Unfortunately, winter quarter at Stanford is not just fun-filled Lake Tahoe ski trips and cozy North Face jackets. Year after year, the ten-week period between winter and spring breaks has a tendency to bring with it the dreaded “winter slump,” the Stanford undergraduate equivalent to the couch potato syndrome.

Colder temperatures, tough coursework, social inertia, depleted stocks of NyQuil and tissues and generally lower morale all leave their marks on students’ experiences in the school year’s middle quarter, depressing moods to the extent that even playing the age-old cure for winter blues, the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” on repeat, can’t brighten up a rainy day.

Yet many students believe that the winter slump is only a myth, a “self-perpetuated psychological thing that’s not really that pertinent,” in the words of Otero resident assistant Harry Spitzer ’12.

Little darling, it’s been a long, cold, lonely winter

Winter quarter heralds both a drop on the temperature scale and a change in pace.

“It’s not like, all of a sudden, misery,” said Otero Resident Fellow Clifford Nass, “but winter quarter is sort of a down time, and the weather has a lot to do with it.”

Otero peer health educator Elise Gibbs ’12 agreed.

“We’re so used to it being so nice out that when it’s cold and we have to change our lifestyle, we get a little stir crazy,” she said.

“Having less hours of daylight and being colder has a bit of a constricting effect,” Director of Wellness and Health Promotion Services Carol Pertofsky said. “We go through certain changes biologically. The shifts in light patterns have an effect on our body rhythms.”

According to Pertofsky, this biological change translates to a slower pace.

“Students who understand that winter is a quieter time, that nature has got us built so that we need to slow down and sleep more, do fine. Winter is a time to be peaceful and calm, to sink into a different gear.”

Few will argue that dreary weather doesn’t manifest itself in cranky attitudes, especially when coupled with illnesses.

“People are already a little more tired, a little more cranky in winter, and if you’re not feeling 100 percent, then that contributes to those two,” Spitzer said.

Pertofsky and Spitzer are wary, however, of explaining away depressed attitudes through weather alone.

“You can say to yourself, ‘This is a darker time of the year, but I am going to focus on the good and make a point of noticing good things in my day and being engaged with them,’” Pertofsky said.

She warned against settling for unhappiness, saying, “When students are feeling blue, they feel stuck but there’s a lot of science that shows there are practices we can do to help ourselves feel happier.”

In other words, while the weather might get students down, it only takes a little effort to get that back up.

Spitzer echoed this view.

“There’s nothing inherently wrong with winter quarter. It’s just another phase of the year,” he said.

Little darling, it feels like years since it’s been here

Stanford’s quarter system also seems to play a part in the winter slump.

“There’s a cycle to the quarters,” said Lourdes Andrade, Assistant Director at Undergraduate Advising and Research. “In autumn, people come back refreshed. They still have that energy. Winter quarter is that sandwiched quarter where students are starting to get a little bit more run-down.”

“Spring is tiring, but they can see the light of the end of the tunnel,” she added.

The long stretch of winter and spring quarters, separated only by one week of vacation, can be taxing.

“That one week of spring break never feels like enough,” Serra RF Ross Shachter said.

Nathanial Williams ’13 had a similar opinion.

“You come back from winter break and realize that there are literally no breaks until spring break, and then it’s straight into spring quarter,” he said. “Looking ahead, it looks like a really long time and people get weary or homesick.”

It doesn’t help that at the start of winter quarter, students must also deal with the fact that their friends in other schools are halfway through the year, and they still have two-thirds remaining.

“The fact that there’s no break is important because it’s like nonstop study, study, study,” Elena Ayala-Hurtado’14 said.

But Gibbs, who seems to be in the minority, objected.

“It’s a great system,” she exclaimed. “We get more spring. I love that we’re here so late because it gives us more time to enjoy spring and be happy, healthy people.”

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting

When it comes to academics, students may feel the effects of the winter slump the least. Data from the Office of the Registrar show that freshmen, on average, load up on units in the winter quarter, whereas sophomores, juniors and seniors remain fairly consistent with course loads.

“In the winter, students tend to work hard and take harder course loads,” Nass said. “I’ve heard faculty members say that students study more, but sections are less fun because the students aren’t as vibrant.”

Spitzer communicated a certain familiarity with winter quarter.

“Fall quarter takes some time to get back in the groove, but come winter quarter you’re already back,” he said. “Historically, I have always done my best in winter quarter.”

Many students also choose to take GER courses or classes required for majors in the winter quarter. The abundance of critical offerings at this time of year could help explain why lower numbers of students choose to travel abroad with the Bing Overseas Study Program in winter rather than in fall or spring.

“A lot of the courses offered this quarter are the less interesting requirements,” Williams said.

Winter quarter’s stereotype as the quarter where students buckle down and get serious about work seems to be well-earned.

“While [class time] may not be the traditional springtime-on-the-lawn-in-bikinis type of fun, it still has its redeeming qualities,” said Steven Crane ‘11.

And one redeeming quality might just be that extra quarter of maturity, especially for freshmen.

“I definitely think the winter slump is a myth,” said Issra Omer ‘14. “I’ve learned from the first quarter and made better choices about classes.”