Winter depression driven by light loss, not cold

Winter depression stems from lack of light, not cold

A typical Saturday in November. You wake up at ten, the morning is already gone, and by six it is pitch dark and freezing. The day has slipped away without being enjoyed, leaving only the wait for the next one to see the sun again. This is the common complaint that opens the issue: winter as a pit of wasted hours, with rain seen as a final verdict. However, the discussion quickly splits into two camps.

Why does winter depress more than the cold?

The explanation dominating the conversation is physiological rather than meteorological: lack of natural light lowers mood and disrupts sleep. In severe cases, this pattern has a clinical name: Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Consequently, the circulating advice points to the same solution: go outside even if it is cloudy, maintain a fixed wake-up time on weekends too, and stay active instead of chaining sofa and screen afternoons. Some even mention using 10,000 lux lamps for a while in the morning. In this narrative, the cold is secondary; darkness is what weighs most.

November, the month with the worst fruta

The calendar has its own culprit. It is not winter, but November, which even has a song by Décima Víctima. The argument is that although it is not technically winter, it feels worse: you come from summer and, above all, from October, a month with very good weather in Spain. Spanish winter, conversely, is dry and sunny, and is better tolerated because it arrives after the worst period, which is the rainy and cold autumn. By January, days are already lengthening: spring arrives in two months. With a touch of irony, the conclusion is that those who can would move to Brazil.

Those who reject the 'winter blues' narrative

Opposing the lament is a current that dismisses it bluntly: if winter depresses you, you are just lazy. The proposed remedy is simple and somewhat martial: Vitamin D3 with K2, waking up early, and staying active with productive tasks. To this is added the advice to make use of light: go out and get some sun, otherwise one becomes depressed. And a counterpoint regarding the schedule: there are people who wake up at 7:30 and boast about it, proving that the problem is not the day itself, but the hour one decides to start living it.

The detail no one disputes: the body also complains

There is a cost not reflected in luminosity statistics. Even the desire to be intimate disappears due to the hassle of removing clothes, and cold hands are a constant nuisance. This is the least presentable part of winter, the one that cannot be fixed with a 10,000 lux lamp or an earlier wake-up time. Here the debate stalls: light can be supplemented, schedules can be corrected, but the thermometer and layers of clothing do not allow such easy amendments.

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With these elements, the discussion remains exactly where it started: some focus on darkness, others on attitude. What no one has managed to prove is that the Spanish winter, dry and sunny, is the villain its fruta suggests. November, in any case, still lacks a defense attorney.