Freezing weather and freezing rain, Sudburians feeling emotional side effects of winter

From extreme cold warnings, snowfall warnings and freezing rain warnings: Sudbury residents are really starting to feel the emotional side effects from this winter weather.

The winter blues is something that affects most people, with the cold days and the loss of daylight people usually spend less time outside.

"If we don't see the sun too often it can be very depressing so we need other ways to cope... I'd like to see a little more sunshine, less freezing rain and ice as well," said Barry Stewart, a Sudbury resident.

Stewart says he normally likes to go skating in the winter to help improve his mood, but with the freezing temperatures and the freezing rain, he says it's made it hard for him to want to leave home. 

"I used to love winter as a kid but nowadays it's just been so unpredictable with drops in temperature and weather like this, I can't wait for summer," said Stewart.

"Around this time of year really we tend to find ourselves not really spending as much time outside, lots of darkness, less sunlight, so our moods kind of diminish over the course of the winter," says Emily Zanini, the Health Promotion Educator with the Canadian Mental Health Association Sudbury-Manitoulin branch.

"Our energy and our moods are a little lower this time of year so it's just really important that we're recognizing that within ourselves and communicating that with our social support networks," she said. 

However, Zanini says if people are feeling down or in a rut for longer periods of time, it could be more than just the winter blues.

"Seasonal depression tends to affect people every year around this time whereas winter blues maybe people only feel them once in a while, so seasonal depression definitely takes a longer toll on somebody's mental health whereas the winter blues has more of a temporary affect," she said.

While most people feel down in the winter, once in a while, seasonal depression is a real depression disorder that can last from the beginning of winter until the end and it usually returns year after year.

"If you're consistently feeling low and having bad days for two weeks then maybe it's time to go reevaluate, talk to somebody... as long as you're reaching out for support that's the most important thing," said Zanini.

There are ways to help cope with the winter blues.

"Finding spaces with windows when it is daylight, getting outside as much as possible, but the most important thing is probably reaching out to social support if we are kind of feeling like we're in a little rut or we're down on ourselves," said Zanini.

Sudbury resident Natalie Allaire says this winter is worse than she's used to even though she grew up living even more north.

"Nobody wants to leave their house and I don't blame them either, I'm actually originally from further up north and I find this winter like nothing I've probably ever seen even in my childhood when we had snowbanks up to our roofs, but this year it's something else," said Allaire.

But having a toddler at home helps keep her busy and active during the long and cold winter days.

"They just want to be outside all the time so we bring him out swimming and stuff like that... so we just try our best to keep everybody occupied," she said.