As some of you may recall, last winter in an attempt to ward off the winter blues I was popping 900 miligrams a day of Saint John's Wort and seriously considering light therapy.  This winter I feel much better, without  popping a single pill. 

Of course I feel the regular sturm und drang of the seasons.  I'm undeniably more mental this time of year, but far less motivated to act it.  The introspection that comes naturally when nights are long can be fruitful, but you have to be patient and disciplined, because it takes longer in the winter to work through your thoughts, but that's partly because you're digging deeper into them.

That's why it's important to give yourself something worth thinking about while you're whiling away the months underground.  Dostoevsky is always a winner this time of year, speaking of underground.  Winter is the time to contemplate those moral questions brought up by your shameful summertime abandon. 

(I would also recommend Millay's collected sonnets, anything by Rilke, and if Dostoevsky's not your thing, anything Russian will do, really.) 

The thing you have to avoid at all costs right now—the thing you'll need Saint John's Wort around for—is someone planting evil thoughts in your head that drain you of precious resources—of heat and energy.  And for those of you going around doing it, shame on you!  If you need energy, don't suck it out of someone else.

Yes, unfortunately there are those who seek out the heat and energy of others to feed off of.  Like vampires, they come for it in the dark.  Call them what you will—energy predators or parasites, pranic vampires—just make sure they don't have an opportunity to drain you when you need all the energy you can generate yourself.   

Boston is full of casual energy vampires, I can tell you.  Anyone trying to get a rise out of you on the street or in a shop is jonesin' for an energy fix.  And to you I say, again, get yourself a bottle of Saint John's Wort and a light-box and leave the rest of us alone.

The free exchange of heat—as between (or amongst) lovers, say—is perfectly above-board.  It's probably the best thing about these dark days, in fact.  But it has to be consensual.  And there has to be balance in this free exchange.  No hoarding on the one hand, and no energy-gorging on the other.  (Just a tip: bed-hogs are likely to be energy-hogs, too.) 

Occasionally you'll encounter energy-whores.  Yes, they are vampires, too, but at least they're willing to put out. 

As for me, maybe it's the combination of cleaning house, so to speak, more physical exercise out of doors thanks to warmer weather, and having dinner much later—around 8:30 most nights—that's kept me from going comatose this time around. 

And now that we're past the solstice, the days will be getting longer.  In fact, they already have.  Today, the 23rd, was five seconds longer than yesterday.  Tomorrow will be nine seconds longer than today.  By the end of December, we will have gained almost three-and-a-half minutes of daylight. 

And that will make a big difference.  Because we have biological reactions, just like plants and animals, to sunlight and darkness.  According to Constance Casey, Slate's gardening expert:

We, too, have ways of monitoring light and we, too, have light-dependent chemical reactions. Light coming into the eyes is registered by a bundle of neurons about the size of a grain of rice. It's called, should anyone ask you, the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Light causes that bundle of neurons to fire, which suppresses the production of melatonin, known as the sleep hormone....

We don't have the plant's talent for making sugar and oxygen out of sunlight, but we do have a useful chemical reaction using the sun's energy—the way we make vitamin D. The sun's ultraviolet rays hit our skin and shake up molecules, making a form of cholesterol that's on its way to being vitamin D.... Vitamin D's main function is to maintain normal blood levels of calcium and phosphorus. You can also consume it in some foods—notably milk fortified with vitamin D, salmon, and sardines.

Recent studies found that from November through February, the average amount of sunlight at about the latitude of Boston and points north wasn't enough to produce significant vitamin D synthesis.

So, understand and embrace your circadian rhythms, Boston! And don't forget to load up on the vitamin D!