Michigan’s pride in being a “Great Lakes state” may provide fun summers, but Michigan’s winters lead to a host of difficulties for its residents in the form of Seasonal Affective Disorder, or “SAD.”

“I feel trapped in Hillsdale under a permacloud in the winter,” said Hillsdale resident Jessica Franklin, wife of associate professor of English Kelly Franklin. “I noticed the sun didn’t come out as much and I missed it.”

According to the National Weather Service, cold air moving from Canada and across the relatively warm Great Lakes creates cloudiness and snow in the lower part of Michigan’s atmosphere. In the first five days of January, the National Weather Service reported only five total minutes of sun in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Originally from the Twin Cities, Minnesota, Franklin attended college in southeastern Ohio before moving to Hillsdale. According to Franklin, the winter in both places is mild but gray.

“At the end of my first freshman semester, I told my friends I couldn’t wait to go home for Christmas,” Franklin said. “They thought I was crazy because it was 20 or 30 degrees colder in Minnesota. My immediate response was, ‘Yes, but the sun’s out in Minnesota.’”

Although students can’t easily take a break from the gray in the middle of the semester, Franklin began a habit of visiting a college friend in Phoenix, Arizona, after her daughter was born in November 2016.

“I had a winter baby and I was holed up as a new mom, losing my mind,” Franklin said. “That’s when I contacted my friend from college in tears and asked if I could bring my 4-month-old baby down to visit. This started a wonderful tradition of going to Phoenix every single winter for at least a week. The warmth and sun are very recharging and restful.”

Freshman Rachel Downey also noticed that her hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, has more sun in the wintertime than Hillsdale. Starting in late December and continuing into early March, she reports feelings of extreme exhaustion and brain fog.

“It’s the realization that you need to do work, but it is so hard to get up and do activities that I normally do,” Downey said. “I had to explain to my roommate why I’m always in my bed after class.”

According to Brock Lutz, director of health and wellness and a clinical counselor, the symptoms of SAD are also typical signs of depression. These symptoms include lack of energy, low motivation, and inexplicable feelings of sadness.

“The official term is SAD, but seasonal depression is not misleading, because the symptoms are usually depressive symptoms,” Lutz said.

For Franklin, the general depressive symptoms of SAD become noticeable in early November and last through the beginning of March.

“I feel so down, very hopeless, and lacking motivation,” Franklin said. “I still get food on the table and get things done, but it’s a battle to do those things.”

During her first Hillsdale winter in 2014, Franklin immediately felt agitated, irritable, and down. She said she began asking other women how they handled the winter and began to develop a winter plan after reading “Winter Blues” by Norman Rosenthal, the physician who coined the term SAD.

Lutz also emphasized the necessity of an individualized plan to manage SAD.

“We tend to focus on overall wellness in these situations, and encourage people to do some of the things that are hardest during depressive episodes: continue and develop healthy relationships, get regular sleep and eat regular meals that are balanced, continue to take time to reflect, grow as a person with silence and spiritual life, and work hard to stay on top of academics,” Lutz said. “Depression makes all of these things more difficult to do, and takes a lot of hard work to develop healthy coping, healthy mental perspective, and accountability to follow through.”

Downey combines exercise with friends and vitamin C and D supplements with visits to the “cat house,” the Felines and Friends shelter facility run by Associate Professor of Spanish Kátia Sherman.

“I have my cat back home that helps me, so I like going to the cat house,” Downey said. “It helps combat some of those symptoms.”

Franklin’s winter plan has changed over the years, but consistently includes exercise, time outside, vitamin supplements, and time with a light therapy lamp.

“My winter plan has grown and shifted over the years. It’s an exercise in self-discovery in a way,” Franklin said. “I try to combine things. Sometimes I’ll run on the treadmill with the happy lamp or use it while I have devotional time in the morning.”

As part of its recent renovations, the Ambler Health and Wellness Center invested in sunlight therapy lamps, according to Lutz.

“The lamps can be checked out at the front desk of the library and either used while in the library or can be taken home for a couple days to see how it works,” Lutz said. “It is usually recommended that they are used for 20 or 30 minutes before noon so as not to destroy a person’s typical sleep cycles.”

Additionally, students can dedicate time at the health center to use the lamps, Lutz said.

“We also have a room at the health center where students are welcome to come and use our light therapy lamp,” Lutz said. “It is a separate room where the door can be closed and people can use the space for quiet if they want a little bit more solitude.”

However, Franklin said that the happy lamp alone isn’t enough and that a winter plan with accountability partners is essential to combatting symptoms.

“You just have to sit down and take the time to map out a winter plan,” Franklin said. “Make sure you have things in your schedule which bring you joy and hold you accountable with your plan. For example, one friend you can exercise with, one friend reminds you to do your happy lights. Another friend you can have a weekly coffee date with so you can count on it.”

Other options for Hillsdale students include counseling to discuss effective strategies. according to Lutz.

For Franklin, outdoor physical activity is a key part of her winter plan.

“If the weather permits, I will get outside. The first few days where we had wind chills at 15 degrees, I decided I’m just putting out enough clothes and I’m going out and jogging,” Franklin said. “It was invigorating. There was a part of me that said ‘Take that, 15 degree windchill!’”

Hillsdale College students looking for outdoor physical activities are able to borrow cross country skis or snowshoes in Hayden Park. Christopher Netley, sports chiropractor and strength trainer, can also meet with students and staff to put together effective workout and training programs.

Franklin and Lutz both acknowledge that college is a busy time, but encourage students to create a winter plan to lessen SAD symptoms.

“I wish I had known about SAD in college and that I had it,” Franklin said. “I could have started making changes a lot sooner.”