For many families, their holiday is a time to spend with relatives or friends. You might stay in a house with people you don’t know very well. Let’s look at some problems that happen in these situations and these ideas can help you solve them.

Winter Blues

It’s November. The days are getting shorter and the nights getting longer. And Mary, in London, is eating more, sleeping more, and feeling depressed(沮丧). In February, things become worse for her, but by April, Mary is back to normal. All this repeats itself year after year. Mary is not alone. There are others who are suffering from the same problem all over the world—anywhere, in fact, where winter days are shorter and nights are longer.

Researchers believe that millions of people are like Mary. They suffer from a condition. Researchers call it “Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)”. This condition is a kind of depression that comes with decreases(减少) in light exposure(日照量). They feel tired, depressed and they easily get annoyed or angry. They always want to eat so they gain weight. SAD, say the researchers, can affect anyone but most often affects women.

Luckily, there are treatments for SAD. People with less serious cases may improve just by brightening the rooms in their house and getting exposure to more sunlight. Many people with more serious cases can get better with a new light treatment. With this treatment, SAD sufferers get between 30 minutes to a few hours a day of extra exposure to a special light (one that is five to twenty times brighter than indoor lighting). By increasing their exposure to either natural or man-made light, about 75％ of people with SAD get better.

The new light treatment is changing the lives of people like Mary. Mary can now enjoy the seasonal changes, just as most of us do.