Emerging from his burrow on Feb. 2, the famous groundhog Punxsutawney Phil was met with a dark shadow cast below him, indicating six more weeks of winter. While some may enjoy this possibility of further snow, other people continue to feel the negative effects of the season.
For many students, wintertime is one of the hardest parts of the year. Days can feel long, cold, and boring. What seems like a simple assignment in the fall and spring may become the most grueling task in the winter. Overall, many students just feel lazy and heavy, lacking the motivation to complete schoolwork and study for tests.
While some may attribute this loss of energy and motivation to exhaustion from a long semester, it can actually be explained by science.
According to an article by Live Science, a disruption of your body’s natural hormones in the winter can lower energy levels. Melatonin is a hormone that is produced in response to darkness and creates feelings of sleepiness. Humans’ pineal gland produces more melatonin in the winter because the sun rises later and sets earlier, making you feel less energized and motivated.
The decrease in sunlight doesn’t just affect motivation by altering hormones, but also by disrupting our body’s circadian rhythm, which is human’s internal 24-hour clock that regulates our physiological functions such as our sleep-wake cycle.
“Naturally, our bodies, as humans, with our circadian rhythm are like: when it’s dark we get tired, that’s when we’re supposed to sleep,” counselor Mrs. Dani Lyons said. “So it makes sense that we wouldn’t want to do things when it’s dark.”
Winter can also cause mood changes: some people encounter a form of depression called seasonal affective disorder (SAD). SAD can worsen mood and cause overwhelming sadness, which may be the source of some people’s lethargy.
On top of this, cold weather deters most people from exercising, which is an important activity shown to boost energy levels, mental health, and sleep according to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“I like to go on walks, and it makes me better at thinking about things, and then I end my walk with more motivation,” sophomore Coco Sauve said. “But then in the winter when I can’t go on walks because it’s so cold, I feel trapped and I feel like I am not able to do anything.”
For students like Sauve, winter halts the activities that are motivating and enjoyable to them.
”For me, a big thing is that it’s the off season for my two main sports,” sophomore Mae Valcich said. “So it’s hard for me to find motivation, because there are less things that are important to me happening at that time.”
Winter can also be a very slow, boring time of the year. Students tend to have less social activities as compared to the warm months, giving them less motivation and things to look forward to outside of work.
“I think that my motivation in school is also affected by my life outside of school,” junior Shannon Murphy said. “And in the winter, I’m a lot less social, and I do a lot less things, which makes it hard to stay motivated.”
For students feeling unmotivated, finding a productive routine that works for them can counteract some of the laziness that winter manifests.
“I try to go to the gym, and then also stay active within the school by joining a lot of clubs,” sophomore Jane Allsman said. “Also I run indoor track with [Valcich] and that sets up my afternoon so I don’t just go home and lie in my bed instead.”
Although this time of year can be hard and schoolwork can seem daunting and neverending, winter doesn’t last forever. Lyons emphasizes the importance of giving yourself grace and recognizing that there is science behind your current laziness.
“Nothing in nature blooms all year. Like, even the trees don’t have leaves right now, right? They’re taking a break,” Lyons said. “It’s okay. It’s not normal to be motivated all the time.”
