These short daylight hours can be so depressing

@Asylum (47893)
Manchester, England
December 9, 2015 2:10pm CST
Despite the vast difference in actual daylight hours between the summer and the winter, we do not notice much as the day varies by a few minutes at a time. Of course we eventually end up with our current situation of two thirds night and one third day, which seems to occur quite rapidly all of a sudden. The day seems to flash past so rapidly now. I awake in the morning, make a coffee and spend a little time online. Next I have a wash and wander out for an hour or so, only to find it going dark as I am on my way back home. We know that there are still 24 hours in a day, but psychologically it seems a great deal less.
25 people like this
27 responses
@rebelann (110754)
• El Paso, Texas
9 Dec 15
Cheer up, the 21st in not far off and then the days start becoming longer
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
9 Dec 15
Yes, the dreaded winter solstice is creeping up on us.
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
10 Dec 15
@rebelann We have 44 Fahrenheit here at present.
1 person likes this
@rebelann (110754)
• El Paso, Texas
10 Dec 15
Oh yeah, I forgot it'll be gettin really cold by January @Asylum hey, it's still in the 60s and 70s fahrenheit here and I look forward to it staying like that for at least another month, I hate the cold.
@mysdianait (66009)
• Italy
9 Dec 15
You mean you don't wash before nyLotting?
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
9 Dec 15
Not to the extent that I do when about to leave the house.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
9 Dec 15
@mysdianait We are a fairly modern country and have installed some electric lighting.
3 people like this
@mysdianait (66009)
• Italy
9 Dec 15
@Asylum Well if it is getting dark by the time you go out then why bother as no-one would notice whether you were clean or not
1 person likes this
@marlina (154183)
• Canada
9 Dec 15
Take hope, it will start going the other way soon.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
9 Dec 15
It will actually get a little worse first, but only another 11 days before it changes direction.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
9 Dec 15
@RasmaSandra Judging by the approximate times of day that you it would appear that you are enjoying longer periods of daylight than I am.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (72494)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
9 Dec 15
@Asylum these dark drab days have got me so tired I feel like a zombie. I get up around 8 AM and there is hardly any bright daylight so I wind up having to put on the lights. By the afternoon I just have to nap and when I wake up by the time it gets to 5 PM it is pitch black outside once more. My hubby said that these kind of days could drive someone right up the wall.
@LadyDuck (454879)
• Switzerland
10 Dec 15
Do not worry Barry, in 12 days the nights start to be shorter and the days longer. This year the winter solstice is the 22nd, not the 21st, so we have to wait one more day.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
10 Dec 15
It does occur on 22nd on occasions, but we still recognise 21st as the event.
@LadyDuck (454879)
• Switzerland
11 Dec 15
@pgntwo No, it's not a matter of leap year, the winter solstice is between December 21 and December 22 for Northern Hemisphere and between June 20 and June 21 for the southern. The day is calculated according when exactly the night is longer.
1 person likes this
@pgntwo (22412)
• Derry, Northern Ireland
10 Dec 15
22nd in a leap year perhaps?
1 person likes this
• United States
9 Dec 15
I like where we live in the Eastern Time Zone because we are close to the Central Zone which means we still have daylight until well after 6 pm compared to when we lived on the East Coast and it was dark by 5.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
9 Dec 15
Our sunset today was 3-51 PM and will be a little earlier tomorrow.
1 person likes this
• United States
9 Dec 15
@Asylum Wow, that is early for sure. when does it rise?
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
9 Dec 15
@AbbyGreenhill This morning it was 7-54 AM.
@poehere (15126)
• French Polynesia
9 Dec 15
Just be happy you don't live in Alaska. You;d have 6 months of straight daylight and the other 6 months of straight darkness. Be happy it is just shorter days and longer nights and soon it will start changing again and your days will start growing a little longer each day.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
9 Dec 15
Alaska would be suit me fine for 6 months of the year, but I certainly do not fancy the other 6 months.
• Philippines
10 Dec 15
@poehere i can't imagine '6 months of straight daylight and 6 months of straight darkness.' how you write about it.
@poehere (15126)
• French Polynesia
9 Dec 15
@Asylum Yah can see this one. So I guess where ever we live we get use to having it this way year round.
@Shellyann36 (11385)
• United States
10 Dec 15
I really do not like driving in the dark (a sign of my old age!) and here lately I have been forced to drive home in the 5:00 traffic and I must confess I do not care for it!
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
10 Dec 15
If you considered fitting lights to the car? They do tend to make the road a little easier to follow once the Sun goes down.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
16 Dec 15
@Shellyann36 Too many drivers never bother to dip their lights when approaching oncoming traffic.
@Shellyann36 (11385)
• United States
16 Dec 15
@Asylum Ever funny you are! Of course I do have lights and they do help amazingly well. Its the other blinding lights from the other drivers that bother me.
@BelleStarr (61050)
• United States
10 Dec 15
I do seem to loose some of my boundless energy as the days get shorter. Only a few more days and then we start the climb back.
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
10 Dec 15
Yes, but it is a long climb and will take several months to reach a welcome target.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
10 Dec 15
@BelleStarr That will not make the day longer because sunrise will also be one hour later. Of course you could wake up at home and travel to Florida for a later sunset, but it would become laborious after a few days.
