Weekly simming 3/2017

[katrisims]

Quickly before bed. Again, not a huge amount of progress this week, but a little bit in the weekend. I played the Capps forward, they're at Saturday evening currently. It's a busy and fun week I find. :) I also wrote them a little bit, but as almost always, I'm behind there. Shamefully, that Alphabetia picspam is still unposted.

I'm guessing it's this time of the year. It's kaamos time, so just dragging oneself to work and back is enough of a task. Well, in that respect things are getting better little by little, there's a little bit more of light every day. Well, we'll see how next week goes.

Comments

[esmeiolanthe.livejournal.com]

I had to look up kaamos, but I can see how it would make you drag badly,I have trouble enough where I live, and the sun still rises every day. Do what you can and enjoy doing it, that's that main thing. :)

[katrisims.livejournal.com]

The actual, real kaamos (as in the Sun doesn't rise at all) is only in the very North, in Lapland in Finland, but the word is used loosely to mean the dark time in the winter. Fortunately I live in the southern Finland, where we only have the less hardcore version of kaamos.

So the Sun does rise, though in the worst time only minimally above the horizon and only for a couple hours - while I'm sitting in the office. So when I get up, it's dark, when I go to work, it's dark, and when I come back, it's again dark. Thankfully the worst of it is over for this winter.

It does affect the mood, and actually, seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is called "kaamosmasennus" in Finnish, meaning "kaamos depression", and it seems to be classified as such too. (I wouldn't go as far as call what I experience depression, but the milder form, "kaamos tiredness", with increased appetite and need of sleep, craving for carbohydrates, weight gain, lack of energy and feelings of annoyance is six times check I'd say.)

This has been the Finland trivia of the day. :) Anyway, thanks for your kind words and support, Esme! *hugs* It's important to remember these things and not pressure oneself too much. Fun is the important thing.

[esmeiolanthe.livejournal.com]

I get "kaamos tiredness" too! Although we just call it SAD here, and don't differentiate between full on depression and just the tiredness. And it's dark when I get up and when I go to work too, but that's because both are crazy early -- I have to be at work by 7:30 am, and the sun is rising at about 7:50 nowadays.

We'll get through this, and the solstice is over so it's only going to get better from here on out!

[katrisims.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I sort of noticed the same thing while looking up SAD: in English, there doesn't seem to be a difference made between those two so much. Interesting.

Out of interest, I had a little bit of a look, and it seems kaamosväsymys ("kaamos tiredness" or maybe "kaamos fatigue"?) in Finnish is actually a term used also by medical professionals. I found a Finnish medical source that called the mild version "subsyndromal winter-SAD" in English. (Apparently SAD is broader that it can also mean a disorder that occurs at another season, while kaamosmasennus is specifically related to winter.) According to that source, numbers vary some, but somewhere between 10% and 20% of people seem to suffer from the milder version.

Wow, that is crazy early! It must be pretty hard! I have a flexible schedule at work, and I'm generally there between 8.30 and 9. Today I was on a late-ish schedule, leaving home at just about 8.30 (I live within walking distance from work), and I noticed sun was just rising then.

Yes, it's getting better all the time, little by little. We can do this! :)