Does the weather make you feel low?

Bad weather does affect me that way. Usually cloudy/rainy and cold does it. I grew up in the northwest, where it happens to drizzle and be cloudy somewhere around 300+ days a year. I actually believe that I suffered from SAD - seasonal affective disorder, and it makes you fatigued, depressed, and can also cause things like more colds or headaches, worse pms symptoms, and irritability. The cause for this is lack of light. I moved south in 2003 and now that I live in California, I only experience the mood swings, fatigue, and desire to just stay curled up in bed or do nothing when the weather is cold, gloomy, or wet. We have 330ish nice days a year and maybe 5 inches of annual rainfall in the desert, so this is like my personal utopia. I will say that I would use a tanning bed from time to time to try to get a jolt of light - no I didnt actually tan, I used sunblock and only stayed in for 10 minutes maybe a couple times a month but it helped, the boost it would give me would last part of a week. Even doctors will advise the use of light therapy sometimes. I swim a lot in the summer here so I get plenty of light these days lol.

It is a documented fact that there is a certain type of depression that is triggered by the weather. There was a study done and they found that some people get depressed when they don't get enough sunshine. I used to wonder why sometimes I would go through the house and turn every light on and still did not feel that the rooms were bright enough. Also when I worked nights and slept through the day it wasn't long before I was snapping at everyone. Since I've read that study I understand what was causing my problems. Now I try to get out into the daylight some every day. Unfortunately, when it is rainy and gloomy for any length of time I do find myself singing the blues.