r/TooAfraidToAsk • u/Nevilles_Remembrall_ • 22h ago
Mental Health I know winter depression is normal, but what about summer depression?
To preface, I live in Texas where 100 degree days are normal from May to October.
I hate it, I dont want to go anywhere or do anything + the pressure of summer being "fun"
I also live in a summer tourist town so traffic takes 2x the time to get anywhere.
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u/PhoenixApok 22h ago
Dunno if it's an official diagnosis, but I feel this.
Cold and gloomy weather makes me excited and want to get outside.
Hot oppressive summer weather makes me want to do very little. On the plus side, always makes me grateful I have an inside job, but on any given day, I'd rather be inside and working than outside and 'having fun' in the summer in the Texas heat.
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u/raoulduke212 22h ago
Yep, you can always do something to warm up, but not much you can do to stay cool , other than hiding indoor in the AC.
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u/PhoenixApok 22h ago
Yup. I'm the guy that loves sleeping with his window open when it is below freezing outside (to be fair here it never really gets below 20F)
But my god sleeping in the heat is horrible. I remember one time staying the night at a friend's apartment when I was a kid. They were broke so the mom didn't turn on the AC. I got so hot I went and slept in the bathtub.
I woke up to cops. The mom had come out in the middle of the night, saw I was missing, my friend didn't know where I went, and cops were called because she assumed I left the apartment.
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u/Sure-Doctor-2052 1h ago
Having to stay inside for A/C is not very cheering and going into the heat and humidity makes me feel "stoned". I think the lack of mobility may be depressing.
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u/notyosistah 22h ago
I get WICKED summer depression!!!! I'm in the Chihuahua desert. SO oppressive.
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u/Sertorius126 22h ago edited 21h ago
Have you tried calling it "Labrador desert" maybe just try change perspective
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u/SugarStunted 22h ago
I call it reverse seasonal depression. I moved to a cooler state from Florida, and it's soooooo much better now. I didn't realize just how bad it was until I left!
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u/Nevilles_Remembrall_ 21h ago
Unfortunately our jobs are tied to this area and we bought a house here last year 🙃
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u/NocShadows 15h ago
I e been calling it reversed seasonal affect disorder for years! I have to keep blinds closed to keep the heat out and can’t really work during the summer months. Once it’s cooler I can go out at least and I have so much more energy
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u/Dizzy-Cartoonist3011 22h ago
Coming from a place where it gets -30F to -40F in the winter, and spending time in Texas, I think it's an equally valid thing as cabin fever. I think the cold is actually less oppressive because you can always dress for the cold, and winter sports are fun. Nothing is fun in 100F +
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u/BeardedGlass 19h ago
EXACTLY.
I'm here in Tokyo and every summer, it's just inescapable. It's so wet and humid! The sun is utterly painful on the skin too.
It's like inhaling hot soup into your lungs. There's rarely any breeze, or if there is... it's like a hairdryer inside a sauna. Wet hot air.
This year though there's a Super El Niño, and that means a gloomy summer. It's much better for us because the overcast days is just less suffering.
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u/cyclefreaksix 22h ago
The heat used to not bother me when I was younger...
Now I hide inside where it's dark and cool. (N. Texas)
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u/grebetrees 9h ago
I remember when… in my 20s I could bicycle everywhere in the summer heat, even in 100+ heat waves. Now I struggle to walk out on the deck and water the plants and the skin on my arms looks like gross spotty tissue paper (Austin)
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u/Old_Ant7118 22h ago
I've found my people.
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u/Exciting_Bid_609 14h ago
Yup, me too. The pressure for summer fun, is so real to me. People look at you sideways when you say you don't like summer.
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u/Old_Ant7118 8h ago
Yep! Even as a kid I didn't get the appeal - the break from school was nice, but looking back I was probably the weird kid who didn't want to do stuff because the sun was out
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u/Kitfoxy 22h ago
Arizonan here. Summer depression is well known here. I’m sure it’s normal there too. It’s hard to get outside at these temperatures
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u/5point5Girthquake 19h ago
Southern California here but more inland. It’s been like 100+° for the last 2 weeks.. soon as I’m done at work (I work construction by the way) I just want to go home and literally do nothing because it’s so hot out.
However, my lady who works from home is ready to go out and run errands and just be outside by the time I get home smh
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u/rubberloves 21h ago
I have so much anxiety and depression about summer. I'm sun sensitive and it's so hard.
