{"id":5993,"date":"2026-09-14T11:39:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T11:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/?p=5993"},"modified":"2026-09-14T11:39:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T11:39:20","slug":"winter-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/index.php\/2026\/09\/14\/winter-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Days"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>4 Minute, 3 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n

Om Mirashi ed. Angelina Liu<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the winter days the clouds paint the sky a melancholic shade of grey. The falling snow obscures all vision until you cannot even see two feet ahead. Despair accompanies the biting cold, and the futility of it all taunts you until you want to give up. Just one more step, if I can drag myself for just one more step maybe I will be encompassed by some warmth. The comfort from that hope is fleeting, and the next gust of wind steals even that away from me. This is a futile effort, I realize, but my feet won\u2019t stop. Even if the sun won\u2019t shine from behind the clouds any time soon, if I can just meet others of my pack. Soon, my eyes drift towards another one of my kind. Just one glance is enough to tell that they\u2019re in the same situation as me. We both make our way towards one another, hoping for warmth, hoping for some sort of sanctuary in this bitter world. The wind whistles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the brutal reality that befalls animals in regions of the world with harsh winters. Every day is an arduous fight for survival, with resource scarcity coupling with the need to burn fat reserves to maintain body temperature. In the Antarctic regions \u2013 where temperatures drop to –60\u00b0C \u2013 animals such as emperor penguins have developed the habit of huddling together, thus reducing their exposed surface area and conserving heat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is well known that bears spend winters hibernating to counteract diminishing food sources. However, many researchers now argue that bears enter a state known as torpor, which is characterised by decreased breathing, metabolism, and heart rate. Hibernation is defined as a voluntary state where animals undergo a drastic drop in body temperature and wake up every few days to feed on stored food and eliminate waste. In contrast, torpor is an involuntary state which lasts for a shorter period of time and leaves the animals vigilant enough to respond to dangers in their surroundings. Bears do not fit neatly into either of the two categories, and are therefore termed \u201csuper-hibernators\u201d. On one hand, they remain vigilant in their sleep-state and only experience body temperature drops of 3-6\u00b0C, suggesting a state of torpor; however, bears are also capable of staying asleep for over a hundred days, which is characteristic of hibernation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winter also presents a challenge for humans. When temperatures drop, heat loss through radiation and breathing (convection) is amplified. In response, superficial blood vessels undergo vasconstriction to conserve heat; however, this increases blood pressure and raises the risk of heart attacks or strokes, especially for those who are already at risk of cardiovascular events. Furthermore, irritation of the airways due to dry air leads to inflammation and bronchoconstriction, which causes wheezing and coughing. Finally, the crowding of people indoors \u2013 seeking refuge from the cold \u2013 provides more opportunities for pathogens to infect others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gloomy skies and transient glimpses of sun have a known psychological effect, termed Seasonal Affective Disorder \u2013 or SAD in short. This abbreviation is quite fitting, since SAD is a type of depression associated with changes in seasons. In wintertime, it can present as a persistent fatigue, a tendency to oversleep, and food cravings which can lead to weight gain. The lower exposure to sunlight causes increased production of melatonin \u2013 a hormone responsible for the circadian rhythm \u2013 leading to indolence and a disrupted sleep-wake cycle. Furthermore, reduced daylight hours causes a sudden increase in the levels of Serotonin Transporter proteins (SERT), which consequently decreases the level of serotonin. Serotonin is involved in regulating the body\u2019s emotions, reducing feelings of trepidation, and providing satiety. Therefore, reduced levels of serotonin can cause feelings of despair, listlessness, and anxiety; moreover, it indirectly affects the sleep-wake cycle, as serotonin is the precursor to melatonin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the unforgiving nature of winter, it is a season I hold dear to my heart. Perhaps it\u2019s because I\u2019ve never experienced the bone-chilling winters that I spent so much time talking about in this article. Winter is a grey canvas. It can be desolate and bleak, and it has a tendency to put the small uncertainties and consternations of the heart through a loudspeaker. Yet, that just makes the small sources of light shine all the brighter. The twinkling Christmas lights which adorn the streets, the bright profusion of colours which paints the sky during New Year\u2019s, or the quiet, smoldering moonlight which washes over the living room in the dead of the night are made all the more beautiful \u2013 precisely because of the monotony of the winter days. The iciness of winter then makes way for the gentle warmth of spring, as seasons change and time marches ever onward.<\/p>\n

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In the winter days the clouds paint the sky a melancholic shade of grey. The falling snow obscures all vision until you cannot even see two feet ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5991,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9],"tags":[25,27],"class_list":["post-5993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-informative","category-originals","tag-informative","tag-original"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5993"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5994,"href":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5993\/revisions\/5994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jugular.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}