I usually get somewhat depressed, and cranky the more cloudy/windy/cold grey days that we get, but it affects me greatly because of how much I do on the farm outdoors. I am taking vitamin D this year, and my wife found an APP for 52 hikes during the year, so have been doing that also, which really helps with a new destination, and adventure every week....mostly short local wildlife area hikes, but some boardwalks, and metroparks.

A few years after moving to Portland, I had a winter - which means most of A YEAR here - when nothing seemed right. I finally figured out that the lack of sunlight was affecting me. I started riding my bike to work. I also changed every light bulb in our house to daylight CFL and yelling at the kids if they forgot to leave the light on when exiting a room, which confused them. I also bought clip on lights for each monitor at work and put 100 w equivalent daylight CFLs, which meant 600 w of light bathing me twelve hours a day. Other than the unnatural wintertime farmers’ tan, this worked well. No more SAD.

Seriously, put high watt daylight LEDs in your kitchen and shop, as many as you have fixtures for, and see if that doesn’t help a little.

Go buy some viagra and cheer up bud!:D

When it comes to artificial lighting, you need a broad spectrum which you don't get with many bulbs or tubes these days. Whenever my wife changed offices the first thing I did was change out a couple cool white fluorescents to more of a grow light and added a tungsten bulb table lamp to be placed on or near her desk.

I can't believe how some people have to work without natural light and windows. No one seems to know much about lighting Kelvin except for supermarkets and dept stores. They have it down to a science.

i used to be ace in winter, clubbing , didn't see daylight for months on end. love it.

but at 44. i'm getting the sad as well..
The covid measures and working from home for over a month don't help either

^ This

There’s some effect from not hanging out with buddies, having ppl over for dinner, throwing parties, meeting a friend at the pub for a pint . . . a virtual, isolated life isn’t good for us, even if our inner misanthrope welcomes it at first. So it’s not all SAD, probably.

I have a good friend, the last time I saw him in person was January at a political “house party” I held that turned into a rockin’ party party. Everyone who was at that event tells me they are glad that their last weekend before Covid was at my house, and we’re all planning to do it again as soon as enough of us are vaccinated (lot of oldsters in the crowd). He and I joke about how we’re saving our livers for that day!

Last evening we invited a friend over and built a fire in the fire pit and sat around, socially distancing and yucking it up. It felt almost normal. It's sunny today and I've been outside most of the day. Feeling good now.

SAD is very real. Look at studies in places where they have no sun for long periods of time. As others have said: moderate addition of Vit D, natural light spectrum bulbs (grow bulbs work), and human interaction.

After I retired five years ago I fell in with a great group of about 15 guys & gals at the local Starbucks patio. It's a loose group, no roll call, no roster, no dues. A few are regular, every day, a few are once a-weekers. Some stay an hour, some five minutes.
It all happens between 10AM & 12 noon. The discussion ranges from grandkids to baseball to quantum physics to vacations to home repair. Last week the retired M.D. had some great advice on who, what, when, where and how to get a COVID vaccine shot reservation. We celebrate birthdays (somebody buys your coffee & donut). Only rules are no politics and no multi-level marketing.

With COVID we've been meeting in the park next to Starbucks, so you have to bring your own lawn chair. We sit in a circle six feet apart.

Find a like minded person, sit near a traffic area, invite folks to join for a minute. You'd be surprised how many folk will express the same desire for some human contact, ironic humor, and a good story.

Get a light. I got one when I lived in Seattle. It helps me, big time.

Dr. Freddy is in the house, 1 try some Just for men vitimans daily, 2 florescent lights, 3 your might have something, see a shrink and get on some meds..

My eyes aren't as bright as they used to be. Maybe that is part of the reason Winter seems so gloomy now. I was out all day yesterday, and it was damp, cold, and gloomy. It isn't very fun or motivating. I'd rather it was 20 and sunny than 35, cloudy and damp cold. Yesterday it was both cold and cloudy with wind. I do the stuff that needs doing, but it is hard to get enthused about the optional activities. They just don't seem as fun in lousy weather.

There's more than one reason most the NE "blue bloods" have winter homes in Florida and the Bahamas.

https://jacarandanassau.files.wordpr.../873877055.jpg

FYI, a copy of this book in good condition fetches several grand these days.

I get like that too, the older I get, the more I hate winter days, grey days... I'm kinda depressed in winter... 2 weeks of rain in a row makes me wanna move. I am starting to understand the appeal of FL or tropical islands now.. I'm sure Covid confinement has not helped !

You can get daylight lamps that emit a spectrum similar or the same as daylight. I understand it hellps a lot to turn them on & expose yourself (not that way, though) in the mornings when you get up.