Snow Day

I crawled out of bed this morning, and after acquiring a cup of Joe, I noticed it was snowing outside. A gentle, lazy snow - none of that wind-driven, white-out stuff. This suddenly called to mind an old Simpson's "snow day" episode....

The story goes that Bart has been doing miserably in school, and is in danger of being held back if he doesn't pass his next exam. That night, after getting corralled by Homer (such a good Dad) into putting off studying in favor of watching a King Kong knockoff, Bart resolves to at long last hit the books. But the hour has grown too late, and in desperation, he prays for a miracle, to buy him some time....

Voila, the next morning, it is snowing. And it turns out that school has been called. But instead of remembering his prayer of the previous night, he grabs his sled and snow goggles and makes a headlong dash for the door. However, waiting for him at that portal to a winter wonderland is Bart's perpetual conscience, his sister Lisa, who reminds him in a philosophical sort of way about his prayer of the previous evening.

So, Bart dutifully trudges back upstairs, and once in his room, a mental war ensues. "Stupid snow day," he says to himself, "how good can it be...?"

But it's good. Looking out the window, he sees a scene of winter joy unparalleled.The whole town is out there, having fun. The crooked, philandering Mayor Quimby even makes an appearance, and from a podium which just happens to be handy announces, "I hereby declare this SNOW DAY - the FUNNEST DAY EVER in Springfield..." Thereafter, everyone in town joins hands in a circle, and begins to sing "Winter Wonderland."

How does it turn out? Does Bart stick to the books and save the day, or does he yield to temptation?

If you haven't seen it, I guess you'll just have to find out.

Click here to watch the entire episode online.

The Midwinter Blues

"There aint no cure for the summertime blues," goes the old song. I'm not sure if that's true, but the idea behind the lyric, I think, is that if the sunny skies and warm temperatures of summer can't banish the blues....well, it might be time to ask the doc about an antidepressant.

For the "wintertime blues," however - those endless dark days that maybe leave you feeling tired and  grumpy, there may be a solution. Much attention has been focused in recent years on the phenomenon of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), a disorder in which a lack of daily exposure to bright sunlight triggers chemical changes in the brain which lead to a deficit in serotonin, the so-called "feelgood" neurotransmitter.

Yet, despite attention by the medical community, and a  growing consensus that SAD is a bonafide medical condition (see the Mayo Clinic's SAD page), very few people that I speak to about it take the idea very seriously.  It is interesting to note that here in Bellingham, WA, which has one of the grimmest, darkest winter climes you'd ever care to live in, I have found that most large stores don't carry   the light therapy devices, and more often than not, the clerks I speak with have never even heard of them ("Bed, Bath and Beyond" was the most recent example of that).

One might think that in this part of the world, entire shops would have sprung up around the concept. A friend of mine from Alaska has told me that these devices are practically a "common household appliance" up north. And in the Scandinavian countries, "light bars" have sprung up, where you go for coffee, or to read and study, while at the same time getting your daily dose of bright light.

Regardless of what people think or do, it is simply a fact that a very effective treatment for SAD is bright light. I don't mean, "light bulb bright." I mean, "10,000 lumens bright." A number of companies have sprung up on the web who manufacture these therapeutic devices (which tend to be a bit on the pricey side). It's beyond the scope of this blog to review them all for you.  I can, however, send you in that general direction, and a good place to start is apollolight.com. I direct you there because I actually purchased an Apollo "Go-Lite" at Costco just a couple weeks ago. If you have a membership, or you know a friend who does, check it out before you buy it off the web - I got the Apollo Go-Lite premium model (P2) at Costco for $100 less  than you can get it retail from the manufacturer on the web.  This device has some additional features above and beyond the more inexpensive  models, but the important thing is that they all emit high intensity light. The base model retails online at $179.

And let me tell you - from my experience in the last few weeks, it works. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I get pretty down in the mouth during the dark days of winter, and it's been getting worse each passing year. Last winter was so bad, in fact, that I resolved to give light therapy a go. And I haven't regretted it. My mood is so much more "up" and "optimistic" at this point, so much more like my "summer mood" - that it actually seems odd to feel so good, at this time of the year.

So good that I decided to start this Christmas blog.

If you suffer from the midwinter blues, you might consider trying out light therapy. It can give you your joy back.

The author's GoLITE. It was worth every penny.