THE ACCURSED DAYSTAR
May 31, 2019 11:34 AM Subscribe
Summer Seasonal Depression Is Real & Can Be 'Dangerous'
Some researchers believe reverse SAD affects less than 1% of the population (others believe it is more common), though it's entirely possible we'll see more incidences of summer seasonal depression in the future, given that the Earth is steadily getting hotter. But summer depression is more gnarled, which makes it both more difficult to treat and challenging to study.
Some researchers believe reverse SAD affects less than 1% of the population (others believe it is more common), though it's entirely possible we'll see more incidences of summer seasonal depression in the future, given that the Earth is steadily getting hotter. But summer depression is more gnarled, which makes it both more difficult to treat and challenging to study.
I hate the fucking summer. Hate it. And the worst part of it is that people treat me like a freak because I hate the fucking summer. It's like I said "I don't like fun" or something. "Oh, but don't you like the beach?" NO, I DO NOT LIKE THE FUCKING BEACH. STOP ASKING ME.
posted by holborne at 11:42 AM on May 31, 2019 [63 favorites]
posted by holborne at 11:42 AM on May 31, 2019 [63 favorites]
All of the seasons are depressing.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:43 AM on May 31, 2019 [36 favorites]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:43 AM on May 31, 2019 [36 favorites]
I think Summer has a completely different type of depressive effect than Winter, but no less overbearing for it. While Winter is dark too early and going outside seems like a lot of work, Summer seems to extend the time where you have to be engaged in something, and if you're not, the never-ending sun and heat can make me feel like I'm just not as productive, or interested, or active "enough" as I "should" be. There's also the fact that going to work is so much harder when it's nice outside, and...yeah, Summer can be tough, for sure.
posted by xingcat at 11:46 AM on May 31, 2019 [17 favorites]
posted by xingcat at 11:46 AM on May 31, 2019 [17 favorites]
i will fight the sun
You should sneak up on it at night while it's dark.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:47 AM on May 31, 2019 [71 favorites]
You should sneak up on it at night while it's dark.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:47 AM on May 31, 2019 [71 favorites]
The worst part about summer is that I can't stand it and hate being outside during it but also it's the only practical time to do any outdoor activities, including my two particular favourites, biking and sailing.
posted by tobascodagama at 11:48 AM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by tobascodagama at 11:48 AM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
People always talk about cold and rain as if that's the worst possible weather for arthritis and other chronic pain, but at no time ever has that kind of weather been even close to the physical agony of indoor aircon for me; the combo of unnecessarily icy aircon indoors and extremely hot and humid outdoors is physically unbearable bc I end up sitting around in soaking wet clothing, slowly dying from exposure. It's exhausting and I hate it so much.
posted by poffin boffin at 11:50 AM on May 31, 2019 [17 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 11:50 AM on May 31, 2019 [17 favorites]
Summer seems to extend the time where you have to be engaged in something
I think this nails it. Here in Portland it's currently staying light out past 9pm, which is wonderful when I'm out and about and doing stuff. But during the week there are days when I just want to come home from work, eat some dinner, and veg out in front of the TV. But it feels weird and kind of a bummer to do so when it's a bright, beautiful day right outside my window.
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:55 AM on May 31, 2019 [16 favorites]
I think this nails it. Here in Portland it's currently staying light out past 9pm, which is wonderful when I'm out and about and doing stuff. But during the week there are days when I just want to come home from work, eat some dinner, and veg out in front of the TV. But it feels weird and kind of a bummer to do so when it's a bright, beautiful day right outside my window.
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:55 AM on May 31, 2019 [16 favorites]
yes indeed, summer* can fuck right off.
* now with Smoke Season! Not available in all states.
posted by salt grass at 11:55 AM on May 31, 2019 [17 favorites]
* now with Smoke Season! Not available in all states.
posted by salt grass at 11:55 AM on May 31, 2019 [17 favorites]
16 months ago I moved to a climate that is uncomfortably hot and humid pretty much all year round. It can definitely be oppressive.
I’ve taken to keeping my bedroom at 76F (relatively cool) 24/7. Other parts of the house get cooled when needed, but even when I’m not at home knowing that there is a haven somewhere is hugely comforting when the heat starts to wear me down.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 11:55 AM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
I’ve taken to keeping my bedroom at 76F (relatively cool) 24/7. Other parts of the house get cooled when needed, but even when I’m not at home knowing that there is a haven somewhere is hugely comforting when the heat starts to wear me down.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 11:55 AM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
summer in phoenix is rough, but that's kind of a different thing than we're talking about here. but yeah, it's starting to get hot here.
posted by rude.boy at 11:55 AM on May 31, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by rude.boy at 11:55 AM on May 31, 2019 [7 favorites]
My mental health deteriorates after about 10 days of hot, humid weather in a row. There's about 120 more after that, of course.
posted by thelonius at 11:58 AM on May 31, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 11:58 AM on May 31, 2019 [11 favorites]
Winter to me feels cozy and family-oriented and people-oriented and there's lots of talking and laughing and reading good books; summer there's so much ACTIVITY and it is absolutely the worst season for it with the heat and humidity and horrible sunburns and I constantly feel guilty that I don't want to fucking go for a bike ride when it's 92 degrees out and the air is so humid that I've been forced to sprout gills and every plant in a 20 mile radius is having sex in my sinuses. Plus I'm exhausted all the time because it's too hot to sleep.
(and then I go and read the article and, yep, there's pollen and you can't sleep and everyone's having fun but you.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:59 AM on May 31, 2019 [25 favorites]
(and then I go and read the article and, yep, there's pollen and you can't sleep and everyone's having fun but you.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:59 AM on May 31, 2019 [25 favorites]
In Phoenix, we’ve had a very mild and pleasant winter, and an extended spring, but are now entering the five month summer season, where the high temps are regularly 100+. It’s the time when very early morning forays, followed by hiding indoors until sunset, are your best option.
This has its own challenges, but I would not ever trade them for the five straight months of freezing weather I encountered in north Indiana. There is no way I would trade the challenges of my Phoenix summer for the bitterly evil cold of a northern winter.
posted by darkstar at 12:00 PM on May 31, 2019 [6 favorites]
This has its own challenges, but I would not ever trade them for the five straight months of freezing weather I encountered in north Indiana. There is no way I would trade the challenges of my Phoenix summer for the bitterly evil cold of a northern winter.
posted by darkstar at 12:00 PM on May 31, 2019 [6 favorites]
i will fight the sun
The trick is to kinda run though the stage. Keep your jumps as low as possible as you need to be ready to do a quick hop when the sun swoops down. Hit the card at the end of the stage and it's an easy 1000 points for you!
posted by The Power Nap at 12:00 PM on May 31, 2019 [37 favorites]
The trick is to kinda run though the stage. Keep your jumps as low as possible as you need to be ready to do a quick hop when the sun swoops down. Hit the card at the end of the stage and it's an easy 1000 points for you!
posted by The Power Nap at 12:00 PM on May 31, 2019 [37 favorites]
My late April allergy season can also fuck off, though.
posted by darkstar at 12:01 PM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by darkstar at 12:01 PM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
I wouldn't say I hate summer, I'm a four seasons kind of guy, but it is by far the most overrated season.
posted by philip-random at 12:01 PM on May 31, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by philip-random at 12:01 PM on May 31, 2019 [4 favorites]
anyway my summer seasonal depression is actually seasonal aggression
posted by poffin boffin at 12:03 PM on May 31, 2019 [32 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 12:03 PM on May 31, 2019 [32 favorites]
I spend most of the summer sitting out on the side porch with a cold drink and the ceiling fans going. We don't have air-conditioning in our 150 year old house so the house can get pretty stuffy. At some point we'll have to bite the very expensive bullet and figure out how to retrofit ductwork into the place but until then, you'll find me on the porch.
posted by octothorpe at 12:04 PM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 12:04 PM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
anyway my summer seasonal depression is actually seasonal aggression
Ah, hence the "gnarled" in TFA.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:04 PM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
Ah, hence the "gnarled" in TFA.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:04 PM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
reverse SAD
Ah yes, Heat-Aggravated Physical and Psychological Yuckiness, also known as HAPPY
posted by oulipian at 12:15 PM on May 31, 2019 [44 favorites]
Ah yes, Heat-Aggravated Physical and Psychological Yuckiness, also known as HAPPY
posted by oulipian at 12:15 PM on May 31, 2019 [44 favorites]
I wouldn't say I hate summer, I'm a four seasons kind of guy, but it is by far the most overrated season.
