With frigid chills and dimmer days, the winter weather is conversationally known to induce what some call “seasonal depression” among the Andover community. As the temperature continues to drop, students’ mood, mental health, and academic performance shift in tandem.
Over the course of Winter term, several factors can alter student morale. Amy Patel, Dean of Health and Wellness and Chief Medical Officer, ascribed weather patterns and the correlation between travel and illness as primary causes. To combat such symptoms, Patel shared that light therapy, along with activities such as “Snooze the Blues” and therapy dog sessions were put in place by the Rebecca M. Sykes Wellness Center.
“The fact that students are coming from all over the world after going on Winter Break and then coming back has made the January to February time period especially challenging when it comes to infectious illnesses… The number of transitions that our students have to make between the end of Fall term and November can be a little bit destabilizing. Also, we spend a lot more time indoors, so when one person is sick, it’s easy for the whole dorm to get sick. Winter term also sees an increase in mental health concerns and symptoms because of it,” said Patel.
Patel continued, “In terms of not getting enough sunlight, the last couple of years we have put sunlamps across campus. We’re trying to put them across campus in some of the places that are a little bit more central to student life. It only takes a few minutes to get enough of the right [light] wavelength to increase your Vitamin D levels. ‘Snooze the Blues’ [is] just a number of different pop-ups, simple things that different departments are kind of running. Out of Sykes, we typically have a weekly session where we have a therapy dog come to campus.”
The winter weather, with its wind and variable amounts of sunlight, prompts students and faculty to take more initiative toward mitigating seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Devin O’Reilly, Athletic Trainer, Instructor in Athletics, and member of the Sports Medicine Department, shared his means of combating SAD.
“What I do for myself is called L.I.V.E. There’s SAD, seasonal [affective] disorder, but I have my own acronym. L stands for ‘Love what you do and love the people around you.’ I stands for being ‘Intentional about positive habits and the words that I use.’ V is ‘valuing time,’ time spent working but also valuing time to relax, chill, and play, and E is ‘energize.’ I energize myself with sleep, nutrition, [and] exercise with movements that [are] fun, like going on a ten minute walk in the morning,” said O’Reilly.
Although Patel reported that Sykes frequently reaches its capacity during the Winter term, she explained how Sykes manages such high numbers of students in need of medical assistance.
“We have had times where we have been beyond capacity. This is my thirteenth year here, and almost every winter we get to a point where we see an increase in the need for the number of beds. We have 12 beds, for 1150 students, that is not a large capacity. Usually we keep students for 24 hours or so after their last fever or after their last episode of vomiting or diarrhea. If we are beyond capacity, we might have more students at the dorm a little sooner and we ask for some of their adults to check up on them a little more regularly. If someone is a local boarder, we might see if their parents can bring them home,” said Patel.
Elisa Lee ’26 emphasized the importance of finding joy in mundane moments during the winter. Her ideas included doing fun class activities such as icebreakers, calling family frequently, and small breaks within class time for a change of scenery. She encouraged Andover to create more simple, fun social gatherings, which have already been proven to boost student morale.
“[My friends and I] feel like, [during] Fall term, the school tries a lot for all the Juniors to feel at home, and they create all these fun events for them to go to. Then it dies entirely during the winter. … Just holding different events that will make students excited or at least have something to look forward to, which [are] hard to come up with… There was a painting thing in [Paresky] Commons one time, and me and all of my friends had dinner and thought it was really fun. That was one of the most memorable nights that we’ve had,” said Lee.
Although multiple resources are offered to combat SAD on campus, Enrique Mercado ’27 reported a stigma surrounding students who frequently go to Sykes. He encouraged students to disregard possible comments and reach out to adults if they need to.
“The problem with students going to Sykes or trying to get help for their mental health is that they feel like they’ll be judged by their friends or others. That’s one of the things about Andover, if you say you went to Sykes to talk about this, they feel like they will start treating you a different way. Not much in terms of depression and anxiety stigma, just mainly going to Sykes. It is important for students to ask for help and go to Sykes if they want to,” said Mercado.
