Seasonal-Affective-St-Andrews-Disorder

By Amy Lam

It starts so slowly, you’d barely realise it. At first, the changes are subtle, and maybe even welcome after a long summer. You wear an extra layer one day perhaps, or a singular orange leaf falls on you on your way to class. Are you more tired than usual, or is that just your imagination? And then before you know it, you’re stepping out at 5pm into the pitch black, the nights feel longer than the days could ever be, and you’re wearing a full winter coat in your house (because God forbid you turn on the heating). When the St Andrews winter arrives, it spares nobody. 

This is the sort of routine occurrence that every year without fail manages to surprise me. With climate change and our planet literally dying, I would’ve expected at least a nicer ease into the winter months, but no such luck. Having lived in the UK my entire life, I’m partial to the theory that we Brits secretly like having shorter days and colder nights, because it gives us something to complain about. There’s also my personal favourite excuse I say to myself annually - that sorry, I don’t study when the sun goes down. As the sunset in St Andrews can clock in as early as 3:30pm, my academic advisor has suggested I amend this. 

Picture taken by Amy Lam

But there’s a sinister side to this seasonal change that we all quietly dread too - the vague sort of depression that settles over the town. Not even the strongest are completely immune. No matter how many Vitamin D supplements you take, or how much you shine your SAD lamp (a light that treats seasonal affective disorder, with a great acronym), I found that last year, I couldn’t shake the feeling I was artificially tampering my mood. Nothing could recapture the effortless joy I felt from summers spent outside, and ironically it felt depressing to even try. I realised the independence of university acted as an amplifier for your lifestyle choices. You have the freedom to go out and have the time of your life, but also to rot your winter away inside your bedroom; never seeing the sun. It was a scary thought. 

If even I was so drastically affected by facing the St Andrews winter as a British person, I wondered how my international classmates from hotter climates were coping. Students here hail from all over the globe, and while the education is first-class, the adjustment from Dubai or Hong Kong weather to Fife’s is surely a little grating. I amused myself by imagining their perspectives, whatever they may be: lured in perhaps by a summer visit and a walk on the East Sands beach, without reckoning against British coldness - apparent throughout the country in both our weather and sensibilities. It seemed to me that no matter the background of students, everyone must be struggling a little bit with the seasonal changes, as well as missing home. 

It’s no secret that with the deadlines and exams looming over the horizon, these coming months will be a bit of a struggle. The long winter holiday provides a glimmer of hope, but there’s no avoiding the arctic coldness of January and February on your return that can leave you feeling dull again. However, there are little things you can do to make it a bit more bearable. Science advocates for early rises and bedtimes, as well as limiting your stress levels for general happiness, which is probably the antithesis of everything it means to be a university student, but if you can stick to it, I swear it can work. Wear your fuzzy hats and scarfs! I’m not a fashion expert, but I hear that nothing is more chic this season than escaping frostbite.

Most of all, if I can risk sounding too cliché, it’s so important to be kind to yourself when the rain freezes your face and the deadlines pile up. Buying yourself the extra hot chocolate from Taste and Fisher + Donaldson (or a baby Guinness in a pub if you’re that way inclined) and spending time with friends in between library shifts are small things that can genuinely brighten up your whole day, and I would argue are more essential than that extra hour scrolling on your phone alone. We are all going through this winter together, so it’s in our best interests to make the most of it, even if it takes that bit of extra effort.