Completely agree. The very idea of an 'endless summer' sounds like punishment.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:15 PM on May 31, 2019 [7 favorites]
Completely agree. The very idea of an 'endless summer' sounds like punishment.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:15 PM on May 31, 2019 [7 favorites]
Winter SAD, meanwhile, is typically thought to be about light, and is treated with, well, light. And I've been doing that since I was 10. But as soon as it gets to be Air Conditioning Season I go right back to being miserable. because i'm stuck inside and I'm cold.
so every year I get my windows open as soon as possible because I'm so desperate for fresh air I always forget about pollen season.
May and September are it for me. Endless May, where it never gets above 80, that would be fine.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 12:21 PM on May 31, 2019 [5 favorites]
so every year I get my windows open as soon as possible because I'm so desperate for fresh air I always forget about pollen season.
May and September are it for me. Endless May, where it never gets above 80, that would be fine.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 12:21 PM on May 31, 2019 [5 favorites]
Amen. I have never felt more seen in my life than when I read this article last year: It's Ok to Feel Sad in the Summer. For me I think it's a combination of being allergic to the sun and hating being hot and having intense summer FOMO and feeling resentful of having it at the same time. Being sure that somewhere, people (just not me) are doing things like "taking the bike out. They’re just taking the bike for a spin with the fam. It’s so fun to see a new side of this city, of this town, from the saddle of the bike. What a day they are having. What a magical day. What new things they are discovering. What new things they are seeing, saying, thinking, feeling, together and without you. What sights. What afternoons. What a summer."
posted by stellaluna at 12:23 PM on May 31, 2019 [18 favorites]
posted by stellaluna at 12:23 PM on May 31, 2019 [18 favorites]
the days when it's anywhere between 78-82 with a nice low humidity are flawless, and they make me even more frustrated because it's like the summer showing you how nice it could be and then CRUELLY SNATCHING IT FROM YOUR GRASP a day later when it's 102 and 80% swamp ass
posted by poffin boffin at 12:25 PM on May 31, 2019 [14 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 12:25 PM on May 31, 2019 [14 favorites]
I have a small room, window packed with boxes of winter linens and clothing as insulation around the air conditioner which can bring the temp of this tiny place way down in no time. Sweet cold darkness.
One day I will flee to the icy moons of the outer solar system where you can eclipse the withered feeble sun with your pinky finger. Learning to breathe methane isn't that hard, is it?
posted by XMLicious at 12:29 PM on May 31, 2019 [6 favorites]
One day I will flee to the icy moons of the outer solar system where you can eclipse the withered feeble sun with your pinky finger. Learning to breathe methane isn't that hard, is it?
posted by XMLicious at 12:29 PM on May 31, 2019 [6 favorites]
only half decent season is the season of the witch
(you've got to pick up every stitch
the rabbits runnin' in the ditch)
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:30 PM on May 31, 2019 [11 favorites]
(you've got to pick up every stitch
the rabbits runnin' in the ditch)
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:30 PM on May 31, 2019 [11 favorites]
Me! This is me. I feel lovely all winter long, but I quickly get depressed in the summer months. The days are too long and too hot, and I feel constricted inside (the climate where I live is far too hot to permit "summer fun" during the day from about June through September). Insomnia kicks in, and I end up feeling exhausted all the time. Plus, some pretty traumatic things have happened to me in past summers, especially in July. July sucks all around.
posted by Annabelle74 at 12:31 PM on May 31, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by Annabelle74 at 12:31 PM on May 31, 2019 [6 favorites]
So it might not (probably isn't) correlated right now but Daylight Saving Time when clocks flip forward ALWAYS fucks me up SO BADLY. I can show you a graph where my quality of sleep from my tracker which was consistently 80-95% not barely is 50% and just falls off a cliff.
This year I can't blame it on Daylight Saving Time, but I'll watch how it goes after we jump back then forward next year. I sure know I feel 100000% more rested in the winter months. (I wear earplugs and a sleep mask so the light doesn't bother me.)
Those grappling with summer seasonal depression felt far more prone to insomnia, compared to the hypersomnia (oversleeping) that can often happen to someone suffering from winter depression. They felt irritated and agitated, as well. "We found that they were quite different in their properties than the winter group," Rosenthal says. "They had different symptoms, they were active...they couldn’t eat properly, they lost weight. A very different profile. And they were more inclined to suicidal ideas...it is not a trivial condition. It can be quite dangerous."
Well, fuck. Why did you have to describe me completely.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 12:35 PM on May 31, 2019 [10 favorites]
This year I can't blame it on Daylight Saving Time, but I'll watch how it goes after we jump back then forward next year. I sure know I feel 100000% more rested in the winter months. (I wear earplugs and a sleep mask so the light doesn't bother me.)
Those grappling with summer seasonal depression felt far more prone to insomnia, compared to the hypersomnia (oversleeping) that can often happen to someone suffering from winter depression. They felt irritated and agitated, as well. "We found that they were quite different in their properties than the winter group," Rosenthal says. "They had different symptoms, they were active...they couldn’t eat properly, they lost weight. A very different profile. And they were more inclined to suicidal ideas...it is not a trivial condition. It can be quite dangerous."
Well, fuck. Why did you have to describe me completely.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 12:35 PM on May 31, 2019 [10 favorites]
I do get very distressed and unhappy in summertime, though it feels more like anxiety than depression. I don't like heat much above ~68 degrees F, my skin is already an oil slick thank you, it doesn't need environmental help. I dislike cramming my giant pasty quads into shorts, but dislike sweating my ass off in jeans even more. The amount of clothing I can tolerate is negligible but I dislike very much having all my bits and pieces just hanging out there. A/C is terrible but my apartment smells like the inside of a butt when it gets humid.
It feels like there's no help for anything in summer; all solutions are their own new problem.
And yes, Summer is a delightful reminder of how much on the periphery of all my social circles I am, as week after week people host cookouts and patio cocktails and road trips and I am not invited. (And have no outdoor space in which to host them myself.)
However this year at least we have been deluged with rains for weeks on end and as such, my block is bountifully green and blooming, which does legitimately help. I may find it less helpful when August comes around.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:40 PM on May 31, 2019 [8 favorites]
It feels like there's no help for anything in summer; all solutions are their own new problem.
And yes, Summer is a delightful reminder of how much on the periphery of all my social circles I am, as week after week people host cookouts and patio cocktails and road trips and I am not invited. (And have no outdoor space in which to host them myself.)
