Many people who live in Colorado love the winter time of the year and all of the different activities it brings. I, however, genuinely do not like the season of winter much at all. I think that winter has very few benefits for me personally.
Even though I believe that winter is treacherous and miserable, it does have some very beneficial qualities. Without the needed runoff and precipitation from the snow, there would be a huge lack of aid in the growth of plants and fields, which is very crucial for farmers and ranchers.
Although winter could be considered pretty necessary, I definitely think it is more of a useless and miserable season. Weather has been proven by a multitude of studies to have a heavy impact on people’s mood, their mental health, and their overall happiness and wellbeing. Depending on the area you live in, winter weather conditions could be extremely drastic or super. This means that some people in certain areas may experience the effects more than others.
As we know, the days begin to get shorter and shorter throughout winter. This not only can become a major inconvenience; as well as, the lack of sunlight can lead to a drop in serotonin, which typically affects many people. In fact, even the American Psychiatric Association estimates that about 5% of Americans will experience a form of depression known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
Since some areas have such drastically different measures of the winter’s dramatic influence, it can make it difficult for people to go outside, let alone even have the motivation to want to go outside. This could lead to things such as social isolation, which could be very unhealthy for your mental health.
Another horrible factor of winter that can affect the mental health of numerous people, is the stress of navigating where they need to go on icy and snowy roads. Winter weather conditions could lead to a much greater risk of crashing or injury which could lead to even more unhappiness for those having to deal with these winter conditions or loss.
Not only do the winter weather conditions make it hard to drive around, but it makes it hard for people to walk around as well. This could be because cold weather can exacerbate certain health conditions like arthritis.
Weather conditions that are so miserable that people don’t want to go outside, also make it challenging to exercise outdoors. This also could impact many people’s health and mental health.
Not only is it miserable to go outside with all of the things winter brings, but the expenses of winter drastically increase as well. Heating and electrical bills can skyrocket because of people needing more warmth or using things like electric blankets and space heaters. Not to mention how pricey necessary winter clothing and gear can be.
If you sit back and consider all of these points about winter being such a challenging and miserable season, it’s all a part of getting through the year and some places around the world are just more fortunate to experience the effects of winter less harshly than other people and places do.
