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Old 11-16-2010, 11:45 PM
 
648 posts, read 1,169,717 times
Reputation: 1315

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yes, yes yes yes YES!! Thank you-- finally, someone else has the same aversion to excessive sun. I crave grey skies and cloudy days- and hello, how about a little rain once in a while?
But since moving south (and as the weather patterns have changed drastically in recent years, even here).. I have to deal with very little break from excessive, annoying, never-ending blinding sunlight... and what feels like summertime for most of the year. How can you enjoy the spring & summer when there's no fall & winter? I get so annoyed I have to clench my teeth when someone says 'Oh gosh-- it's GORGEOUS outside!' oh yes-- it's so wonderful to have the glaring, obnoxious sunlight burning your retinas 360 days out of the year! Wow, we've never seen THAT before! ...and, 80-85 degrees in NOVEMBER...??? That's just wrong. For me it's like Chinese water torture. I desperately need shade, filtered light.. to me that seems natural. Especially in the Fall.
This endless summer thing... it's definitely NOT normal and it's absolutely, positively global warming related. So I just want to scream-- oh yes you think it's 'gorgeous'-- but WHY isn't anyone horrified at this??? And how can you get excited about fall/winter holidays when it's 80's degrees outside and you are getting a sunburn if you stand outside for more than 30 seconds at 3pm...?? The searing afternoon sun in November makes me feel sick and disoriented. It's depressing and oppressive. There is nothing like that crisp, brisk invigorating fall/winter air that gives your body a jump-start.. and the grey sky that is so soothing to the eyes. I actually look out in the morning, day after day, hoping for grey, and every day when I see the stupid sun again, I just want to cry. When clouds come in and we get a little bit of rain everything feels right again & I want to dance for joy. But sadly, in recent years there is bizarre unholy weather like it only rains at night, and briefly, and then abruptly stops and that's it. Never seen anything like it in all my years. Or, in the day, it drizzles for a few minutes and the stupid sun comes right back out and burns it all up into a hot, soupy, sticky, swampy mess. I remember the days when there used to be a good long soaking rain that sometimes lasted for days... and it made everything feel cool & refreshing... and it also replenished the water needed in the environment.

OK, I guess I'm bringing up 2 separate issues here-- personal preference (which could be genetic..?) and a slow drawn-out global catastrophe to which most people seem to be blissfully clueless about.

There, I feel better now. In short-- I feel your pain!
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Old 11-17-2010, 11:42 AM
 
Location: E ND & NW MN
4,818 posts, read 10,956,590 times
Reputation: 3631
Quote:
Originally Posted by opalminor View Post
I get so annoyed I have to clench my teeth when someone says 'Oh gosh-- it's GORGEOUS outside!' oh yes-- it's so wonderful to have the glaring, obnoxious sunlight burning your retinas 360 days out of the year!
That is how I feel as well. I am a meteorologist no less....and got lucky to move almost as far north as you can in the lower 48. But yes..anytime it is cloudy out or cold and cloudy out everyone complains about the misery...then I feel the need to come in and say how wonderful it is. I grew up in the south and got so tired of the endless heat and humidity and I just hated being outside and would need to pull the blinds and turn on the A/C in my room as a teenager and then when winter came I could emerge and be outside. I am from Kentucky by the way where at least it did snow some....thus my love of winter cold and snow.

But I do understand completely the traditional SAD as it is pretty common up here. We are not talking about preferences, but actual people who get depressed and really almost shut down. Most people do that in the winter I do it in the summer. Same thing but for some reason our bodies are a bit tuned to be different. I can live for weeks without any sun and it doesnt bother me at all....I can be somewhere with it below zero F for weeks and no bother. Here is it where I live today....at 11 am it is 28 degrees cloudy with a north wind of 20 mph and I can go out in a T-shirt and feel great!

Thanks for sharing...

Dan
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Old 11-17-2010, 01:04 PM
 
301 posts, read 402,115 times
Reputation: 133
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaninEGF View Post
Hi

I live in the upper Midwest (Grand Forks ND) and I have ran into many people who suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) due to our shorter days, and often cloudy and cold weather. Once summer arrives and days are longer many people are very happy.

I am the opposite and always have been. I strongly prefer cloudy days with no sun for days on end and I love nighttime and dislike daylight. This time of the year and through the winter, I am happier, exercise more, and I want to be awake more. Once Spring arrives and the grass greens up and it hits about 70 degrees I can go through a period of severe anxiety and can get very short tempered in the hot temperatures over the summer.

I grew up in Kentucky and was that way as a child too....pulling the blinds down in the summer and never going outside in the heat versus always going out when it snowed in the winter. That is one reason I moved to where I did to escape the summer heat as much as possible. Anything above 75 or 80, and I just dread going outside as I sweat terribly and get very irritated easily.
I just want to stay inside my house with blinds down and the A/C on.

In the winter time...I love being outside and love being cold. I often wear shorts down to 30 degrees where people think I am crazy. My body can tolerate cold very well versus the heat.

My question is how many others out there are like this? I have been recently to my doctor as I noticed over this past summer in particular, my irritiability and anger was more severe than usual. I can usually handle two sunny days in a row, but give my 4 or 5 without much clouds and I just feel like shutting myself in and my wife notices I am way more irritable and I complain all the time. I had my doctor do blood work and all was normal with the exception of testosterone which was in the 180 range (I am in my mid 40s). I started treatment, but while that may explain the extreme irritability and moodiness over the past summer, it doesnt explain my aversion to sun and my love of cloudy days.