However this year at least we have been deluged with rains for weeks on end and as such, my block is bountifully green and blooming, which does legitimately help. I may find it less helpful when August comes around.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:40 PM on May 31, 2019 [8 favorites]
I hate bright sunny days when I don't want to leave the house. There's always the exhortation to "get outside, it'll feel better!" At least on a cold, windy day people leave you alone.
Plus, I've noticed that I sometimes do go out on a sunny day, and I do in fact feel better -- only to get home and feel worse than ever. It doesn't always happen, but it's like there are certain times when the best you can do is maintain an even, if shitty keel, because trying to improve things just brings about a bigger downward swing later on. If you knew there was a good chance you'd have an extreme mood swing after enjoying a day outside, would you do it?
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 12:41 PM on May 31, 2019 [7 favorites]
Plus, I've noticed that I sometimes do go out on a sunny day, and I do in fact feel better -- only to get home and feel worse than ever. It doesn't always happen, but it's like there are certain times when the best you can do is maintain an even, if shitty keel, because trying to improve things just brings about a bigger downward swing later on. If you knew there was a good chance you'd have an extreme mood swing after enjoying a day outside, would you do it?
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 12:41 PM on May 31, 2019 [7 favorites]
Air conditioning HURTS.
And it keeps me from dying from the not breathing, thanks to asthma.
posted by cooker girl at 12:42 PM on May 31, 2019 [6 favorites]
And it keeps me from dying from the not breathing, thanks to asthma.
posted by cooker girl at 12:42 PM on May 31, 2019 [6 favorites]
Also, any weather over like 65 degrees feels uncomfortably hot to me. I'm sort of getting used to weather in the 70s, but anything over that just makes me feel physically sick. That's why I do all my bike riding at night, when I'm up for being on the bike.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 12:42 PM on May 31, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 12:42 PM on May 31, 2019 [10 favorites]
"Oh, but don't you like the beach?" NO, I DO NOT LIKE THE FUCKING BEACH. STOP ASKING ME.
I love the beach... in the late winter, when it's empty, windy, cloudy, and I have to wear a coat.
I moved from the northeast to the southeast a couple years ago. I wouldn't say I miss dealing with all that snow for weeks at a time, but the 90+ degree weather here starts in May and lasts into October. It's generally over 90 degrees on most of those days, too.
I do feel trapped inside when it's that hot out, moreso than I did on most winter days up north. It's too hot to go outside to take a walk during my lunch break all summer, so I'm stuck at my office desk unless I decide to drive somewhere in my car that's been baking out in the parking lot. It sucks.
posted by bananana at 12:45 PM on May 31, 2019 [9 favorites]
I love the beach... in the late winter, when it's empty, windy, cloudy, and I have to wear a coat.
I moved from the northeast to the southeast a couple years ago. I wouldn't say I miss dealing with all that snow for weeks at a time, but the 90+ degree weather here starts in May and lasts into October. It's generally over 90 degrees on most of those days, too.
I do feel trapped inside when it's that hot out, moreso than I did on most winter days up north. It's too hot to go outside to take a walk during my lunch break all summer, so I'm stuck at my office desk unless I decide to drive somewhere in my car that's been baking out in the parking lot. It sucks.
posted by bananana at 12:45 PM on May 31, 2019 [9 favorites]
At some point we'll have to bite the very expensive bullet and figure out how to retrofit ductwork into the place but until then, you'll find me on the porch.
If an array of window units is good enough for the Rhode Island State House, it’s good enough for you.
(or a split thru-wall system)
posted by Huffy Puffy at 12:46 PM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
If an array of window units is good enough for the Rhode Island State House, it’s good enough for you.
(or a split thru-wall system)
posted by Huffy Puffy at 12:46 PM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
I fully believe though that if I had summers OFF, I would feel pretty OK about them, because I'd tailor my activities to hours and days that were amenable. Working from home solves a number of summer problems (or at least means I don't have to be presentable, which is so hard in the heat) but the one summer that I was unemployed, I remember thinking was pretty darn delightful.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:47 PM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:47 PM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
Those grappling with summer seasonal depression felt far more prone to insomnia
Yeah, I have insomnia at the best of times. It's worse when I'm hot. We don't have AC, and the summers have been getting steadily hotter, dryer, and smoke filled around here. Hard to cool the house down when the air is thick enough to grow crops in. I'm also more active in the summer, but that means that my chronic pain levels are higher. Plus, I'm usually too busy with work and obligations to really be doing anything fun. So summer just feels like a missed opportunity. And then you have to feel guilty about wasting the "good weather."
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:49 PM on May 31, 2019 [6 favorites]
Yeah, I have insomnia at the best of times. It's worse when I'm hot. We don't have AC, and the summers have been getting steadily hotter, dryer, and smoke filled around here. Hard to cool the house down when the air is thick enough to grow crops in. I'm also more active in the summer, but that means that my chronic pain levels are higher. Plus, I'm usually too busy with work and obligations to really be doing anything fun. So summer just feels like a missed opportunity. And then you have to feel guilty about wasting the "good weather."
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:49 PM on May 31, 2019 [6 favorites]
But back to the article. Yes. Summer is THE WORST. I get more migraines in summer than any other season. I get heat exhaustion so easily, and it gets really fucking hot and humid here in the midwest/nearly south. I hate, hate, hate being hot and sweaty for no good reason, and I'm often hot and sweaty in the summer for no other reason than I went outside. And it doesn't get dark out til super late at night and I CANNOT WIND DOWN if it's light outside.
Ugh. I hate summer. And I'm sick to death of people treating me like a freak because I don't like it.
posted by cooker girl at 12:49 PM on May 31, 2019 [7 favorites]
Ugh. I hate summer. And I'm sick to death of people treating me like a freak because I don't like it.
posted by cooker girl at 12:49 PM on May 31, 2019 [7 favorites]
"mix of depression and irritable manicky-type symptoms" --
I recently realized that a lot of my behavior in summer verges on maniac, so this makes a lot of sense. I also get the late-summer doledrums where you're too hot and sweaty to do anything in particular. (No AC, >90% humidity.) My ability to concentrate falls off a cliff then, and later in fall it's always amazing to regain mental acuity.
What saves it to me is I kind of enjoy regressing to those childhood summer days that were just endless and in which little was done -- and I'm lucky enough that I can schedule a reasonable amount of downtime then.
Mostly, I could do without the commercial AC whipsaw and the 5 am songbird wakeup.
posted by joeyh at 12:52 PM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
I recently realized that a lot of my behavior in summer verges on maniac, so this makes a lot of sense. I also get the late-summer doledrums where you're too hot and sweaty to do anything in particular. (No AC, >90% humidity.) My ability to concentrate falls off a cliff then, and later in fall it's always amazing to regain mental acuity.
What saves it to me is I kind of enjoy regressing to those childhood summer days that were just endless and in which little was done -- and I'm lucky enough that I can schedule a reasonable amount of downtime then.
Mostly, I could do without the commercial AC whipsaw and the 5 am songbird wakeup.
posted by joeyh at 12:52 PM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
Here's a house for those who hate the daystar. The impressive thing is that it's not overgrown, it's maintained like that. The lawn is neatly mowed, and the giant house-consuming hedge is not shaggy, but shaped to block sunlight from entering the house.
This was a photo I took yesterday, on an afternoon walk in the humid south. I got a bit sweaty after walking for 20 minutes, but to me I finally felt good, after being inside a house that is cooled to about 70 degrees day and night. I'm writing this while wearing a hoodie. That's because the AC in the house doesn't get distributed well, so the upstairs bedroom is sweltering if the downstairs is any warmer. But it's not just this house -- everywhere here is kept too cool for my taste, particularly because you open any door and BOOM! It's full, muggy summer.
