3/12/2010
TIM UNRUH
Mary Knapp points to lyrics from the Kansas state song, “Home on the Range,” to suggest that prolonged periods without sunshine are an anomaly in the nation’s middle.
“There’s a basis for ‘where the skies are not cloudy all day.’ That’s usually the case,” said Knapp, of Manhattan, the Kansas State Extension climatologist.
Folks around here lately are dealing with a lack of vitamin D from the sun, making them less eager to play like the deer and antelope in the song and more likely to act like the ornate box turtle, the state reptile.
“When it’s winter anyway, people tend to hibernate a little more,” said Jeremy Morris, a clinical psychologist with Veridian Behavioral Health, a division of Salina Regional Health Center.
“Talking to co-workers, family, friends and patients this week, everybody is more tired,” he said. “It seems like this week is harder for everybody.”
That lack of sunshine is “part of it,” Morris said.
Not many rays have found their way through the clouds lately.
In the first 11 days of March, Knapp’s records indicate that Salina enjoyed only one day of complete sunshine. Partly cloudy conditions were noted on another, but cloud cover persisted — four days were mostly cloudy and five days were completely overcast.
Those conditions can make people feel “depressed and unhappy,” Knapp said. “I’ve heard numerous reports from people, to the point they’re talking about seasonal affective disorder.”


Read more about SAD in Saturday's Salina Journal.

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