I am in the weather forecasting field as a career, and for this upcoming week in my area it will be cloudy for the next 5-7 days. I am elated and so happy as it had been sunny for the past few days. My co-workers talk about the gloom and I love it. Surely there are others like this.

My doctor has said that reverse SAD is real and I certainly feel it.

Sorry for the rambling....
Dan
I can be the same way. Sure, I love cool sunny 70 degree days, but what I love even more is raining days, cold days, or just dark days in general. I'm not sure what it is, but it makes things more exciting. And during the summer the sun can just get annoying with how painfully bright it is. I'm always ready for the snow to melt and the sun to come out at the end of a cold March/Early April, but I'm even more excited about the days getting colder and darker during the winter, such as right now.
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Old 11-17-2010, 05:29 PM
 
Location: In a state of denial
1,289 posts, read 3,024,625 times
Reputation: 954
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaninEGF View Post
Hi

I live in the upper Midwest (Grand Forks ND) and I have ran into many people who suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) due to our shorter days, and often cloudy and cold weather. Once summer arrives and days are longer many people are very happy.

I am the opposite and always have been. I strongly prefer cloudy days with no sun for days on end and I love nighttime and dislike daylight. This time of the year and through the winter, I am happier, exercise more, and I want to be awake more. Once Spring arrives and the grass greens up and it hits about 70 degrees I can go through a period of severe anxiety and can get very short tempered in the hot temperatures over the summer.

I grew up in Kentucky and was that way as a child too....pulling the blinds down in the summer and never going outside in the heat versus always going out when it snowed in the winter. That is one reason I moved to where I did to escape the summer heat as much as possible. Anything above 75 or 80, and I just dread going outside as I sweat terribly and get very irritated easily.
I just want to stay inside my house with blinds down and the A/C on.

In the winter time...I love being outside and love being cold. I often wear shorts down to 30 degrees where people think I am crazy. My body can tolerate cold very well versus the heat.

My question is how many others out there are like this? I have been recently to my doctor as I noticed over this past summer in particular, my irritiability and anger was more severe than usual. I can usually handle two sunny days in a row, but give my 4 or 5 without much clouds and I just feel like shutting myself in and my wife notices I am way more irritable and I complain all the time. I had my doctor do blood work and all was normal with the exception of testosterone which was in the 180 range (I am in my mid 40s). I started treatment, but while that may explain the extreme irritability and moodiness over the past summer, it doesnt explain my aversion to sun and my love of cloudy days.

I am in the weather forecasting field as a career, and for this upcoming week in my area it will be cloudy for the next 5-7 days. I am elated and so happy as it had been sunny for the past few days. My co-workers talk about the gloom and I love it. Surely there are others like this.

My doctor has said that reverse SAD is real and I certainly feel it.

Sorry for the rambling....
Dan
OMG! I'm the EXACT SAME WAY! I've never known someone who was like me, until now. We're in the same boat.
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Old 11-17-2010, 10:54 PM
 
Location: earth?
7,284 posts, read 12,876,506 times
Reputation: 8956
I love hearing about this. It is so refreshing. Literally and figuratively! Love cold weather. Unfortunately, it's summer time where I live
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Old 11-21-2010, 09:30 AM
 
Location: USA
313 posts, read 400,887 times
Reputation: 528
Thank you for talking about reverse SAD. I've never met anyone else like me before who feels depressed, and physically unwell when it's hot and sunny and bright.

Even with sunglasses I find it hard to function. My face and body get so hot, I feel like I'm going pass out. I have on occasion

Nice to know I'm not alone! Whew. My family thinks I'm nuts and just making a big deal about it. One of these days on a particular hot day when I'm in a really foul mood maybe I will just say - Well I don't pooh-pooh SAD, so how about the same consideration!
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Old 11-21-2010, 10:04 AM
 
Location: Middle America
37,409 posts, read 53,263,329 times
Reputation: 53065
I don't cope well, physically, with intense humidity, but I don't believe I have SAD. I generally feel energized, productive, and emotionally even-keel during long, sunny days. I do very well in dry, desert climates, the sun and heat don't bother me at all. But crank up the humidity, and not only does it emotionally get to me, the physical discomfort is ridiculous. My SO is not affected by this at all, he thrives on heat and humidity. We have air conditioning wars.
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Old 11-21-2010, 12:25 PM
 
Location: earth?
7,284 posts, read 12,876,506 times
Reputation: 8956
I am studying Ayurveda at the moment and there is a type of disposition described that does not like heat. It is called "Pitta."
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Old 11-21-2010, 12:46 PM
 
Location: Too far from the beach, NJ
5,073 posts, read 4,723,246 times
Reputation: 2564
This is ME! I dread the summer months, the hot, humid LONG days. I try to stay inside as much as possible and actually plan my days around avoiding the heat. During this kind of weather, I feel more irritable and tense. When the sun is so bright, it seems like there's just no getting away from it. Noises seem louder and my skin feels too tight or something, just not quite right. I crave soft, cool, grey weather that's somehow so much more gentle and forgiving. This is why the Autumn is by far my favorite season, followed by Winter, Spring, and the dreaded Summer. It's nice to know there are other like-minded individuals.
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Old 11-23-2010, 06:35 PM
 
Location: Western North Carolina
7,971 posts, read 10,539,867 times
Reputation: 18735
Glad I'm not the only one. I expecially love the cloudy, fall days we are having. I love the colors of the autumn leaves against the dark sky much more than the sunny days. I find it invigorating. The heat and sunshine make me want to curl up in a ball and do absolutely NOTHING.
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