
Anna Bui also contributed to this article.
As the Earth orbits around the sun and winter settles in, the days have become shorter and colder. During this season, many people go through seasonal affective disorder (SAD), more commonly known as seasonal depression.
During winter, it is common for many people to remain inside the house in order to prevent the contraction of illnesses. However, in effect, many students feel confined within their houses, rotting away in their beds. The biggest symptoms shown of seasonal depression are seen to be described as exhaustion and solitary confinement.

Effect on Students
Due to the earth’s tilt, wintertime is proven to have more of a tremendous effect on the northern hemisphere. With the location of Malden High, the start of the winter season heavily affects the well-being of students which, consequently, has rapidly declined. “I believe the gloomy Massachusetts weather is a really big contributor to this,” sophomore Carolina Rosa De Oliveira clarified.
Students have noticed themselves becoming lazier, unmotivated, and overworked. Freshman Tara Villatore agreed: “When the seasonal depression starts to hit, I start feeling lonely, more lazy… I start to feel guilt, hopelessness, and I start getting frustrated and annoyed a lot more easily.”
Freshman Minerva Davenport expressed that “during this time of year,” they feel “a false sense of happiness,” because they know “it’s all limited.” Concerning the holiday season, Davenport believes that the festivity is short-lived, not being enough to sustain her feelings throughout the rest of winter.
Others have noticed an influx of feeling “more pressured and stressed,” or “really tired and sluggish,” as junior Johnny Mei and sophomore Ryan Huang said.
Cause of Emotions
A huge factor credited to the contribution of this effect lies in schoolwork and grades itself. Some students despise the workload distributed at this time, claiming many assignments are lodged into the weeks around winter break. Many have believed that teachers are trying to follow a specific schedule to meet an exact deadline.
“This time of year is when all classes are at full swing, so it feels like being crushed under piles of work weeks at a time,” explained Rosa De Oliveira, who continued, “Around Christmas break, we typically get midterms as well, so that really adds onto the anxiety.”
Typically, winter break at Malden High begins the day before Christmas Eve, allowing students to relax for the holidays. However, students have noticed that the break does not suffice and often causes more stress than comfort. Echoing this sentiment, junior Moon To shared that “the break between the quarter is both a blessing and a curse.” To further elaborate, the week-long vacation often leads to students’ forgetfulness of the information retained the weeks before break. Hence, many feel obliged to relearn everything without the proper lecture by a teacher.
“It’s a build-up of several weeks of work without breaks,” added sophomore Sofia Evoras, which many other students have agreed upon. Following the end of the first semester leading up to midterm week, the amount of work assigned tends to feel far more stressful compared to the remainder of the school year.
Backing the increasing amount of classwork, daylight savings messes with students’ brains, making them feel as if they have less free time to complete the tasks they need to do. “I think because of how early it gets dark, it just feels kind of drowsy in the evenings,” shared Villatore. Junior Linh Do added, “During the winter, it’s so hard to get work done and be motivated because it gets dark so early. I just feel tired all the time.”
With only about eight hours of sunlight daily, students’ moods have decreased with the sun’s rays—or the lack thereof. “The main cause for this might be less sunlight, as vitamin D can help boost someone’s mood,” said freshman Vanessa Nguyen. Rosa De Oliveira added on, stating, “My mood waking up to the sun shining and birds chirping, compared to rain and clouds, is like night and day.”

Coping and Solutions
To combat the feeling of eternal dread, many peers alike have developed various ways to entertain themselves throughout the frigid winter. Most students find themselves spending as much time as possible with loved ones. “I think having friends around and making sure you’re surrounded with good people is the best way to cope with any depressive feelings during this time of year,” stated Do.
A select few, such as Rosa de Oliveira, suggest that “therapy is definitely something worth looking into” if you are constantly overwhelmed by your emotions.
Many students have various methods of indulging in their hobbies to distract themselves from the workload. According to To, “prioritizing… extracurriculars such as sports” brings her “joy.”.
Sophomore Anniyah Azhar expressed that she prefers to “journal… small goals to get done everyday,” to keep herself afloat on all of the given work.
Nguyen suggested “…playing games or listening to… [your] favorite songs.”
Do also stated that her passion for “doing art or anything creative,” occupies her.
Whatever your preferred method might be, a common solution among many students has been to rely on those closest to you or further develop hobbies.
Many have agreed that because of the effect that classwork and grades has on their mental health, building communication between teachers and students could lift a bit of stress off their shoulders. “Some discussion between teachers and students would be ideal, so teachers can work hand-in-hand with students in staying on the right track,” expressed Evoras. Freshman Liliana Lin added, “Teachers could lessen the workload and many students…should work on time management.”
The phenomenon described as seasonal depression might not be a strange occurrence at all. Described by a flood of work and a lack of motivation, tied with the dreary weather, seasonal depression is bound to happen when December rolls around. Do concluded: “I don’t think there’s any changes [that can be made] because it’s like this every year naturally.”