Over the years, the holiday season is usually associated with joy and celebration: “It’s the most wonderful time of the year… It’s the happiest time of the year.” However, behind the curtains, stress and depression have increased for many people.

The pressure to make everything  perfect to accommodate everyone and everything, the hustle of preparing for the holidays, additional financial strain, and the general sadness. In addition, family responsibilities and the feeling of vacation seem like the perfect scene that can either make or break people.

Thus, the term seasonal depression was coined. However, seasonal depression is a broad term that should be broken down, it’s a form of depression that occurs around the same time every year, mainly during the fall and winter seasons. Also called, seasonal affective disorder (SAD). 

These symptoms begin to disperse with the arrival of spring and summer. The causes of the symptoms are unknown, some factors correlate with it. It may be your biological clock affecting the serotonin, and melatonin levels.

To get a deeper understanding of your biological clock (circadian rhythm), it’s driven by the decreasecion of sunlight during the early fall and winter seasons.

Decreased amounts of sunlight can disrupt your body’s internal clock and create feelings of depression. Additionally, serotonin levels and melatonin levels may drop with the discretion in sunlight and can play a part in the amount of sleep and mood. 

Moreover, a point that isn’t touched upon are the times when the holidays aren’t celebrated with the members of the military and their families. 

With this, the feelings of separation are intensified when it comes to this time of the season, the tightness and closeness of families could contribute. 

It’s a complex mesh of environmental factors and unique demands from their profession. The service involves long periods of separation from family and friends, which, during the holidays, can reflect feelings of isolation and homesickness.

They also need to maintain their peak performance while others are enjoying their holidays, which can contribute to overwhelming emotions expecting them to put their personal feelings aside to fulfill their responsibilities.

Identifying and responding to challenges is critical to fostering a supportive environment this season for friends and loved ones.