1 person likes this
@BelleStarr (61050)
• United States
10 Dec 15
@Asylum lol I will be in Florida where the day is a bit longer since it is in the western area of our time zone
@Inlemay (17714)
• South Africa
10 Dec 15
do you sleep more? I think daylight saving would make me moggy - i already need a 25 hour day
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
10 Dec 15
Yes I do sleep more, but this could partly be due to my having retired and not having any need to get up early.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
10 Dec 15
@Inlemay In that case you will probably continue to rise early. The reason that it makes a difference to me is that it presents the opportunity to remain in bed longer.
1 person likes this
@Inlemay (17714)
• South Africa
10 Dec 15
@Asylum I wonder if that will ever happen to me - I am an early riser regardless of the month, season or the time i go to bed
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
10 Dec 15
I look forward to the 21st December when we can start to say that it is getting lighter by a minute a day which means British summer time is not too far off!
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
10 Dec 15
I was actually shocked to see the difference between London and Manchester in this respect. I looked up sunrise and sunset for the UK to answer a question about the times and got the information. Later I was looking at the weather on my computer and noticed a different timing displayed for Manchester. Apparently London had 20 minutes more sunlight than Manchester today, which is much more than I would have expected.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
10 Dec 15
@garymarsh6 Does that mean that I can expect 24 hours of night for the future?
1 person likes this
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
10 Dec 15
@Asylum Well you know the old saying 'The sun always shines on the righteous'. Need I say more!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118204)
• Gainesville, Florida
10 Dec 15
It definitely is a psychological effect, if nothing else! I, too, feel like there isn't enough hours in the day since there is so little daylight now. It makes it feel like the days are passing way too fast!
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
10 Dec 15
Yes, it does not matter what the clock says because as soon as it goes dark we associate it with late in the day.
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
10 Dec 15
@moffittjc I have been in the same situation and you come home feeling as though you have worked an extra 4 hours into the night.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118204)
• Gainesville, Florida
10 Dec 15
@Asylum Although I'm a night owl, I have this tendency to get really tired as soon as the sun goes down. Obviously, since it gets dark so early now, I have to power through it and stay awake, but I literally could go to bed and fall asleep as soon as the sun goes down!
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
9 Dec 15
Only another 12 days and then each day will be longer than the one before. Bring it on.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
10 Dec 15
I agree, but it will still be a while before it makes a worthwhile difference.
• United States
10 Dec 15
You are 100% correct. When they say it is the summer solstice on TV, it makes me sad, since I know the days will get shorter. Why is it they get short so fast, but take so long to get longer again?
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
10 Dec 15
It never seems too bad to me as the nights draw in, until I finally realise just how short the days have become.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
10 Dec 15
@ElizabethWallace The longest day has always been a little confusing to me. It is the Summer Solstice on 21st June and therefore the longest day, yet we have 24th June as Midsummer's Day. I have never understood why those two events are not on the same day.
1 person likes this
• United States
10 Dec 15
@Asylum Well then you are unhappy about it for a shorter time than I am. I wish they would stop announcing, "Today is the longest day of the year.". Then I wouldn't realize the slide has begun.
• St. Petersburg, Florida
16 Dec 15
I don't know why the long evenings are bothering me this year. I don't remember it ever being an issue before.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
16 Dec 15
Oddly enough it never used to depress me so much.
@jaboUK (64363)
• United Kingdom
9 Dec 15
There is actually a name for this, isn't there? - SAD.
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
9 Dec 15
I am sure that there is an adjective that should go before that word, but the profanity filter keeps stopping me from posting it.
1 person likes this
@paigea (35511)
• Canada
10 Dec 15
SAD is Seasonable Affective Disorder. Some people get a type of depression from the long hours of darkness. A special light can help treat it.
1 person likes this
@pgntwo (22412)
• Derry, Northern Ireland
10 Dec 15
I believe the pendulum starts its back-swing on 21-December... When the days begin to lengthen once more. January is still very dark and depressing nonetheless
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
10 Dec 15
Both January and February are notoriously miserable months so I think that I shall start having an 8 month calendar in future and leave all the cold dark ones for someone else.
• United States
10 Dec 15
Once the sun sets (about 4:30 pm here) I find it so depressing. I never thought I had such an attachment to daylight until the last few years.
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
10 Dec 15
I also find that I do not notice the shortening days until it suddenly appears to be dark extremely early, at which time it cannot be ignored.
@shshiju (10343)
• Cochin, India
10 Dec 15
I think it is the nature play and it happens in every year.
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
10 Dec 15
I do have some strange sensation of deja vu, as though this has happened in the past.
@nanette64 (20368)
• Fairfield, Texas
10 Dec 15
Boy am I with ya there @Asylum . I am a sunshine person and as far as I'm concerned, it should be daylight from 6am to 10pm and the max temp should be 80 and the low 65. Geez, I'd be a happy camper. I don't know how people in Alaska can have 6 MONTHS of daylight and then 6 MONTHS of dark. I would go bonkers.
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
10 Dec 15
It would be difficult to adjust to either of those two periods. We are so accustomed to having a daily cycle of day and night that any other system would be quite disorienting.
1 person likes this
@marijuana (570)
• Tel Aviv, Israel
10 Dec 15
Oh yeah.. right after 4 PM it starts getting dark and I already feel its evening.. and I feel like all offices are closed and in this cold I feel like jumping to bed under the warm blanket .. I am not very productive these days :D
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
10 Dec 15
It was dark at 15-49 here today, which is nearer to midday than the evening.