I've been spoiled most of my life. I grew in central coast California, where, on average, the seasonal high to low swing thirty degrees farenheit. Yeah, just typing that is unreal. That is the land of endless summer to me -- low humidity, some rain in winter, and the summer fog can mean you're still wearing a sweater in July. That last part was even worse in a little community a few hours north, where if I didn't leave the house, I was wearing a few layers to stay warm. In the summer. Because it was always foggy.
Now in New Mexico, we're really used to really low humidity. When it gets up to 30% humidity, my wife and I talk about how moist it feels. Summer is hot, but we can get away with opening windows at night and shutting the house early morning, only turning on the AC for a few months. And I like having some actual snow to stomp around in for a while, though it's even better that it doesn't stay more than a day, because the last time I drove on icy roads in our area, I thought it would be a good idea to drive around a roundabout, not thinking about momentum and whatnot, and knocked the front wheel something good. /New Mexico plug ;)
posted by filthy light thief at 1:04 PM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
This was a photo I took yesterday, on an afternoon walk in the humid south. I got a bit sweaty after walking for 20 minutes, but to me I finally felt good, after being inside a house that is cooled to about 70 degrees day and night. I'm writing this while wearing a hoodie. That's because the AC in the house doesn't get distributed well, so the upstairs bedroom is sweltering if the downstairs is any warmer. But it's not just this house -- everywhere here is kept too cool for my taste, particularly because you open any door and BOOM! It's full, muggy summer.
I've been spoiled most of my life. I grew in central coast California, where, on average, the seasonal high to low swing thirty degrees farenheit. Yeah, just typing that is unreal. That is the land of endless summer to me -- low humidity, some rain in winter, and the summer fog can mean you're still wearing a sweater in July. That last part was even worse in a little community a few hours north, where if I didn't leave the house, I was wearing a few layers to stay warm. In the summer. Because it was always foggy.
Now in New Mexico, we're really used to really low humidity. When it gets up to 30% humidity, my wife and I talk about how moist it feels. Summer is hot, but we can get away with opening windows at night and shutting the house early morning, only turning on the AC for a few months. And I like having some actual snow to stomp around in for a while, though it's even better that it doesn't stay more than a day, because the last time I drove on icy roads in our area, I thought it would be a good idea to drive around a roundabout, not thinking about momentum and whatnot, and knocked the front wheel something good. /New Mexico plug ;)
posted by filthy light thief at 1:04 PM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
I love my Phoenix MeFis checking in to confirm that, while living on the surface of the sun for three months kind of sucks, it's still better than winter. I'm on that bandwagon so hard.
Also, everyone who hates summer should come here, which I recognize is counter intuitive, but if you hate heat and get FOMO, Phoenix is the place to be, because it's so hot it's basically the same as winter in Minnesota in reverse. Summer is not Fun Time that you have to worry about missing out on. Summer is hide inside, be grumpy, appreciate your A/C, drink a lot of cold beers, binge watch TV and don't talk to anyone time. There's this shared cultural agreement that no one is going to turn up at anything looking remotely put together and you can wear whatever you want and not talk to anyone because it's 115 fucking degrees out and we're all just Over It. Phoenix is ground zero for summer misanthropes.
posted by WidgetAlley at 1:09 PM on May 31, 2019 [13 favorites]
Also, everyone who hates summer should come here, which I recognize is counter intuitive, but if you hate heat and get FOMO, Phoenix is the place to be, because it's so hot it's basically the same as winter in Minnesota in reverse. Summer is not Fun Time that you have to worry about missing out on. Summer is hide inside, be grumpy, appreciate your A/C, drink a lot of cold beers, binge watch TV and don't talk to anyone time. There's this shared cultural agreement that no one is going to turn up at anything looking remotely put together and you can wear whatever you want and not talk to anyone because it's 115 fucking degrees out and we're all just Over It. Phoenix is ground zero for summer misanthropes.
posted by WidgetAlley at 1:09 PM on May 31, 2019 [13 favorites]
Also, not all summer beaches are the same. In central coast California, I didn't go to the beach one summer during high school because it never seemed sunny or warm enough to actually go. Of course, I miss those type of beach days, now that it's not readily at hand. I've also been to beaches where it's too hot to walk on the dry sand while barefoot. Or the sand is big and rocky, making shoes a near-necessity. And then there are crowds, which generally make beaches less enjoyable.
So yeah, beach isn't automatically a good summer time, even for folks who enjoy the beach.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:12 PM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
So yeah, beach isn't automatically a good summer time, even for folks who enjoy the beach.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:12 PM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
I really appreciate this threat. I thrive in the cold -- the best days for me are those that are clear and still and the air feels sharp as I draw it in. But I live in a place where the air feels sharp only when it's on fire, which it now is annually. And it gets hotter every season and the fall has turned into more summer. It's terrible. The city smells worse in the heat. It's dusty. The sun bakes all the ugly concrete, which then radiates heat all night. My clothes stick to me. Sweat gets in my eyes. It's enough to make me resent being embodied.
posted by a certain Sysoi Pafnut'evich at 1:13 PM on May 31, 2019 [12 favorites]
posted by a certain Sysoi Pafnut'evich at 1:13 PM on May 31, 2019 [12 favorites]
I don't mind the sun in general, or long days in partuclar. For me, it's not the heat, it's (really, literally) the humidity. I sweat buckets any day the heat is accompanied by moisture. I have had days where I get inside from a humid day, and when I dry out, note that my T-shirt has acquired white marks down to my chest from either the salt from my sweat or my deoderant melting as I move around.
And since warm air holds more water than dry air, even a 25% humidity in summer is enough to get me sticky and grumpy.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 1:15 PM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
And since warm air holds more water than dry air, even a 25% humidity in summer is enough to get me sticky and grumpy.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 1:15 PM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
I'll say this much: I've never lost sleep due to winter weather. Keep the thermostat at a pleasant 62 degrees, and pile on a few blankets, and I'm in heaven.
Summer, on the other hand? The humidity alone is disgusting, but getting the house to sleeping temperature is damn hard if one wants to be at all economical and environmentally friendly.
Summer just makes me feel lethargic. The weather saps me so much.
posted by explosion at 1:15 PM on May 31, 2019 [10 favorites]
Summer, on the other hand? The humidity alone is disgusting, but getting the house to sleeping temperature is damn hard if one wants to be at all economical and environmentally friendly.
Summer just makes me feel lethargic. The weather saps me so much.
posted by explosion at 1:15 PM on May 31, 2019 [10 favorites]
Yeah I sleep poorly in summer due to heat and/or dryness from a/c and fan. Plus where I am it stays light till like 10pm and the sun rises at like 5am so my kids suck at sleeping at night and get up absurdly early. And I smell terrible 24/7. It's no great mystery why I find summer unpleasant. I get a little glum in winter, too, but unless it's snowing I'll take winter over summer any day.
posted by potrzebie at 1:33 PM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by potrzebie at 1:33 PM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
All of the seasons are depressing.
I like Fall, with all its prophecies of the freezing and death to come. It’s surprisingly cheerful.
I love the beach... in the late winter, when it's empty, windy, cloudy, and I have to wear a coat.
And, when you look at the Ocean, the Ocean looks back at you and says “Hey, Kid, come on over; get closer; I could kill you in about two minutes flat.” You know where you stand with the Winter Ocean; she doesn’t fool around.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:40 PM on May 31, 2019 [16 favorites]
I like Fall, with all its prophecies of the freezing and death to come. It’s surprisingly cheerful.
