Some notes on winter blues | Hacker News Reader

Some notes on winter blues

frank.geekheim.de

26 pointsfs11118 comments

I also recommend installing f.lux (http://stereopsis.com/flux/) or redshift (http://jonls.dk/redshift/). These applications gradually shift the color temperature of your monitor to match the time of the day - the default bluish glow of a computer monitor can really mess up the melatonin production in the evenings.

For this winter, I've made 99400 lumen lighting powered by 1kW of metal halide lamps with full, close-to-sun spectrum. This is about 50-100 times brighter than usual room lighting (100-200W of incandescent lamps or 15-35W of luminescent lamps).

It feels great! It's even lighter than in the daytime on the street (at winter of course). I tried really hard to sleep with light on, and it's just impossible :-D I might write an article, if there are guys interested.

+1: Write an article about it.

I would like to see a picture if your CCD survives that ;-)

Hehe, yes it does survive :-)

According to google trends this is a peak period for seasonal affective disorder: http://www.google.com/trends?q=seasonal+affective+disorder.

Anecdotally, running a few miles a couple times a week improves my mood as well.

Great stuff. For me, I always feel much cheerier after getting some exercise and it doesn't even need to be long or high intensity. Just 15 mins of walking, or a few sets of 30 pushups does the trick.

I also think people naturally feel sad after the holidays because there's nothing to look forward to. So maybe it's best to start a startup during the winter months.

"I strongly encourage you to do your own searching and reading, which is why I don´t add a long list of references here as I don´t want to bias you. "

What?!

What a bunch of hooey. I love winter, the more snow the better. Get out, and blow the stink off. Go sledding with the kids, snow shoeing with your friends, downhill skiing for yourself (downhill skiing is just like golf - you only have to make yourself better). Too many people stay inside and talk themselves into being sad. You are what you do - so get out and do something fun.

Oh yeah, don't forget the snow camping - nothing beats sitting around a hissing campfire watching the snowflakes fall, drinking something hot, eating something warm, and snuggling up in a nice down sleeping bag. Winter ROCKS!!!!

Fuck you. SAD is an actual psychiatric condition people can't ski their way out of.

On one hand, you are correct.

But note that GP has a point about exercise. Though, as the article noted, it's just hard to do when you're chronically tired. And even snow helps, since it increases the amount of reflected light.

Some personal experience, ymmv:

A year ago I started working on the 7th floor in a more southern country than my native Scandinavia, with the roofs below covered with snow. It was wonderful, like being hit in the eyes with a baseball bat of light...

Yeah, there's nothing brighter than a clear winter day with snow on the ground. OTOH, some places (Seattle...) just get rainy and damp and dark in the winter.

It doesn't help that much in December dark Scandinavia if there is snow.

I'm outsourced to Cluj, Transylvania and love it here. Nice people, good food, cool nature, etc. The company is hiring Python devs. :-)

That said, I'm personally interviewing in this city, since Python bores me (and there are some growth problems in the company right now). I hope to avoid London.

Is that your "professional" advice there Dr. Phil. Getting outdoors and exercise are two documented treatments for SAD, so get over yourself. Maybe learning how to express your feelings without swear words would be a good winter project for you.

"Don´t use sunglasses" that seems like terrible advice.

I went to Lowes and bought a single bulb fluorescent fixture like what you might see in a garage or workbench, along with a 'daylight' bulb. I put it above the window nearest my desk, and it seems to really help with the murky Pacific Northwest winter. I'd guess I paid less than $30, though I did have to wire up a plug myself (should be no hard task for an HNer).

As long as I remember to turn it off by about 9pm, I have no problem getting sleepy by about 11 or midnight.

How much watts?

Not sure, unfortunately, and I'm away on vacation. Brighter should be better, since you can always diffuse/reflect it if it's too much.

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