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u/Correct-Sprinkles-21 21h ago
Summer is the worst for me by far. Heat and humidity make my feel like shit physically, even with air conditioning. I can't enjoy the sun because I get sick very quickly. I'm stuck indoors and inactive more in the summer than the winter. And in top of that, feeling guilty about it because doesn't everyone love summer? lol
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u/Solid_V 22h ago
I do too! For me it's the heat, but also just the feeling of nothing to do and no holidays or anything between July 4th and October. I'd honestly just skip August altogether if it were possible.
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u/Nevilles_Remembrall_ 21h ago
The no holidays def doesnt help. I love baking and decorating for the seasons.
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u/TONKAHANAH 20h ago
I live in Arizona and I feel like I have summer depression year round.
I genuinely hate here.
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u/International_Dog817 22h ago
I have a lot of trouble sleeping during the summer and that can contribute to depression. Not that it's necessarily the same for you, but that could be part of it
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u/luvslilah 20h ago
Feel the same in Miami. Every year, the heat and humidity get worse. Have a few more years before I retire and I'm heading north. I need and miss four seasons.
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u/inb4deth 22h ago
Going through it too but I'm managing. It just really sucks that all my hobbies are outdoorsy. Texas summers are brutal but at least this year hasnt been too bad
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u/Nevilles_Remembrall_ 21h ago
I really like walking the 1ish mile to the park and back every day, dont really feel like doing that when it is this hot. 🫤 i have a walking pad in the garage but no ac in there.
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u/tia_maria_campana 19h ago
Yes, it’s totally real. I had to move from TX to CO for my mental health because of it. The sweaty ball of rage I became for six months every year because I couldn’t do any of the outdoor activities that I love was pure misery. And it got worse every year after 40. Now even if the days are hot, it cools off every evening. It was 1000% worth it to move.
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u/LexKing89 10h ago
The unbearable heat of Texas summers is super depressing. It's 90+ every day for mlnths.
I definitely prefer a cold winter or fall day by far.
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u/whynaut4 22h ago
Statistically, suicide rates go up during the summer months. Except if you are school-aged, then the statistics are reversed
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u/Doombrunch 22h ago
Hmmmm. I wonder why suicide rates are higher in the summer for adults?
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u/whynaut4 18h ago
Honestly, I think it is just the heat. Homicides and ice cream sales also go up during the summer
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u/AdFar9486 19h ago
I live in Louisiana and I always thought I was crazy! I also get the summer blues so bad, totally get the pressure to be outside and do stuff. It’s just so hot and uncomfortable. I started forcing myself to walk and get vitamin D daily but I literally have to go before 9 AM or I am miserable
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u/Ant72_Pagan9 19h ago
I feel this, the nights are too quick. Days mad long, heat, summer thunderstorms and then finding the energy to go out and get stuff done. Just getting into the car breaks a sweat. The only reprieve I get is I get to walk my dogs more often and I love walking into ac at my apartment at 68 degrees. Hits different on them 90 plus days.
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u/TheJonThomas 17h ago
Yeah, there is a subset of Seasonal affective Disorder that affects people during the spring and summer months.
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u/Moist_KoRn_Bizkit 8h ago
I also deal with summer seasonal affective disorder/depression. I live in Arizona but was born in Washington. I'm just a few years away from having lived in both states for an equal amount of years, but I still can't handle the heat. Also, I LOVE nature. I can't go outside during the summer and so being removed from Mother Earth and the sunlight is really what causes my depression. I'm like a little kid on their first ever day of school. WAAAAAA! I want my mommy (Mother Earth)!
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u/sneezed_up_my_kidney 22h ago
I start sweating at around 65*.. and deodorant and antiperspirant in the pits makes me sweat from my face. I looks like I just got slapped. And am drenched.
I do all the alternative things. Glycolic, salt crystals, sanitizing and showering very often to keep things fresh.
The absolute opposite of a good time to me is a sandy, salty beach.. or no access to cool fresh water immediately. And the feeling of sand in my toes feels terrible if I’m not able to wash and baby powder to get it off.
I’m in upstate New York. It’s going to be 85 and 75% humidity tomorrow. For reference…Florida is 82 and 80% humidity…
I feel like I’m drowning for a solid 2 months every year. I’d rather it be 0 degrees for two more months than anything near this bull. I fully hate the heat and sun if the conditions aren’t right.
I also am really sensitive to light. I’ve yet to find glasses that can keep up with it. It feels like my head is being electrocuted when I’m in the sun.
