SAD syndrome

I became personally acutely aware again recently of the power of sunlight to change your mood - and, more specifically, of the mood change attributable to the ABSENCE of sunlight:

It's been really springlike here in Munich recently, and going outdoors has been a pleasure, not least because of the effect all this sudden sunlight has on me. I remember from my year in Spain that the world was always a happier place when the sun was out.

And now, just very recently the weather's been a bit iffy again. And I'm a lot sadder than I was. Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD syndrome, is the extreme version of this. It affects people especially in northern latitudes, where there really isn't much sun at all for whole chunks of the year.

Thankfully, it can be treated with very bright light. Hooray for that!