Surviving the winter “tiredness”: What I learned living in the north

Before the winter, our circadian rhythm changes. You might feel more tired and sleepy in November depending on your particular latitude, . On far latitudes like Alaska or Finland, things get a lot extreme. Like everything with extremes, on the absence of sun and warm weather, every little thing COUNTS!

Every little thing means that, if you are not feeling incredibly optimistic or motivated for any task, it is very likely that you don’t want to go to the gym. Still, you are confident that you will feel better after 10-minute minimal weight lifting. Exercises like quadriceps and hamstrings — for the sake of muscle equilibrium — will do the job. In sunny words, if you had the possibility to teleport to Florida, you would feel intense pleasure from the sun.

(but here in the north we are severely deprived of the effective radiative sun for 11 months which provides Vitamin D). Yes, my friends, the winter is coming, or worse! Winter is here.

When you move up to the north, the first year everything is fine. Winter is good, “summer” or at least the Finnish summer is good. Yet, the second year might be really tired and even sad: There are physiological as well as behavioural reasons (who came first, the chicken or the egg?) that might explain your state of mind. Such as fewer social…