By Meghan Streit
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

The daylight hours are short, the temperatures hover around zero, and the snow seems to start falling again just as soon as last week’s mountains begin to melt. It’s winter in Chicago, and it’s here to stay for at least another two months.

Once the joy of the holidays and the charm of the first snowfall are distant memories, winter can start to take a toll on many of us. After spending weeks indoors with little exposure to sunlight, many people start to experience the “winter blues.”

Dr. William Gilmer, director of Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Asher Depression Center, says those feelings of  depression, anxiety, and irritability are very real biological responses to the season. He says the human body increases production of melatonin in the winter because of the longer periods of darkness. The spike in melatonin induces urges to sleep longer and possibly eat more—much in the same way animals hibernate during the winter months.

“There’s something very adaptive about that,” Gilmer says. “Unfortunately, for many of us, our culture nowadays doesn’t always permit us to hibernate.”

Humans can’t ‘hibernate’
The clash between our biological urge to hibernate and the reality of 21st century life, Gilmer says, is partly what causes people to feel depressed in the winter. He says older adults, many of whom may be retired or widowed, can be especially prone to feeling low during the winter months.

“If you’re retired and you don’t have to get up in the morning, or if you’re widowed and you live alone, you’re much more likely to sleep in and less likely to reinforce your [body] clock,” Gilmer says. “Oversleeping tends to promote itself, which messes with the body’s rhythm even more, so that natural symptom actually creates more depression.”

What’s more, Gilmer says the symptoms of seasonal depression may not necessarily be overt. They may come more often in the form of mild despondency, a lack of motivation, or a retreat from social interaction.