With snow in the April forecast, it can seem like winter will never end.
Everywhere you look you’re reminded. Our record snowfall has piled up, and with more low temperatures set for this week, Reginans are facing a pretty depressing weather situation.
Provincial Executive Director of the Canadian Mental Health Association, David Nelson, says there’s very little mental health risks involved with a longer winter.
“I think it’s been a hard winter and all of us are saying, when is this going to end?” he said.
But Nelson says you shouldn’t confuse feeling down with feeling clinically depressed.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that sets in during the dead of winter, and affects about three per cent of the population.
The winter blues however, can affect everyone.
“It could be something that someone could feel depressed about, but honestly I think it’s just let’s get this over with and let’s have summer,” he said. “That’s not any kind of mental health issue.”
Local Canadian Tire manager, Cheryl Hendriks, says they get a lot of customers coming in just to visualize and dream about spring.
But despite the high traffic of shoppers, seasonal sales are low.
“We have a lot of lookers,” said Hendriks. “People like to look. They plan for the summer, and then go look at their backyard, and they can’t even measure the size of their deck.”
Nelson says even window shopping for now might make you feel better. If you’re feeling down, any sort of exercise or social interaction should help.
“The worst thing you can do is lay around, and be inside digging yourself into some sort of hole and say, I don’t want to go out because it’s cold,” said Nelson. “We live in a cold climate, so get out and do something.”
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