Today, Explained Living in a winter bummerland
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Feb 8, 2026 
Keri Lebowitz, health psychologist who studies cultural approaches to winter, and Kelly Rowan, a professor researching seasonal mood changes, discuss winter’s mood effects. They explore how shorter days disrupt circadian rhythms. They cover who’s most vulnerable, timing of symptoms, treatments like light therapy and CBT, and ways to make winter social, active, and more restorative.
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Short Days Confuse Your Circadian Clock
- Shorter days disrupt the circadian clock and make mornings feel like the brain thinks it should still be asleep.
- Day length, not temperature, is the strongest environmental predictor of winter mood changes.
Winter Symptoms Fall On A Continuum
- Winter symptom severity varies across a continuum from mild blues to clinical seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
- About 5% experience clinical SAD while many more have milder, non-interfering seasonal symptoms.
Who’s More At Risk
- Risk factors include being female, living at higher latitudes, and a family history of depression.
- We lack a precise genetic explanation but inheritance raises overall depression risk.
