I crave the sun. While I have very sensitive skin and burn easily, I still like to be in it. It makes me feel very happy. While I know rainy days are needed for beautiful flowers, drinking water and much more, sometimes numerous cloudy days can seriously affect your mood.
I once had a conversation with a teacher friend of mine a long time ago and we were talking about the weather and how it affects moods. She told me she had Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), or seasonal depression. I had never heard of it before and instantly started learning more about it. According to the Mayo Clinic, it is very common with there being a reported 3 million cases in the US per year.
My teacher friend said that she found herself becoming very sad during the winter months. She chose to go on anti-depressants during the winter months to help ease her sadness. While anti-depressants can help, there are other things that you could try to ease the symptoms. The Mayo Clinic suggests light therapy. I started documenting how I was feeling when it was cloudy for numerous consecutive days. I was definitely experiencing more sadness than usual during that time period. To help with this, I take a small amount of vitamin D and use a sun light occasionally. I also make sure to walk outside (even when it's cold) on the sunny days to get in as much natural vitamin D as possible.
If you live in a part of the world that has low numbers of sunny days like I do, do a self check and see how you are feeling. Talk with your doctor if you notice yourself feeling more sad during certain times of the year. Utilize the link below to find out more about SAD.
Explanation for my art (below):
The song Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles has been in my head for over a week now. It could be a coincidence because it has rained every day straight in my hometown for almost a week. It's kind of funny in a way because it reminds me of when everyone saying "You don't want to move there. It rains all the time!" when I talked about moving to Seattle a while ago. My husband and I actually researched that and found out that while Seattle may have more rainy day totals, Louisville, Kentucky actually has more in precipitation totals. Interesting little fact there for you.
It always seemed to me that Louisville, KY had a low amount of sunny days, so I looked it up. According to bestplaces.net, Louisville has an average of 195 sunny days a year. So, that means a little less than half the year is without sun. When you compare that to Yuma, Arizona having 242 days of sun, Louisville is pretty low on the sun scale. It seems as if I may need to take a trip to Arizona soon.