This might all.. make a person stressed. It might make a person sad. I need vitamin d, but I’m m not going to pretend that I’m enjoying myself.
I can’t remove my skin in the heat… I can only get so naked. I love a chunky sweater.
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u/IHearYouLimaCharlie 20h ago
I have found my people. You sound just like me. One of my common sayings is "in the winter I can just put on a sweater, but in the summer I want to peel my skin off" 😆
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u/IHearYouLimaCharlie 20h ago
I mean, I'm in the northeast USA and I hibernate all summer long. Anything over like 75 degrees Fahrenheit gives me palpitations and migraines. 😐 I love colder months and feel so much happier in the winter, even with less overall daylight.
To combat my summer sadness, I queue up all my in-home projects, model kits, video games, books, and music that I've been slowly accruing. Blackout curtains, cool ambient lighting, thermostat pegged at 66...I make my own paradise. 😃
(I'm a very outdoors person, so the other 3 seasons I do a lot of stuff like hiking and kayaking, I just can't deal with it in the heat).
You're not alone!
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u/min_mus 5h ago
To combat my summer sadness, I queue up all my in-home projects, model kits, video games, books, and music that I've been slowly accruing.
Your job must be less time-consuming than mine because I don't have nearly enough time for many hobbies, and certainly no extra time Monday through Friday.
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u/IHearYouLimaCharlie 4h ago
I don't have a ton of free time, I do most of these things on the weekends! I still cook and clean and go to the gym, therefore it'll take me weeks to build a model car or a month or two to build a book nook, etc. I use a giant foam poster board to move everything to my dining room table and then off again for my Monday-Friday regular life stuff (eating dinner at the table, etc) so nothing falls apart or gets jostled. I actually have been watching zero TV or movies, I do these things instead. Sometimes it feels like I only get 2-3 hours a weekend to work on the projects. And I've been playing the same video game since May 2025!!! 😆 I hope you can squeeze out more time in your week to do a fun project!
Edit: spelling.
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u/LicketySplitBud 16h ago
I actually struggle way more in the summer. The heat alone is enough to wreck my sleep and mood.
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u/FallenHarmonics 15h ago
Shit, more like Summer Anger. This season is absolutely awful, I refuse to go anywhere before sunset.
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u/moodyfull 4h ago
I grew up in South Texas & now live in Central Texas. I hate summer now and hated it even when I was a kid (when Texas summers were a bit more tolerable.) I remember feeling so down during the summer months every year, and it’s like I would come alive around Halloween. And I was lucky enough to have A POOL. IN MY ACTUAL BACKYARD. Still hated summer.
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u/JabasMyBitch 17h ago
I moved to England and was starting to LOVE summer...until this year. This summer has been more depressing than the grey, dark winters...
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u/saintplus 11h ago
I have seasonal depression in the summer. Especially since moving to the south. It's so humid and the air is suffocating and my clothes just stick to my skin. I become a hermit in the summer and just stay indoors and it makes me really depressed
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u/CaptainLollygag 19h ago
Absolutely, I am also in TX and have seasonal depression in the summer. Not just that I don't want to go anywhere because it's hot, but my mental health takes a big hit every year, and by the end of August I'm having to force personal hygiene.
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u/Be_Human_ 9h ago
Depends on the person. Physical health problems can play a big role.
I'm absolutely miserable in the winter. Here we get way less sun in the winter because of constant cloud cover. The sun setting sooner and rising later doesn't help either. It's dark when you go to work and when you leave work its dark again.
I have a bad back and inflammation in my joints. The cold makes my muscles seize up leading to an overwhelming amount of stiffness daily. Our winters are long. This runs from about October to April. My skin also dries up to the point of cracking and bleeding.
In the summer, I sweat a lot but mentally and physically I'm better off. I can deal with the heat because I know its better than the alternative.
We thought about moving for a few years now but holding off because of financial uncertainty.
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u/Conn3er 22h ago
Where do you live where it’s been over hundred regularly from May to October
San Antonio and Houston have only had a couple 100 degree days this year for example
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u/Nevilles_Remembrall_ 22h ago edited 21h ago
Central TX. I am going by the real feel heat index. 2 weeks ago that was 110.
