Depression in the middle of winter is not a sign of chemical imbalance but a simple sign of ingrained survival. While the weather turns cold and the winds turn brutal, depression is a survival skill of the body. When the body was designed, it wasn’t crafted to live in perfectly tropical climates all the time, but it had some mechanisms for surviving the brutal winters that it faced without the convenience of gas heat. Depression was one of those survival mechanisms. Depression is the one element that can make a body slow down emotionally and physically. It is the one force that can make one want to sleep all the time while actually slowing down the mechanical functions of the body. It drags the desire to get up and run and play out of you. When you are under winter’s watchful eye, you can imagine what our ancestors of yester—decades went through and how tough winter was on their bodies. They certainly weren’t privy to car seat warmers.
Depression can be nothing more than the body’s natural way of slowing everything down to battle against the elements. Unfortunately, many of us do not recognize that the mid winter blues just means that we are still connected to mankind from many centuries ago through our inherent body design. Even with modern conveniences, the mind and the body still slow down in order to cope effectively with shorter hours of day light and mind numbing chills that sweep us away. Depression becomes your mid winter friend to help you survive and not to create more issues for you.
