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Comment by fred_is_fred | Hacker News Reader

In terms of my personal happiness there's nothing that replaces the sun. It's truly miserable here when it sets at 4:30-5pm, no matter how much I try to do outside.

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Yeah, it's dark when you go to the office and it's dark when you leave for the day. Luckily I have a couple of colleagues that enjoy a brisk lunch walk, which at least gives some exposure to the sun during the day.

In Sweden, a winter a couple of years ago, I had just dropped off my son at pre-school. I was waiting on an outdoor subway station platform at 8 AM, listening to "Towards the Sun" from the movie Home. When she sings "Turn your face towards the sun" I looked up into the pitch black sky with tiny snowflakes that fell down stretching into infinity. The contrast was so complete that I'll never forget it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdO9cc7WOyE

>dark when you go to the office and it's dark when you leave for the day

You guys are still going into the office?! We're 100% remote "for the foreseeable future" here.

My (large) company work from home at least until the end of the year, then we'll see. We're still allowed to go into the office, and some do because they don't have a good working situation at home, but there's like one person per office floor. All office workers in Sweden are highly encouraged to work from home. My company has said that they will do a phased return to the office, so that not everyone returns at the same time. A colleague that had been in the office said that they have closed off every second desk to keep the distance for when people return.

I meant winters in general, not the current situation. Today is grey, but still more light than it will be in January.

I am still going into the office, it just happens to be in my house.

Yup. Looking outside at 4:00 pm and seeing the sun start to go down, knowing that you're going to have to head home in the dark soon to shovel the snow that's you've been watching accumulate all day outside your office window is pretty misery inducing.

I think this is the main point in the article, no? I you're used to it and you don't regard it as a negative thing, it won't induce misery. Well, basically goes for a lot of things in life. Hard part is of course changing the mindest.

The sun on your skin is a biological need and induces biological response, it's difficult to just will that away.

But apparently not impossible, as per the article.

Totally. But as a Canadian living in the northern most major city in North America fall is a mourning period and a mental preparation for the long trudge.

I usually survive Edmonton winters by descending headfirst into the arts scene, but this year...

Yup, though has there been official statements about the Flying Canoe or similar activities? Otherwise it'll all be hiding and hoping that we don't have another string of -30 weeks keeping us from leaving the house entirely for January A nice winter evening walk can work wonders for moral assuming you're not dealing with eyelashes frozen shut and air that hurts to breathe in.

I'd really recommend researching into happy lamps. While it's not a sun replacement, it has helped me handle the SADs. I say research it, because the cheaper one's usually have an active distance of less than 1ft while the more expensive ones you're able to keep it at your computer monitor's distance so that you can work and use the lamp at the same time.

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-light-therap...

These are interesting, any concern with eye damage? Is light on your face enough? What about arms, legs, etc? It's a pretty small surface area really.

>eye damage

Cursory googling says it's not an issue. Personal experience says it's like being out in the bright sun. Definitely talk to your doctor if you already have eye conditions or are more at risk.

>Is light on your face enough? What about arms, legs, etc? It's a pretty small surface area really.

Yep, it works for me! But I'd really suggest doing your own research! This article might be a good first step:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/seasonal-affe...

This is my single largest complaint about the PNW. Not only are the days short in the winter, but the sun is constantly behind cloud cover. You can literally go months without experiencing direct sunlight.

Meh, you could go months without seeing sunlight, but you'd have to work at it. The PNW is the area of the country that introduced me to the phrase "sun breaks". It might not last long, but certainly within the span of a month one will have the opportunity to view direct sunlight.

For me, the key thing to living somewhere with dark winters is to get outside regularly. That's how to catch a "sun break" once in a while. Live in the rainy PNW? Gortex was invented over 50 years ago. Pricey, but it works. Even running in the dark, pissing rain at 5:30 a. m. is better than sitting inside all day, IMO. But, hey, we all WFH now, right? Go run when the sun's up.

And if the outdoors ain't your thing, it's probably time for the annual round of corncob light rigs: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21660718

At least in my corner of the PNW, the clouds are always moving. Most days, there's at least some sun peaking out here and there. December and January can get pretty bad though, not looking forward to missing my annual trips.

I know the feeling. A nice fire comes pretty close though. Just don't forget your vitamin D supplements :)

Winter time is the worst...It should be summer time all year round.

Give me early Autumn, 75F/23C in the day, 55F/15C at night (those may be slightly off).

Yes, I know, SF has that. I love the weather in the Bay but the culture just makes it a non-starter.

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