Half of British workers only see daylight during their lunch break as we reach the depths of winter, a study has revealed. The dark mornings and even longer, darker nights mean a large percentage of us are now full-time ‘night owls’.
Worryingly, with the sun rising at around 8am and disappearing near 4pm, the study also found millions of workers who don’t have lunchbreaks only see the sun on weekends.
The research revealed that one in two workers take a lunch break purely to see a bit of daylight, but half said they were far too busy to take a midday break.
Things don’t improve at the weekend either – more than a quarter of us regularly stay in the house the entire weekend and 45% said they have done this once or twice.
Robert Slade of Beurer, makers of Brightlight Daylight Lamps which combat seasonal affective disorder, which commissioned the study, said:
”Once the clocks go back at the end of October the dark nights really start to take effect.
”If you leave for work relatively early then the chances are your mornings are dark too, which means that if you don’t get time outdoors as part of your job then you are likely to see very little daylight at all during the week.
”That in itself can be very depressing and it’s inevitable that long dark days will have an effect on our moods.”
Others said the prospect of having to wait up to nine months for their next sunshine holiday also made this time of year ‘dreadful’.
Two thirds of adults polled said they stay in all weekend during winter to chill out and relax, and 37% of people stay indoors rather than brave the elements.
The pending arrival of the in-laws next week and the expense of Christmas also emerged as factors in the winter glumness.
Interestingly, 35% of those polled experience a lack of energy at work during the autumn and winter months, 42% said that don’t have enough sleep and 33% suffer from subdued moods.
A resourceful 17% of adults who took part in the study said they purposely booked a foreign holiday in the winter months in the hope of getting some sunshine in a break away from work.
However, 52% of Brits said they would like nothing more than to go in to hibernation until the spring.
Not surprisingly, half of all Brits said our climate was the worst thing about being British.
Seasonal Affective Disorder affects 7% of the population between September and April.
Symptoms include depression, sleep problems, lethargy, over eating, loss of concentration, social problems, anxiety, loss of libido and mood changes.
Robert Slade continued:
”The amount of time we spend outdoors in the daylight in the week is restricted somewhat by work and looking after kids, but at the weekend we really need to be making the most of our time off.
”Despite the fact we can’t change the gloomy weather we should be making the best of the situation and embracing the cosy nights in.”
