

Some notes on winter blues - fs111
http://frank.geekheim.de/?p=1985

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Sharlin
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.

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BarsMonster
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.

~~~
rawland
+1: Write an article about it.

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

~~~
BarsMonster
Hehe, yes it does survive :-)

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chett
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.

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AznHisoka
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.

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im3w1l
"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?!

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vonskippy
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.

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

~~~
berntb
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...

~~~
philwelch
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.

~~~
berntb
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.

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

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georgieporgie
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.

~~~
BarsMonster
How much watts?

~~~
georgieporgie
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.