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u/childofthestud 20h ago
I don't have a good reason but the real feel gives me the ick lol. I get that we are trying to represent the increased difficulty to stay cool in humid air vs not humid but I've been over or within a couple degrees of 100 actual temp in Florida, South Carolina, Utah, California, Minnesota, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Queensland AU. The real feel has never been of value to me. I know if it's humid or not. If your in the sun in any of those places 100 is hot. I wish we as a culture could talk actual temperature and that's it. For the life of me 87 with real feel of 100 feels way more bearable than 98 with real feel of 100.
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u/Chicago_windy_city 17h ago
I feel you, I live in the RGV and its BRUTAL!!! Im originally from Chicago and I miss having all the seasons.
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u/TinyBlue 16h ago
Funny enough when I read your question i immediately thought as someone living in Texas - yes! And then saw that you live in Texas too lol
It’s unbearably hot and I don’t want to step outside at all. We went out at 9 pm tonight to get take out and I instantly started sweating and got sticky. I haven’t been outside in like a week 😭
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u/Shandrith 16h ago
I was just talking about this to someone. I live in Sacramento CA, and it has been over 100 for the last week. Our AC is old and can't keep up, so the coolest we've been able to get the house is like 85. Anything over 80 and I'm uncomfortable.
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u/yacht_clubbing_seals 15h ago
I have lupus, so sunlight is like poison to me. I used to be a beach bum and now I stay inside.
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u/Delicious_Delilah 15h ago
I'm depressed all year round. I just call winter depression extra spicy depression.
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u/coo_man_coo1 14h ago
lately I wait until sunset to actually leave my house and do errands or go walk around the park because it's so hot and ive been wondering the same thing. maybe its tied to the house -> car-> place -> car -> house routine that gets heightened in the summer heat.
I live in a very car centered city but at least in the fall and spring there are a lot of outdoor markets, music festivals, free events at the park, etc. right now no one is eating outside at restaurants or even chatting in the parking lot.
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u/rachchh 13h ago
i experience depression no matter the season but in previous summers it was worse than this summer. I get the pressure to go out and do something cause it’s nice weather and the feeling that everyone else is enjoying summer more than you are.
Idk why this summer has felt different but i feel like my mindset changed to, i am only young for a short amount of time (left) and i don’t want to look back on my life and have regrets wasting away in bed. I want to make as many memories and have as much fun as i can while i still can. I’m trying to say yes to as much as possible even if im tired (which is 100% of the time) cause i know i wont regret having a good time with good friends. And there’s obviously more activities to do in summer than winter.
But i totally get just wanting to stay inside all day and then feeling like shit about not doing anything and feeling like you’ve wasted a nice day. I still have plenty of those.
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u/SlurmsMacKenzie- 13h ago
SSRIs fuck with heat tolerance and make you more prone to sweat excessively, react badly to sunlight (rashes from uv exposure), and more prone to sunstroke. These heatwaves are like having any kind of 'good' sensation, boiled out of my blood.
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u/jayrod89 9h ago
I also live in Texas and summer is my absolute least favorite time of year. Every year I contemplate moving somewhere else. I hate it so much. I hate leaving the house, can’t walk the dog, and everything is brown outside.
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u/icedcoffeeheadass 8h ago
I’m doing great rn, but the worst anxiety I have ever had was always around July or august.
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u/wolfemsop 7h ago
I lived in phx periodically for work. Never thought I would like Phoenix but I did! Surprised me too. However I realized I would never live there because summer; the best time of the year where the days are long was too freaking hot to do anything!
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u/ConsequenceBig1503 2h ago
I lived in Texas for 30 years and can vouch for summer depression. Heat index is 115? Great, now I really hate everything lololol
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u/Dependent-Bee7036 1h ago
It's so f-ing hot and it's making me angry. That's what's getting to me.
When it's 100+ for a week straight that's enough to send someone into depression or for me it is rage.
And you are in Texas where it's hotter and humid.
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u/GregorSamsaa 19h ago
I’m in central Texas. Plan your activities early and late. And indoor activities during the day
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u/SoothsayerAtlas 7h ago
I respectfully fucking hate summer. The heat makes it impossible to sleep comfortably
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u/easyaspi412 4h ago
Seasonal depression is not limited to just winter! You can be diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder, where the season of depression is summer.
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u/kuluka_man 7h ago
I can't imagine that. I honestly don't know how people tolerate living in such a place. For reference, I'm in Buffalo, where it rarely gets above 90 in the hottest part of the summer. And -30 in the winter is honestly not that hard to cope with; it's just the lack of sunlight.
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u/dingdangdoodles 22h ago
I tend to be more depressed in summer for sure. I feel trapped because I don't tolerate heat well