I love the beach... in the late winter, when it's empty, windy, cloudy, and I have to wear a coat.
And, when you look at the Ocean, the Ocean looks back at you and says “Hey, Kid, come on over; get closer; I could kill you in about two minutes flat.” You know where you stand with the Winter Ocean; she doesn’t fool around.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:40 PM on May 31, 2019 [16 favorites]
This post is great. I have found my people.
posted by ilovewinter at 1:56 PM on May 31, 2019 [31 favorites]
posted by ilovewinter at 1:56 PM on May 31, 2019 [31 favorites]
Living on the extreme Nor Cal coast really suits me. It’s 57 and foggy today.
posted by porn in the woods at 2:00 PM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by porn in the woods at 2:00 PM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
I need sun to not be depressed (I did two years in the PNW, he says as though the PNW was prison) but anything above 78 and I feel absolutely gross. It's humidity, though. The fucking dew point is my mortal enemy.
Like yeah, Las Vegas in August is unbelievably brutal, but I don't sweat if I'm outside for like 5 minutes.
posted by Automocar at 2:13 PM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
Like yeah, Las Vegas in August is unbelievably brutal, but I don't sweat if I'm outside for like 5 minutes.
posted by Automocar at 2:13 PM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
Is there anywhere on earth that has an almost perpetual autumn feel?
I like Autumn.
posted by Faintdreams at 2:30 PM on May 31, 2019 [8 favorites]
I like Autumn.
posted by Faintdreams at 2:30 PM on May 31, 2019 [8 favorites]
FINALLY
posted by rodlymight at 2:51 PM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by rodlymight at 2:51 PM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
Heat exposure associated with mental illness, older people in rural areas especially vulnerable
posted by MrVisible at 2:58 PM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by MrVisible at 2:58 PM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
i will fight the sun
The trick is to kinda run though the stage. Keep your jumps as low as possible as you need to be ready to do a quick hop when the sun swoops down. Hit the card at the end of the stage and it's an easy 1000 points for you!
Oh man I haven't slept for 25 hours (THANKS SUMMER) but this? This is why I Metafilter. Thanks guys.
posted by Caduceus at 3:00 PM on May 31, 2019 [4 favorites]
The trick is to kinda run though the stage. Keep your jumps as low as possible as you need to be ready to do a quick hop when the sun swoops down. Hit the card at the end of the stage and it's an easy 1000 points for you!
Oh man I haven't slept for 25 hours (THANKS SUMMER) but this? This is why I Metafilter. Thanks guys.
posted by Caduceus at 3:00 PM on May 31, 2019 [4 favorites]
But back to the article. Yes. Summer is THE WORST. I get more migraines in summer than any other season. I get heat exhaustion so easily, and it gets really fucking hot and humid here in the midwest/nearly south. I hate, hate, hate being hot and sweaty for no good reason, and I'm often hot and sweaty in the summer for no other reason than I went outside. And it doesn't get dark out til super late at night and I CANNOT WIND DOWN if it's light outside.
Ugh. I hate summer. And I'm sick to death of people treating me like a freak because I don't like it.
posted by cooker girl
cooker girl are you my wife?
posted by Caduceus at 3:09 PM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
Ugh. I hate summer. And I'm sick to death of people treating me like a freak because I don't like it.
posted by cooker girl
cooker girl are you my wife?
posted by Caduceus at 3:09 PM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
I hate summer! I cannot even begin to express how much I hate the sweaty, stuffy, breathless, burning blight inflicted on me by that unholy season.
Bright summer sunlight causes me physical pain. It hurts, it actually hurts my skin if it falls on it for more than like a couple seconds. If I have to look at a wide space in bright sunlight it triggers migraines unless I'm wear juuuuuust the right kind of prescription sunglasses. People say "oh you're a vampire haha" like it's some kind of joke and meanwhile I'm burning, and ruining my clothes with sweat, and have such a headache I'm unable to think straight because it's THE SUN that's the real vampire! It literally feels like it's drying out my body and sucking my blood, and everyone around me and on the weather reports just sneer about how much they love the sun and how they're just right to and how horrid it is if there's a single gentle cloud in their precious blue sky that would even DARE block that violent fiery bloodsucker.
I am so glad we're finally having this conversation and I hope it leads to us finally doing something to put a stop to the sun once and for all.
posted by elsilnora at 3:23 PM on May 31, 2019 [18 favorites]
Bright summer sunlight causes me physical pain. It hurts, it actually hurts my skin if it falls on it for more than like a couple seconds. If I have to look at a wide space in bright sunlight it triggers migraines unless I'm wear juuuuuust the right kind of prescription sunglasses. People say "oh you're a vampire haha" like it's some kind of joke and meanwhile I'm burning, and ruining my clothes with sweat, and have such a headache I'm unable to think straight because it's THE SUN that's the real vampire! It literally feels like it's drying out my body and sucking my blood, and everyone around me and on the weather reports just sneer about how much they love the sun and how they're just right to and how horrid it is if there's a single gentle cloud in their precious blue sky that would even DARE block that violent fiery bloodsucker.
I am so glad we're finally having this conversation and I hope it leads to us finally doing something to put a stop to the sun once and for all.
posted by elsilnora at 3:23 PM on May 31, 2019 [18 favorites]
when will we be freed from its vile rays
posted by poffin boffin at 3:32 PM on May 31, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 3:32 PM on May 31, 2019 [10 favorites]
When the last remnants of humanity establishes a permanent colony on Pluto.
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:35 PM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:35 PM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
All you anti-summer people are super weird I hope you know that
only half decent season is the season of the witch
(you've got to pick up every stitch
the rabbits runnin' in the ditch)
I haven't heard this in so long
Gonna make this the Summer of Donovan
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:50 PM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
only half decent season is the season of the witch
(you've got to pick up every stitch
the rabbits runnin' in the ditch)
I haven't heard this in so long
Gonna make this the Summer of Donovan
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:50 PM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
Like a wise man once said, "Since the beginning of Time, Man has yearned to destroy the Sun!"
(But seriously, it was easier before Smoke Season was a thing. I now spend half the summer barely able to do anything.)
posted by mordax at 3:59 PM on May 31, 2019 [6 favorites]
(But seriously, it was easier before Smoke Season was a thing. I now spend half the summer barely able to do anything.)
posted by mordax at 3:59 PM on May 31, 2019 [6 favorites]
This is making me remember one of the great pieces of advice I have received in my life, from one of my history professors in college. "Find a climate that you like, and move there."
Pity that climate is more subject to change than it was when I received that advice.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 4:08 PM on May 31, 2019 [6 favorites]
Pity that climate is more subject to change than it was when I received that advice.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 4:08 PM on May 31, 2019 [6 favorites]
I live way south of Phoenix, near the border, and our summer is about two months of really hot weather, after "spring" and before the monsoon season. The winters are ideal, thus the arrival of snowbirds.
I'm semi-retired, and so can arrange my schedule: get up just before dawn, do outside stuff before the sun really sets in, nap in the late afternoon and evening, then get up after dark and stay up to maybe 2:00 AM. No AC here, but it beats dealing with ice and snow!
posted by Agave at 4:09 PM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
I'm semi-retired, and so can arrange my schedule: get up just before dawn, do outside stuff before the sun really sets in, nap in the late afternoon and evening, then get up after dark and stay up to maybe 2:00 AM. No AC here, but it beats dealing with ice and snow!
posted by Agave at 4:09 PM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
When the last remnants of humanity establishes a permanent colony on Pluto.
