LANCE WORKMAN IS THE Visiting Professor of Psychology at the University of South Wales, and is an evolutionary psychologist with a special interest in Seasonal Affective Disorder.
By late January, the festivities are a distant memory, spring still feels a long way off and you’re tired, tearful and grumpy. Research suggests around three per cent of people in the UK are diagnosed with full-blown seasonal affective disorder (SAD). But there’s also a milder form, known clinically as sub-syndromal SAD, or ‘winter blues’, which affects 21 per cent of the population. In fact, many experts consider most of us living far from the equator demonstrate some level of mood variability with the seasons.