Beyond Blue: January 2008 Archives

Last January I caught Eric underneath our dry, sagging Christmas tree with a bottle of wine in his hand.

"Are you feeding the tree wine?" I asked him.

"If it's as depressed as I am, it could use some," he replied and showed me the two ounces of water left in the bottle.

That's a pretty accurate reflection of how most Americans (minus the ones in California and Florida) feel about January and February. A professor friend at the Naval Academy told me his students refer to the eight-week period before spring break as the "Dark Ages."

For those prone to depression, and especially the platinum-level members of Club D (like me), this time of the year can be terrifying. I circle the forty days BEFORE the forty days of Lent in my planner to alert myself about the high risk of relapse during this time.

Less daily sunlight and changes in circadian rhythm (our internal biological clocks that regulate eating and sleeping patterns, brain wave activity, hormone production, and cell regeneration) can trigger a case of the blues, which in some brains turns to pure black, or black and blue (neither of which is good). People suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) aren't a bunch of wackos making it up to earn a vacation in Florida. Research indicates that the lack of sunlight in January and February may alter brain levels of certain mood-controlling substances, like the melatonin hormone.