Winters suck for a lot of people, especially Oregonians. They can get sad, cold or simply lose motivation. The phrase I seem to hear most is “My seasonal depression is starting to hit,” but what does that mean?
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), or its more commonly used name, seasonal depression, is something that impacts 10 million people in the United States each year. It occurs when the weather gets colder as a response to the shorter days and less sunlight. It also has links to melatonin, the hormone the body creates to regulate sleep cycles. Our bodies produce more during colder months, creating tired feelings more than in the summer.
It also impacts people in colder climates more intensely. So, it makes sense that students in Oregon would be more impacted than in places like Southern California or Florida. At the University of Oregon, roughly 57% of students are out-of-state and, if you’ve met many of them, a large percentage are from California.
Keeping all that in mind, it isn’t a jump to say that many of the students at UO may not have ever experienced SAD to the extent they do while studying here. So, what does the university do to help them?
The University Health Services website has an entire page dedicated to mental health resources. It has links to counseling services and numbers to call along with opening hours.
What isn’t clearly displayed, however, is information about where to go for specific disorders.
But, if one were to search “University of Oregon Seasonal Affective Disorder” something does pop up. It is a calendar with an event about coping with SAD. However, there is one problem. The event is on Jan. 22, 2018.
There is up-to-date information on depression on the website, but the two disorders are not the same.
In a university where thousands of students come from out-of-state, where the annual tuition is just over $16,000 for in-state and over $44,000 for out-of-state, why are these students not getting access to resources that could seriously help them in the winter months?
I’m not saying that there needs to be an entire team created for SAD, but annual workshops instead of one nearly seven years ago might help.
Mental health is something that studies show as many as 70%% of college students struggle with. Even if not all of those students are impacted by SAD, that is still over half that might benefit from some help understanding how to better cope with it.
It is time UO started looking at more workshops to help with the transition from beautiful Eugene summers to the cold winter months.
If you or someone you know is struggling with SAD there are resources to help, even something as simple as talking to a friend might be helpful to you. There is treatment that can help.
