This seasonal phenomenon comes with turning the clocks back, NJ

By the time you wake up Sunday morning, you’ll have had an extra hour of sleep. But your winning stops there.

As of Saturday night, we turned the clocks back here in New Jersey, as did most of the United States. We do it twice every year, like clockwork (pun intended).

Although we gain that ever-so-precious extra hour of sleep, we also lose an hour of daylight. And that’s the saddest part of it all.

The days will continue getting shorter until December 21st (winter solstice) and with that comes seasonal depression, better known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

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There are plenty of interesting articles on this online, but the Mayo Clinic has a fascinating study on it.

Seasonal Affective Disorder is exactly what you’d think it is. That doom and gloom feeling you get every year around this time, and let’s face it, it can be hard not to feel this way.

Let’s list some reasons why you might feel SAD this time of year.

⛅The days get shorter (less sunlight)

⛅The weather gets increasingly colder

⛅Trees begin to lose their leaves, giving them that dead look

⛅It can be hard to do things outside because of the temperature drop and lack of sunlight

Some of us may not see much sunlight on given days. If you work a nine-to-five job, the only sunlight you’re realistically seeing is on your drive to work.

I wish there were better news I could provide you with, but the fact of the matter is we need to embrace the long and cold winter before we can turn our minds (and clocks) ahead to spring mode. We can do it Jersey!