Cabin Fever...in Summer? (Anchorage, Fairbanks: appointed, house, buy)

[linz98144]

I've been in Alaska from California since fall. I loved fall, everything was so crisp and beautiful ...my camera got quite a workout. The anticipation of my very first winter was exciting. People told me about Cabin fever and SAD so I took vitiman D and got a SAD light to be on the safe side.

Winter came late, but I welcomed it with open arms. I throughly enjoyed every second of skiing, skating, playing in the snow, and simply sitting at the window watching it fall.

Practically the second it began to melt, I felt myself becoming sad and disappointed. Spring was just dreadful. Everything was so ugly and depressing. Everyone told me to hang on for summer and that was the best time of year.
Well I've hung and and I can't stand it, it's driving me nuts. The bald mountains, the weeds in the ground, the freezing(but not frozen) lakes, and all this daylight. All I do is sit around and wait for winter to return. I've gotten blackout curtains, but still can't seem to sleep.

It seems I have "cabin fever" or SAD, but yet everything I read says that happens only in winter when there is less daylight. Less daylight didn't bother me in the least, lots of daylight seems to...

Can anyone relate? What is going on? Any advice.

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by linz98144

It seems I have "cabin fever" or SAD, but yet everything I read says that happens only in winter when there is less daylight. Less daylight didn't bother me in the least, lots of daylight seems to...

Can anyone relate? What is going on? Any advice.

I've never bothered to read up on SAD, so I have no idea what you might have read. But the fact is that in Northern areas such as Alaska we have a lot of psychological problems in the spring, not during the dark hours of winter. "Cabin Fever" is also called "Spring Fever". The actual problem is adapting to increasing intervals of daylight.

The trick to preventing it is to avoid adapting well to longer periods without daylight. Hence if you use a lot of lights in the winter months, and put blackout curtains on your windows the effect is to reduce the change that happens when the days get longer.

[gobrien]

Maybe the daylight is messing with your internal clock, many people report "feverish" activity" in our light months. All I can suggest is maybe looking into melatonin, it helps with that. Also, maybe what with all the cozy darkness, you maybe haven't found activities you might like in the warmer months, perhaps develop some new interests and find a way to utilize all this daylight. Melatonin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[AADAD]

gosh. where are you living. it's been really pretty this spring. is there anything else going on ?

[green_mariner]

I would just go further north, perhaps to Barrow.

[NomadicBear]

I think what you're complaining of would bother me more than the short winter days, too. Insomnia is a killer.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by NomadicBear

I think what you're complaining of would bother me more than the short winter days, too. Insomnia is a killer.

Short winter days can be interesting. For some reason, I find alot of excitement in thinking about the sun setting in the middle of the afternoon or earlier.

[FloridaKash]

Fishing season has arrived, take advantage... go out and get busy. Enjoy being able to fish all night long and be able to see what you are doing. Sounds like you were really active during the winter months and you have been idle doing nothing. Well, spring is over, summer is here so now there are things to do once again. The running/biking trails are in great condition now. Hiking is a go. Fishing season is about to start and comping season has arrived as well. I am not one to swim in Alaska Lakes.... too cold for me, plus definitely too early to try. I am not sure why people have such a hard time sleeping when the sun is still up. Haven't these people ever taken a nap during the day or fallen asleep with lights on?

I agree with an earlier poster. If you were trying to sit in the dark as much as possible during the winter... then yeah..... that probably compounded the issue. Also, get away from only using incadescent light bulbs in your house during the winter. The yellow light they make is very unnatural and nowhere near the same light spectrum of the sun.

[linz98144]

Let me clarify, I spent most of winter outdoors even in the dark. I found tons of stuff to do then and loved every second of it.
Maybe I do need more activity now that the snow is gone? I just can't seem to find anything to do that interests me. I feel so blah, so down in the dumps.
In doing further online searches it appears I my have something called "summertime blues" which is a form of SAD. I'm going to contact an MD to see what she may have to say.

[warptman]

Originally Posted by linz98144

Let me clarify, I spent most of winter outdoors even in the dark. I found tons of stuff to do then and loved every second of it.
Maybe I do need more activity now that the snow is gone? I just can't seem to find anything to do that interests me. I feel so blah, so down in the dumps.
In doing further online searches it appears I my have something called "summertime blues" which is a form of SAD. I'm going to contact an MD to see what she may have to say.

Go buy yourself a mountain bike and enjoy all the trails in Anchorage, well, all over the place for that matter. You can bike all the way out to Eagle River on a bike. Get a camera and go on mini-road trips, anything to keep you busy. This is a excellent time of year to go and explore. Not many tourists as of yet. I was in town last weekend and drove over to Glennallen and Fairbanks, had a blast. It's amazing how everything on the road system is green, and it's still a ugly brown out here.