, but for some they are not enough. For those who find that the winter blues significantly deteriorate their mental well-being, physical activity or spending time with friends means temporarily burning off their anxious, depressive energies only to have November clouds soak them up and use it as fuel to expel on the next grey day.  

Students often feel isolated by their body’s response to the changing season and feel trapped in a cycle that takes a toll on their school work, social lives, and self-worth. Since Toronto winters can drag on for months and many international students are unfamiliar with the harsh climate, the university community needs to recognize the biology behind SAD. Common forms of self-care fail to treat the consequences of internal body clocks being out of sync; we need to emphasize that experiencing these symptoms is not a lazy character flaw and raise awareness about the helpful treatment options (such as light therapy lamps) available to students at Robarts and Toronto Public Libraries.   

The Weather Network updated its headline. The new version reads: “PLAN AHEAD: ‘Potential TROUBLE’ for Friday travel in Ontario”—a welcome reduction from the doomsday melodrama and a useful warning message for those who can feel down in the absence of blue skies. There is trouble ahead and, while we may not reach the level of ecstasy and joy of the romantic flu-fighters in the flu shot ad, we can plan ahead. We can look to self-care for feeling more in tune with our mental well-being and we can fight isolation by caring for each other. When that is not enough, we can at least understand that there is science behind the winter blues—not a failure of mental capacity.