Every Colorado transplant hears it within a week of moving here. Three hundred days of sunshine a year.
It’s not exactly true. According to Colorado’s state climatologist, that figure counts any day the sun shows up for at least an hour. By the National Weather Service’s sky-cover measure, Denver averages about 115 clear days a year, with roughly 130 partly cloudy and 120 cloudy ones. (Westword has the details.)
Still sunnier than Seattle. I bring it up because of what the myth does to people in November.
“But It’s Sunny. Why Do I Feel Like This?”
The clocks fall back this Sunday, November 1. By the solstice, Denver gets a little over nine hours of daylight, and most of us spend the best of it at a desk. You commute in the half-dark and drive home in the dark.
Seasonal depression isn’t only about gray skies. It has a lot to do with how much light reaches your eyes, especially in the morning, and that drops whether or not it’s a bluebird day. So you get people sitting in a bright Colorado kitchen in December, feeling flat and foggy, and then feeling guilty about it because everyone keeps saying how gorgeous it is out.
That guilt is the part I’d like to take off the table. You’re not ungrateful. Your body is responding to the season.
What It Can Look Like
The clinical name is major depression with a seasonal pattern. Plenty of people get a milder version that never meets that bar and still makes winter rough. Common signs:
- Sleeping more and still waking up tired
- Strong carb cravings, especially in the afternoon
- Canceling plans you’d normally enjoy
- A heavy, slowed-down feeling more than sadness exactly
- Low motivation that lifts, almost on schedule, around March
What Helps
Morning light, on purpose. A walk before 10 a.m. does more than one at 3. On workdays, a light therapy box helps a lot of people. The usual guideline is 10,000 lux for about 20 to 30 minutes soon after waking. Talk to your doctor first, especially if you’ve ever had bipolar disorder, because bright light can push some people toward mania.
Book January now. A standing walk with a friend, a class, a night at the hot springs. Low-energy January you will not make those plans. October you can.
Move gently and often. A loop around Wash Park counts. Regular and easy beats intense and occasional.
Keep your people close. Pulling away feels like rest and works like fuel for a low mood. Say yes to one thing a week even when you don’t feel like it.
When to Get Help
If winter has felt like this for a few years running, or this year it’s tipping into hopelessness, missed work, or thoughts that life isn’t worth it, please don’t wait for spring. Depression therapy works for the seasonal kind, and pairing it with light and sometimes medication is often the quickest way back to feeling like yourself. If you’re in crisis, call or text 988 any time.
We see clients in Denver, in Boulder, and online across Colorado, which comes in handy on the dark, icy evenings when going anywhere sounds impossible.
