Jonquilyn Hill

I'm Jonquan Hill.

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Yep, it's that time of year.

Here in D.C., it's dark, the snow on the ground is dirty, and this cold weather will not let up.

A lot of us feel this way.

A poll from the American Psychiatric Association found that nearly half of Americans say their mood takes a dip in the winter.

And 5% experience a really acute version of this, seasonal affective disorder.

I'm Jonquan Hill, and this week on Explain It To Me from Vox, why winter makes us sad and what we can do about it.

To start, I called up Kelly Rowan at the University of Vermont.

Kelly studies the winter blues and when it crosses the line into seasonal affective disorder.

What's happening in our brains when the days get shorter?

Do we know why some people have seasonal affective disorder and some people don't?

I mean, is there a reason why some people's bodies are just so much more sensitive to this change than others?

Is there a particular point in winter when these feelings hit?