The Lights of Winter: Beating the Dark

If you suffer from a little seasonal depression during winter, you're not alone. Getting enough natural sunlight is no easy task this time of year.

That's one reason many people focus so much on creative ways to light up their indoor spaces. In December, of course, you see Christmas and other holidays lights both indoors and outdoors, which does help ease the sunlight deficit a bit. You see Christmas trees, window candles, strung lights, and more. Not only do we get more light this way, we also get some colorful lights, which you don't often see the rest of the year.

In northern Sweden, where winter light is at a serious premium, they have installed UV lights in bus stations as one way to combat the darkness. That's just one creative solution. For years, Scandinavians have used window lamps and other indoor light sources to help mimic the sun during those polar nights when the sun simply never makes it above the horizon at all.

Nature has some solutions, too. If you have a fireplace or a fire pit, the light provided can be very therapeutic. The same is true of the reflection from snow. This winter has been mild so far here in Lexington, KY, but on days when we have snow-covered ground the brightness is there via reflection.

Whatever you prefer, have a safe and fun time creating more winter time light in your life. Use your creativity--you may be surprised just how much fun it can be to provide your own light for a season.