The fun guys from Yuggoth.
posted by Caduceus at 4:14 PM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
The fun guys from Yuggoth.
posted by Caduceus at 4:14 PM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
I'm eight and a half minutes away at the speed of light yet it's still trying to kill me? WORST STAR EVER.
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 4:20 PM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 4:20 PM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
Oh god I hate Summer. It makes it so that I feel guilty - guilty that I'm wasting all this 'lovely sunshine' by not being out in it, even when there's nothing *to* do, and I'm tired as hell for chronic illness reasons.
Guilty because I have dreadful executive dysfunction and depression and that, combined with the fact that I live alone, means that everything gets much more urgent in summer and there are flies and smell if I can't keep on top of it, which I often can't. Even more so if the weather is hot and I just can't move.
Guilty that I can't be bothered to shave my body hair anymore, but also am too self-conscious just to show my bare legs and hairy pits to the world so go completely covered at all times now.
BUT ALSO? WHY, why can't I find a comfortable, airy, attractive summer shoe for love nor money? It's been driving me insane for YEARS.
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 4:31 PM on May 31, 2019 [9 favorites]
Guilty because I have dreadful executive dysfunction and depression and that, combined with the fact that I live alone, means that everything gets much more urgent in summer and there are flies and smell if I can't keep on top of it, which I often can't. Even more so if the weather is hot and I just can't move.
Guilty that I can't be bothered to shave my body hair anymore, but also am too self-conscious just to show my bare legs and hairy pits to the world so go completely covered at all times now.
BUT ALSO? WHY, why can't I find a comfortable, airy, attractive summer shoe for love nor money? It's been driving me insane for YEARS.
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 4:31 PM on May 31, 2019 [9 favorites]
i will fight the sun
AND MY AXE! wait are we not forming a fellowship to throw it into Mount Doom?
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 4:41 PM on May 31, 2019 [7 favorites]
AND MY AXE! wait are we not forming a fellowship to throw it into Mount Doom?
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 4:41 PM on May 31, 2019 [7 favorites]
I could tolerate Summer when it meant that I wouldn't have to go to school for a while. As a working adult, I feel that Summer could go to Hell if it wasn't already the same thing.
posted by subocoyne at 4:42 PM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by subocoyne at 4:42 PM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
cooker girl are you my wife?
Well I sure as hell am now!
check your profile...
posted by cooker girl at 4:48 PM on May 31, 2019 [5 favorites]
Well I sure as hell am now!
check your profile...
posted by cooker girl at 4:48 PM on May 31, 2019 [5 favorites]
Wait no I made a Lovecraft joke that was also basically a dad joke nOOOOOO--
*is messily devoured by a howling demon, bones turn to sand*
posted by Caduceus at 4:50 PM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
*is messily devoured by a howling demon, bones turn to sand*
posted by Caduceus at 4:50 PM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
I used to be a summer hater. The longer days were delightful, but the heat made it all a bit pointless. After I turned 30, however, I have gotten increasingly intolerant of cold weather. There were days this past winter where I found it uncomfortably cold in Miami. This past week or two with lows in the 70s and highs in the upper 80s have been wonderful.
posted by wierdo at 6:06 PM on May 31, 2019
posted by wierdo at 6:06 PM on May 31, 2019
Wait no I made a Lovecraft joke that was also basically a dad joke nOOOOOO--
*is messily devoured by a howling demon, bones turn to sand*
Are you suggesting there Hastur be a rule against that?
I'll show myself out, sorry.
posted by mordax at 6:11 PM on May 31, 2019 [8 favorites]
*is messily devoured by a howling demon, bones turn to sand*
Are you suggesting there Hastur be a rule against that?
I'll show myself out, sorry.
posted by mordax at 6:11 PM on May 31, 2019 [8 favorites]
Yeah, the period between "debilitated by the cold and damp" and "debilitated by the heat and humidity" is pretty short. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, is I guess what I'm saying.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:55 PM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:55 PM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
All winter, I yearn for summer. I loved Southern Ontario humidity and the way sound travelled, the way the soil was alive, the smell of grasshoppers in August grass. Dark, slow moving creeks...but I was a depressed and anxious kid, so my love of summer feels tainted by that. Now I live in a big city and feel cut off. I can’t justify spending a fortune to cram the year's holiday into a week's cottage rental. I feel like I've lost whatever it was that I thought summer was supposed to be.
I give you: That Summer Feeling
posted by bonobothegreat at 7:44 PM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
I give you: That Summer Feeling
posted by bonobothegreat at 7:44 PM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
Basically we need to hurl the sun straight into the... well, damn.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 8:25 PM on May 31, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 8:25 PM on May 31, 2019 [11 favorites]
I love summer and I've been looking forward to it (we had snow from September to April this year, and the entire month of February was -20C). Even with today's horrible wildfire smoke that will probably come and go until it snows again.
But I'm definitely at my most comfortable in hoodie and hot tea weather. Like about 12C.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 8:38 PM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
But I'm definitely at my most comfortable in hoodie and hot tea weather. Like about 12C.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 8:38 PM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
Hello, everyone, thank you for joining me tonight. We are, of course, here to kill superm... uh, I mean THE SUN.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 10:17 PM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 10:17 PM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
My psych doc was surprised at my increasing depression lately. He said people with bipolar (of which I am one) tend to get more manic/hypomanic in the summer, not depressed. He seemed completely befuddled.
I'm glad the article listed ways some people deal with this, in case that's what's going on with me. Can't hurt to try.
posted by Charybdis at 11:11 PM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
I'm glad the article listed ways some people deal with this, in case that's what's going on with me. Can't hurt to try.
posted by Charybdis at 11:11 PM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
High five to anyone else currently experiencing that summer insomnia!
I think this aspect, at least, makes some sense. I mean, it's hot during the day, and the night is the only pleasant time to be doing anything. If you're like me, it's also the only time when other people aren't around. (I'm in my 30s, sharing a small house with my mother. I take my space where I can get it.)
Plus, the days are SO LONG. I could stay up until sunrise (as I often do) and still have lots of time to be outside in the sun. That's one advantage of the summer: even an insane sleep schedule won't prevent you from getting vitamin D, should you desire it.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 11:48 PM on May 31, 2019 [6 favorites]
I think this aspect, at least, makes some sense. I mean, it's hot during the day, and the night is the only pleasant time to be doing anything. If you're like me, it's also the only time when other people aren't around. (I'm in my 30s, sharing a small house with my mother. I take my space where I can get it.)
Plus, the days are SO LONG. I could stay up until sunrise (as I often do) and still have lots of time to be outside in the sun. That's one advantage of the summer: even an insane sleep schedule won't prevent you from getting vitamin D, should you desire it.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 11:48 PM on May 31, 2019 [6 favorites]
I am down in New Orleans absolutely loving the onset of summer after several years fighting the self-harm urges that got stronger and stronger every winter I spent in Seattle. But I will agree that the long summer days up North are kind of disconcerting too. At first they're nice for a solar-powered creature like me. But they keep getting longer and longer and is the sun ever going to go down, this is kind of creepy? I can see that being really, really un-fun for someone whose body is inured to never having enough vitamin D during the winters.
posted by egypturnash at 12:42 AM on June 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by egypturnash at 12:42 AM on June 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
I'm another one who hates, really hates summer. And I guess I suffer from SAD, summer edition. I hate the humidity, it weighs me down, ya know?
