Relocating from California to Idaho

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by cleosmom

The summer of 2021 when we had several days of smoke filled skies is when I purchased day light light bulbs for every fixture in our house. Big difference!!

Yes- those daylight bulbs do make a huge difference! Those warm white bulbs may make your eyes happy, but they won't fight the depression at all.

A big part of SADD is the increasing lack of natural daylight in the winter months. Those daylight bulbs, no matter what kind they are, very closely imitate natural daylight's color spectrum.

They cannot, however, ever equal natural daylight's power; nothing can equal the power of the sun. The bulbs have to stay lit pretty much continuously to do their work. For me, that makes for a very brightly lit house all winter until it's my bedtime. The sudden darkness actually helps me sleep better when I turn all the lights off.

I think SADD is genetic. I've had it all my life, and I know my mother had it, even though she never knew she did. Pres. Lincoln had it, for sure; he called it The Black Dog, and often mentioned it in his daily journals in the winter.

I use his term for it. It's a constant fight for me every winter, and I quite often lose the fight. But if I take a lot of vitamin D, more vitamins in general than I usually take, and turn on all the lights, the worst of the Black Dog is kept at bay for me.

The only time in my life I never had to wrestle the Black Dog was during my hitch in the Navy.

I was stationed on a ship that was sent to the Southern Hemisphere in the winter months, and south of the Equator, the seasons reverse; I would always sail southward in late fall in the USA into late spring, and would spend the months of our winter in the summer months down on the southern half of the world.

So I never spent a full winter here in the U.S. for 4 years. And I never suffered from SADD at all for those years. We didn't return until it was late fall down there, so I had nothing but endless summer for 4 full years.

That was the only time in my life when snowfall was a rarity. I missed Idaho snow a lot more than I missed the dark of winter, for sure.

[cleosmom]

Originally Posted by banjomike

Yes- those daylight bulbs do make a huge difference! Those warm white bulbs may make your eyes happy, but they won't fight the depression at all.

A big part of SADD is the increasing lack of natural daylight in the winter months. Those daylight bulbs, no matter what kind they are, very closely imitate natural daylight's color spectrum.

They cannot, however, ever equal natural daylight's power; nothing can equal the power of the sun. The bulbs have to stay lit pretty much continuously to do their work. For me, that makes for a very brightly lit house all winter until it's my bedtime. The sudden darkness actually helps me sleep better when I turn all the lights off.

I think SADD is genetic. I've had it all my life, and I know my mother had it, even though she never knew she did. Pres. Lincoln had it, for sure; he called it The Black Dog, and often mentioned it in his daily journals in the winter.

I use his term for it. It's a constant fight for me every winter, and I quite often lose the fight. But if I take a lot of vitamin D, more vitamins in general than I usually take, and turn on all the lights, the worst of the Black Dog is kept at bay for me.

The only time in my life I never had to wrestle the Black Dog was during my hitch in the Navy.

I was stationed on a ship that was sent to the Southern Hemisphere in the winter months, and south of the Equator, the seasons reverse; I would always sail southward in late fall in the USA into late spring, and would spend the months of our winter in the summer months down on the southern half of the world.

So I never spent a full winter here in the U.S. for 4 years. And I never suffered from SADD at all for those years. We didn't return until it was late fall down there, so I had nothing but endless summer for 4 full years.

That was the only time in my life when snowfall was a rarity. I missed Idaho snow a lot more than I missed the dark of winter, for sure.

You’re correct that there is no substitute for actual sunlight. I’m fortunate not to suffer from SADD in the typical fashion; winter. Mine rather comes with the smoke filled skies, my brain knows it’s supposed to be blue skies and sunshine.

[volosong]

Originally Posted by cleosmom

...Mine rather comes with the smoke filled skies, my brain knows it’s supposed to be blue skies and sunshine.

We were fortunate this year in NID. Just a few weeks of smoke and not heavy to the point where one didn't want to go outside. It was more like a hazy smog-filled summer day in L.A.

[cleosmom]

Originally Posted by volosong

We were fortunate this year in NID. Just a few weeks of smoke and not heavy to the point where one didn't want to go outside. It was more like a hazy smog-filled summer day in L.A.

Same here volvosong, summer of 2021 was rough though.

[ThaEnd]

SaDD is very real. Suicide is very high in Idaho. Especially among the young children. My neighbhors son shot himself in the head, another neighbhor about a mile away had their 15 years old hang himself from the ceiling fan.

We have had them as young as 1o years old take their lives. This never make the news as negative news in Idaho is controlled.

[ejisme]

Originally Posted by ThaEnd

SaDD is very real. Suicide is very high in Idaho. Especially among the young children. My neighbhors son shot himself in the head, another neighbhor about a mile away had their 15 years old hang himself from the ceiling fan.

We have had them as young as 1o years old take their lives. This never make the news as negative news in Idaho is controlled.

Sad, but this is more than an Idaho issue, but a nation-wide teen issue. My niece, and several fellow high school kids, all committed suicide in Denver a few years ago. For her a week before her 16th birthday. As I recall she was the fifth student that year from her high school.

[ThaEnd]

Originally Posted by ejisme

Sad, but this is more than an Idaho issue, but a nation-wide teen issue. My niece, and several fellow high school kids, all committed suicide in Denver a few years ago. For her a week before her 16th birthday. As I recall she was the fifth student that year from her high school.

Yes , you are very correct, in New York pre teens are jumping off high rises. It is all over.

[ChrisMT]

My neighbor mentioned that two of her retired friends that moved to Northern Idaho couldn’t take the long gloomy winters. One friend moved back to California and the other rents a condominium in Reno for several months in the winter.

Lake Tahoe has quite a few summer-only residents. Some AirBnb their homes in the winter if they can snag a short-term rental permit, others own several homes in different locales.

[1200RT]

Originally Posted by ChrisMT

Lake Tahoe has quite a few summer-only residents

Like many ski resorts … people come for the winters, but stay for the summers.