Seasonal sanity survival

Well, it’s back. Winter has once again peeked out its ugly head, frosted over our lawns, killed our few lingering Jack o’ Lanterns and decreasing class attendance .

Thanks to my vast knowledge of student behavior after reading the psychology 101 class overview, I knew the cold season was looming close before I even mustered the courage to leave the house.

My first glimpse of the winter blues came in the form of my wilting, male roommates. They combat the cold weather by nest building, holding agonizingly long X-Box marathons and developing vitamin D deficiencies.

Ladies, if the thought of being the only uterus owner in your living situation insights pain in your—well ,you know—then try keeping cheery in the face of utterly crushing seasonal apathy. Instead of succumbing even further, there are a few ways to retain a little sanity in the face of chilly cheerlessness.

In my opinion, apples get a bad rap, what with the constant associations with doctors and ‘original sin’. But they’re actually fantastic and contribute to wonderful things in the world such as cider, pie and New York, the”Big Apple”. They also make coffee better than actual coffee — in a sense.

Don’t start alchemically combining your coffee and apple juice in the morning, but consider skipping the caffeine and instead spring for a tasty Red Delicious to avoid energy crashes.

Natural sugars in apples called fructose combined with the average 3.4 grams of fibre per the average apple, gives you more energy that lasts longer through the day. And you can’t spill it all over yourself when someone tries to squeeze through your aisle in lecture.

Keeping on track with the hot beverages, you may think it’s the yuppies and hipsters that keep Starbucks thriving.

However, Starbucks lives in a place of ubiquitous corporate comfort because of its never-ending supply of delicious liquids topped with petroleum whipped cream (because they can’t be that good to us) that we crave, nay, demand when our noses freeze.

No matter how much you hate the distilled potting soil they try to pawn off as coffee, tell me you’ve never at least wanted to try a Super-Triple-Creamy-Salted-Caramel-Chocolate-Mocha-Latte-Thing-y after trudging to campus in a blizzard for a class you hate.

Now, here’s one that barely squeaks by my levels of believability: exposure to different kinds of controlled light on different wavelengths for the purpose of treating anything from psoriasis to hair loss.

This exists in its own land of credible science that few people would ever consider it a serious cure.

Indeed, increasing your ‘light intake’ during the winter months could clear some cobwebs. Letting in a little light during our country’s darkest season certainly seems like a good idea.

Were I so inclined, I could find stacks of facts attesting why you shouldn’t cocoon under your blankets and declare apathy in the face of doing anything ever, seasons aside.

I honestly can’t think of a better way to pick myself up in the face of the snowy blues than to have a nice conversation with a friend over a hot apple cider under a UV lamp.

Whether or not you find this advice remotely useful, remember to keep in mind the most important advice drawn from all this: to deal appropriately and effectively with your seasonal sorrows. Whether periodic or utterly crushing, just remember, you can probably just ‘Wiki’ it.