I have red head skin, I burn without globs of SPF. I get up really early, so I go to bed when the sun is still up. Drawing the blinds/curtains doesn't hide the fact the the bloody sun is still up. I have no outdoor summer activities these days. When I was younger I did, but I didn't know about skin cancer back then. All my fun things take place in winter: skiing, ice skating, building snow forts etc. (I have to confess that the worst sunburn I ever got was on the slopes, so Mr. sun can get you in any season)
I do alright in summer. I keep busy and look forward to when the days start to get shorter.
posted by james33 at 5:22 AM on June 1, 2019 [3 favorites]
I have red head skin, I burn without globs of SPF. I get up really early, so I go to bed when the sun is still up. Drawing the blinds/curtains doesn't hide the fact the the bloody sun is still up. I have no outdoor summer activities these days. When I was younger I did, but I didn't know about skin cancer back then. All my fun things take place in winter: skiing, ice skating, building snow forts etc. (I have to confess that the worst sunburn I ever got was on the slopes, so Mr. sun can get you in any season)
I do alright in summer. I keep busy and look forward to when the days start to get shorter.
posted by james33 at 5:22 AM on June 1, 2019 [3 favorites]
I cannot stand bright hot direct sunlight, especially in humid, muggy, nasty hot, windless weather.
It makes me twitchy and irritable and sad and tired and headachey, and sometimes queasy, and I want to go hide in a dark cool cave. With air conditioning.
posted by Foosnark at 6:58 AM on June 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
It makes me twitchy and irritable and sad and tired and headachey, and sometimes queasy, and I want to go hide in a dark cool cave. With air conditioning.
posted by Foosnark at 6:58 AM on June 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
THIS.
Summers in Tennessee are brutal. I hate them. I seem to have the hottest blood of any person I've ever met. Heat kills me, but I thrive in the cold. I'm one of those dorks who wears shorts when it's 15 degrees out because, I swear to you, it's just comfortable. My ideal temperature is 25 degrees F with frosty winds. I... I want it to be winter again, NOW.
posted by Chronorin at 8:28 AM on June 1, 2019 [5 favorites]
Summers in Tennessee are brutal. I hate them. I seem to have the hottest blood of any person I've ever met. Heat kills me, but I thrive in the cold. I'm one of those dorks who wears shorts when it's 15 degrees out because, I swear to you, it's just comfortable. My ideal temperature is 25 degrees F with frosty winds. I... I want it to be winter again, NOW.
posted by Chronorin at 8:28 AM on June 1, 2019 [5 favorites]
Team Summer Hater here. If you see someone walking around with a USB fan and an irritated face, it's me.
To quote Japanese band Do As Infinity, in their song Summer Days.
Summer days, I can't stand the summer days
Frozen cocktails and night fireworks
What's so great about them anyway?
Summer day, let it be some other day.
Seaside motels and sex on the beach,
Don't be thinking I went all the way --
Goddamn summer days.
Every day is a bad hair day
Guys, they come up with lame pick-up lines
Desperate to just get laid
Damn, give me a freaking break!
Summer days, I can't stand the summer days
Frozen cocktails and night fireworks
What's so great about them anyway?
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 10:52 AM on June 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
To quote Japanese band Do As Infinity, in their song Summer Days.
Summer days, I can't stand the summer days
Frozen cocktails and night fireworks
What's so great about them anyway?
Summer day, let it be some other day.
Seaside motels and sex on the beach,
Don't be thinking I went all the way --
Goddamn summer days.
Every day is a bad hair day
Guys, they come up with lame pick-up lines
Desperate to just get laid
Damn, give me a freaking break!
Summer days, I can't stand the summer days
Frozen cocktails and night fireworks
What's so great about them anyway?
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 10:52 AM on June 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
I love the sun. I love the beach. I love summer where I grew up (SoCal). Now that I live in NYC, however, this accurséd time cannot end soon enough. Ah for winter, when I am cozy and my brain functions!
posted by dame at 10:59 AM on June 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by dame at 10:59 AM on June 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
I'm eight and a half minutes away at the speed of light yet it's still trying to kill me? WORST STAR EVER.
Well, that’s what you get for relying on an uncontrolled nuclear fusion reaction for warmth.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:59 AM on June 1, 2019 [3 favorites]
Well, that’s what you get for relying on an uncontrolled nuclear fusion reaction for warmth.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:59 AM on June 1, 2019 [3 favorites]
I do really enjoy getting the summer people back in February when the snow is coming down and I am like ISN'T THIS GREAT as they huddle and sob.
posted by dame at 11:00 AM on June 1, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by dame at 11:00 AM on June 1, 2019 [9 favorites]
Also, everyone who hates summer should come here, which I recognize is counter intuitive, but if you hate heat and get FOMO, Phoenix is the place to be, because it's so hot it's basically the same as winter in Minnesota in reverse.
Former Wisconsinite; was going to say exactly this! Unlike summer in Milwaukee which lasts exactly seven weeks with three different festivals every weekend & if you don't spend every remaining moment at the lake or a cookout or your garden you must secretly hate yourself, summer in Phoenix is Prime Inside Time & no one is gonna even try to make plans with you outside because then they'd have to go outside and nope.
(Also I love that we're all in this thread going "I recognize that this is a completely different situation from the one in TFA but did someone mention not liking summer? I live in Phoenix!")
posted by taquito sunrise at 1:50 PM on June 1, 2019 [4 favorites]
Former Wisconsinite; was going to say exactly this! Unlike summer in Milwaukee which lasts exactly seven weeks with three different festivals every weekend & if you don't spend every remaining moment at the lake or a cookout or your garden you must secretly hate yourself, summer in Phoenix is Prime Inside Time & no one is gonna even try to make plans with you outside because then they'd have to go outside and nope.
(Also I love that we're all in this thread going "I recognize that this is a completely different situation from the one in TFA but did someone mention not liking summer? I live in Phoenix!")
posted by taquito sunrise at 1:50 PM on June 1, 2019 [4 favorites]
Summer is my least favorite season and yeah, people act like I'm a puppy-kicker for that. But let me tell you why I hate summer.
I have difficulty regulating my body temperature, and there have been times I've gone outside in shorts and a tee in the middle of a January snowstorm to cool down. Summer makes my hot flashes worse. You can add more clothes when you're cold, but you can't peel your skin off when you're overheating. I don't tan; I burn. Badly, quickly, and even with sunscreen. I get heat exhaustion. Badly, quickly, no matter how hydrated I am. The migraines, the constant constant migraines.
If we're getting a gang together to fight the sun, count me in!
posted by Ruki at 4:17 PM on June 1, 2019 [3 favorites]
I have difficulty regulating my body temperature, and there have been times I've gone outside in shorts and a tee in the middle of a January snowstorm to cool down. Summer makes my hot flashes worse. You can add more clothes when you're cold, but you can't peel your skin off when you're overheating. I don't tan; I burn. Badly, quickly, and even with sunscreen. I get heat exhaustion. Badly, quickly, no matter how hydrated I am. The migraines, the constant constant migraines.
If we're getting a gang together to fight the sun, count me in!
posted by Ruki at 4:17 PM on June 1, 2019 [3 favorites]
Oh! I forgot to add that Spring Step makes the most comfortable, foot friendly summer sandals.
posted by Ruki at 4:18 PM on June 1, 2019
posted by Ruki at 4:18 PM on June 1, 2019
I'm taking notes on what you're all saying, and I'm going to send those notes to the sun
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:32 PM on June 1, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:32 PM on June 1, 2019 [2 favorites]
SUN-NARC!!
