Did you know that sunscreen can affect the body’s ability to produce vitamin D? Vitamin D is one of the few vitamins our bodies can produce naturally, and the sun is a catalyst for that process. This is all according to one science podcast I regularly listen to, designed for laypeople like me. While I usually indulge in science podcasts as a way to unwind, this episode reminded me of one impending force about to drag our vitamin D levels down to fatigue-ridden depths: winter.
Before reading further, please keep the following in mind:
- I love sunscreen. Please keep wearing sunscreen.
- Do not ever take medical advice from me. I have a disproportionate number of friends in medical school, so if I try to offer medical advice, it’s misplaced.
- I love winter in Boston.
Despite growing up in the South, there is something in my bones that loves the cold and finds 36 inches of snow charming. Nonetheless, I still dread the darkness. Even as I relish the peak weeks of autumn right now, I’m aware that the days have begun their steady march toward nine-hour days.
My first winter in Boston, I felt utterly defeated by the constant dark. Exercise, hobbies, and meal prep felt insurmountable without sunlight. I was like a vampire in reverse (or maybe that’s just a human). I remember coming home one evening and announcing to my roommates that I was sick before skipping dinner and sleeping for 12 hours. One of them told me she felt the exact same way. At the time, I chalked it up to a long week at work. In retrospect, there may have been more to it than that.
One important distinction to note is that seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is different from the more generic winter blues. While the latter has generally mild symptoms, the former is a medical condition that manifests as regular depressive episodes in winter months. Risk factors for SAD include where you live (Boston is a high risk city), your gender (women are more likely than men to have SAD), and your history of mental illness.
If you think you may have SAD or are looking for ways to mitigate its effects, you should consider speaking with a professional. However, if you are looking for ways to keep the winter blues at bay, here are a few tips to adjust to shorter days and find routine, balance, and even some enjoyment.
- Go outside often
While I was still working, I got in the habit of going for ten- to twenty-minute walks with my coworker after lunch. They were as simple as walking around the block or buying a coffee, and they inevitably improved my mood and energy.
Now, on campus, I seek slivers of time outdoors, even if that means taking an outdoor route between classes. It’s not always warm enough to sit outside while studying or eating, so I also try to incorporate time outdoors into my commute. Recently, I’ve been experimenting with some combination of walking, biking, and public transportation, and my commute has turned into a restorative time to unwind before and after classes.
For students, there are several paths behind campus that offer a woodland reprieve from the dueling climates of East Wing and Stuart Hall. You can access the paths near the athletic field by Quonset Hut, close enough to classes for a 15-minute nature walk even on your busiest days. In fact, those are probably the days you will benefit most from spending time outdoors.
- Try not to snooze your alarm
Easier said than done. But getting up and getting outside regularly can help you incorporate activity into your schedule and get more exposure to natural light. Light exposure, especially in the early morning, has been shown to help regulate your circadian rhythm and support a more regular sleep schedule.
I find waking up to a dark sky especially disheartening, but keeping my alarm at the opposite end of the room from my bed encourages me to physically get out of my bed at the same time each day. Once daylight saving time ends on November 1, the sun will rise one hour earlier, which makes getting up early to chase that extra hour of sunlight even more important.
- Make evening plans
A friend once told me that they cope with shorter days by pretending that they’re a kid staying up past their bedtime. You don’t have to stay up to do work and chores hours after it is dark—you get to! Yeah, this one is a stretch, and I find this method requires some mental gymnastics and a child-like imagination. However, intentionally scheduling fun or restorative activities after dark helps me reframe the nighttime as an extension of my day, not the end of it.
I like to schedule calls with my friends or family in different cities, especially those in different time zones, to encourage me to stay awake instead of going to bed concerningly early. If you want to get out of the house, consider one of Boston’s many art museums: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Institute of Contemporary Art are all open until 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. on Thursdays or Fridays, with free or discounted admissions on most Thursdays (check their websites for specific pricing and hours). You can also find multiple public ice-skating rinks around the city, and Frog Pond on Boston Common will turn into an ice-skating rink mid-November.
- Use campus resources
The school offers mindfulness and meditation sessions, both virtually and in person. Based on my informal survey of one (1) person who attended the latter, it was “actually amazing.”
This shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering meditation’s many benefits for emotional and physical health. Meditation is a low-barrier tool for managing stress, and it can be customized to fit your schedule and lifestyle. If you aren’t able to attend a meditation session, even a five-minute breathing exercise can help reset your nervous system and reduce stress.
You can learn more about campus resources for health and wellness here.
For 1Ls, the transition from fall into winter coincides with the busiest weeks of the semester. We are trying to balance the increasing demands of classwork, extracurriculars, networking, and recruiting, all under the shadow of exams. We need more hours in the day than we have, and already, we are losing them. But this means it is even more important to lean into habits that prioritize your wellbeing sooner rather than later. And if you ever see me wandering around the woods behind school, I’m probably fine.
Alene Hanson is a first-year law student and brand new Impact blogger at BC Law. Contact her at hansoal@bc.edu.
