If I were an animal....
Today, I think if I were an animal, I think I would be a bear. (A bear longing to be one of those lucky birds that get to fly to Mexico for the winter, that is!)
HIBERNATION
In the fall, bears start to look for a winter den. This den will be safe and somewhere that the bear doesn't go at other times of the year. (Those dinners on the patio and walks after work come to an end. Everyone heads indoors to stay.) The den should be big enough for the bear to move around and stretch but small enough that the bear's body heat warms it. (Reading or tv watching in bed under a pile of covers, for example: Moving from your original spot to another place in the bed is discouraged as it's 15 degrees cooler in the unoccupied places and chills and goose bumps will appear out of nowhere.) When it begins to snow, they crawl inside to sleep. The snow will lay over the den and help to hold the bear's body heat inside. (Note: the snow falling on the den is beautiful, it's true, but a royal pain when it has to be shoveled off the walks, streets and cars.) During hibernation, a bear's eyes will be open when it is awake but it might be groggy. (DEFINITELY been there! In fact, I think I'm there right now.) It mostly sleeps and lays around. It doesn't take too much body fuel to sleep. (Got the waistline to prove that one!) Bears aren't like birds that migrate, or move away from bad weather. (Birds are genius!) They won't leave their area to find a warmer place. They adapt to the climate around them by sleeping through the cold season. (You gotta make it through somehow.) Unlike hibernation, torpor is a sleep where the animal is a little alert but kind of drowsy or sluggish. (This sluggish feeling usually begins in those fall mornings when your feet have to leave the warm covers and hit the cold bathroom floor and lasts until Spring.)
TORPOR
Torpor is a (usually short-term) state of decreased physiological activity in an animal, usually characterized by a reduced body temperature and rate of metabolism. (baggy sweaters and heavy coats not only keep you warm, they cover the ever expanding bodies due to the "reduced rate of metabolism".) During the active part of their day, these animals maintain normal body temperature and activity levels (we still have to go to work), but their body temperature drops during a portion of the day (usually after 5pm and lasting until the following morning) to conserve energy. Torpor is often used to help animals survive during periods of colder temperatures. (We will survive!) When an animal is in torpor, its body slows down. Its heartbeat and temperature go down. In torpor an animal doesn’t seem to see, hear, or feel things going on around it. (Depression, or at least winter blues, DEFINITELY set in). It is groggy and it takes a little while for it to wake up. Most animals are in danger during torpor or hibernation. They are so slow and unaware of what is happening around them that they are easy to catch.
So, if my blog gets a little slow, a tad boring, less and less posted, remember....I am surviving the trials of my first winter here, experiencing my first torpor. I am battling the winter blues and fighting through the ever-present cold, wet snow. I am in a constant state of sluggish existence. The occasional thoughts of warmth and sunshine, meals outside on the patio, long brisk walks in shorts and t-shirts, green trees and flowers......oh my, actual flowers.....keep me from complete and total hibernation. I assure you when Springs arrives and we all start to pop back out of our dens and back into life, there will be more to say. As for now, there are 94 more days until May 1st. I am counting down the days like a little child with an advent calendar.....anxiously waiting for that first day of warm weather! I have to remember:
"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome." ~Anne Bradstreet
But I really feel this way:
"A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water." ~Carl Reiner
Comments
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), also known as winter depression or winter blues, is a mood disorder in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year experience depressive symptoms in the winter repeatedly, year after year. The US National Library of Medicine notes that "some people experience a serious mood change when the seasons change. They may sleep too much, have little energy, and crave sweets and starchy foods. They may also feel depressed. Though symptoms can be severe, they usually clear up. 93 days...... ;)