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:59 PM on June 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:59 PM on June 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
I've been in both Nevada and SoCal in the summer, and it doesn't cripple me like this East Coast swamp heat. I know it's a cliché to blame the humidity, but sometimes clichés become clichés for a reason.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:33 PM on June 1, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:33 PM on June 1, 2019 [2 favorites]
I've spent a little time researching this, and I've decided that Akureyri, Iceland has the best climate. It's rarely below 20F in the winter for more than a week, and it's rarely above 60F in the summer.
I hate summer. I can't sleep if my bedroom is warmer than 68F (*). The seasons are not long enough for me to acclimate to, as someone upthread said, a 76 degree home. My thermostat is at 76 in the summer when it's in "energy saving mode" and I'm not in the home, and only because it's infeasible to let it drift any higher and expect that it's back to something tolerable by bedtime.
(* one thing that helped when I lived in a hot desert climate was an unheated waterbed, as long as it's lower than body temperature. induced hypothermia for the win! (and a decent night's sleep))
(can't do that anymore for a variety of reasons)
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 7:14 PM on June 1, 2019 [3 favorites]
I hate summer. I can't sleep if my bedroom is warmer than 68F (*). The seasons are not long enough for me to acclimate to, as someone upthread said, a 76 degree home. My thermostat is at 76 in the summer when it's in "energy saving mode" and I'm not in the home, and only because it's infeasible to let it drift any higher and expect that it's back to something tolerable by bedtime.
(* one thing that helped when I lived in a hot desert climate was an unheated waterbed, as long as it's lower than body temperature. induced hypothermia for the win! (and a decent night's sleep))
(can't do that anymore for a variety of reasons)
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 7:14 PM on June 1, 2019 [3 favorites]
Heat exposure associated with mental illness, older people in rural areas especially vulnerable
People do not act happy in the summer, they act manic. Everybody acts like summer is the default happy season, but here in NYC I have long noticed a distinct uptick in aggression, anxiety and mental illness when it gets hot. Interesting to have this confirmed.
posted by maggiemaggie at 1:38 PM on June 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
People do not act happy in the summer, they act manic. Everybody acts like summer is the default happy season, but here in NYC I have long noticed a distinct uptick in aggression, anxiety and mental illness when it gets hot. Interesting to have this confirmed.
posted by maggiemaggie at 1:38 PM on June 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
the 12 years i lived in philadelphia i definitely had summer SAD. it was so hot and HUMID. and you barely even noticed the short winter days because of all the fucking lights everywhere. and people definitely got angrier in summer (see: hot and humid).
now that i'm back in michigan, i loooooooooove summer. nice long days, not as humid as philly, etc. allergies get bad, but, well, it's not philly. winters get me now though, and now i have traditional SAD. which also sucks.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 2:03 PM on June 3, 2019
now that i'm back in michigan, i loooooooooove summer. nice long days, not as humid as philly, etc. allergies get bad, but, well, it's not philly. winters get me now though, and now i have traditional SAD. which also sucks.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 2:03 PM on June 3, 2019
Waft me, some soft and cooling Breeze,
To Windsor’s shady kind Retreat
Where silvan Scenes, wide-spreading Trees
Repel the raging Dog Star’s Heat.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:06 PM on June 4, 2019
To Windsor’s shady kind Retreat
Where silvan Scenes, wide-spreading Trees
Repel the raging Dog Star’s Heat.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:06 PM on June 4, 2019
It got well above the mid-90s (F) here in Dallas last month. I'm pretty sure y'all are all my cousins, somehow.
Here are my symptoms:
- blue eyes, so bright sunlight physically hurts/causes me to see endless black spots and blink blindly like a mole during summertime
- I don't tan, I go albino-tomato-albino and sunburn within 10 minutes without giant globs of cancer-causing superstrong sunblock that causes oodles of breakouts -- I'm like putting a fork in the microwave; there's nothing, then BOOM EXPLOSION TOWN, then why is there all this extra goop I've got to clean up? so, no thanks
- asthmatic, so yep, all those living things floating through the pollen forest punching their way into my sinuses and lungs? hate those fuckers too
- regularly experience 100+ days of 100+(F) temps here, so it's impossible to enjoy going anywhere that lines exist (parks, fairs, festivals, rodeos, Six Flags, etc.) without damn near getting heatstroke
- insomnia? you bet!
- as a person who spent her entire childhood sick indoors, I don't know what sports are and sure don't care to learn how to play them in middle age with dickholes named Chad (even at swank dickhole mating grounds, like Top Golf)
- the heat is utterly enervating and I prefer black clothing, so I can't leave the house without 2x the deodorant and 3x the caffeine to steel my resolve against sweating en masse with everyone else
- fuck summer, really. I choose endless winter, as in I want to move to Iceland, and the first really hot humid day makes me feel the kind of despair seldom written about outside of suicidal poets
It's this. Summertime is this for me.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 7:09 PM on June 4, 2019 [4 favorites]
Here are my symptoms:
- blue eyes, so bright sunlight physically hurts/causes me to see endless black spots and blink blindly like a mole during summertime
- I don't tan, I go albino-tomato-albino and sunburn within 10 minutes without giant globs of cancer-causing superstrong sunblock that causes oodles of breakouts -- I'm like putting a fork in the microwave; there's nothing, then BOOM EXPLOSION TOWN, then why is there all this extra goop I've got to clean up? so, no thanks
- asthmatic, so yep, all those living things floating through the pollen forest punching their way into my sinuses and lungs? hate those fuckers too
- regularly experience 100+ days of 100+(F) temps here, so it's impossible to enjoy going anywhere that lines exist (parks, fairs, festivals, rodeos, Six Flags, etc.) without damn near getting heatstroke
- insomnia? you bet!
- as a person who spent her entire childhood sick indoors, I don't know what sports are and sure don't care to learn how to play them in middle age with dickholes named Chad (even at swank dickhole mating grounds, like Top Golf)
- the heat is utterly enervating and I prefer black clothing, so I can't leave the house without 2x the deodorant and 3x the caffeine to steel my resolve against sweating en masse with everyone else
- fuck summer, really. I choose endless winter, as in I want to move to Iceland, and the first really hot humid day makes me feel the kind of despair seldom written about outside of suicidal poets
It's this. Summertime is this for me.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 7:09 PM on June 4, 2019 [4 favorites]
here have been times I've gone outside in shorts and a tee in the middle of a January snowstorm to cool down.
I just saw this, but yes, I have done this as well. I once accompanied some friends to the gym, at night, in the winter. On the walk back to their house I was so hot that I stripped down to jeans and a T shirt. When we got back, we found out it was -7 F outside.
Sometimes I’ll get so hot that there’s nothing I can do about it — an ice-cold shower feels like nothing, and everywhere I go it just feels like I’m radiating heat. Sucks.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 7:32 PM on June 4, 2019
I just saw this, but yes, I have done this as well. I once accompanied some friends to the gym, at night, in the winter. On the walk back to their house I was so hot that I stripped down to jeans and a T shirt. When we got back, we found out it was -7 F outside.
Sometimes I’ll get so hot that there’s nothing I can do about it — an ice-cold shower feels like nothing, and everywhere I go it just feels like I’m radiating heat. Sucks.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 7:32 PM on June 4, 2019
Summer is the worst and I was born at the beginning of summer and by god I can hardly think of a more hostile welcome to this planet than making a kid have a summer right off the bat.
posted by ead at 3:08 PM on June 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by ead at 3:08 PM on June 12, 2019 [1 favorite]
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posted by poffin boffin at 11:42 AM on May 31, 2019 [50 favorites]