Winter is over, and the sun is peering out from behind the clouds. We went out into Manchester to ask people on the street about how the weather affects their mood after a long and cold winter.
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00:00Hello and welcome to Manchester World, my name's Theo Kuusenbeek and today I'm out on the streets of Manchester for a very particular reason.
00:06Basically, as you may have noticed over the last week or so, the background to my shots has become increasingly nicer.
00:12And the reason for that is simply the sun is starting to come out.
00:15Here in the UK we're more affected than most countries across Europe and the world by something called Seasonal Affective Disorder.
00:22Which basically means that the season heavily impacts your mood.
00:25And coming out of a long, cold and pretty boring winter, the amount of people who will have been suffering with it in the UK is pretty high.
00:32So today we're out in Manchester asking people how their mood is changing as spring begins.
00:36It's apps that we're here in Stephenson Square which sort of the social hub for the beers outside after work sort of scene.
00:43So we're going to ask a couple of people how they're feeling, whether spring has changed their mood and whether it's given them a spring in their step.
00:49100%. We've come out today, haven't we? And all we've talked about is how nice the weather is and how much difference it makes.
00:54And again, part of the work that we do is outside.
00:58So when it's summer, it's so much nicer. It makes everyone's lives easier.
01:02I think the weather makes people more social as well.
01:06You want to go out, you want to spend time together, you want to go and have a drink in summer because it's nice.
01:11It's nice to be able to do that. And in winter you can't really go out. It's freezing.
01:14You want to go inside because you want a jacket and it's not nice.
01:18I mean, to be honest, it impacts my mood a lot because when you look out your window and it's nice and sunny, you just feel more happy.
01:25I don't know. It's like you said, people have that disorder.
01:28It's just a nice feeling to just go outside and not have to be in cold weather.
01:33It brings you down a lot, I feel like.
01:35The flat's colder. You've got to pay more for that. You've got to worry about heating.
01:39When it's the summer, it's nice. You don't have to pay for heating.
01:42And it's just like so many different factors.
01:45Yeah, I think because of our flat, I think it matters a lot because it's quite an expensive flat to run.
01:53And when it's cold outside, it's so expensive.
01:59On our days off, we'd only have a heater inside our room.
02:03We wouldn't leave the room because it was that cold.
02:07Yeah, so that does make you a little bit sad when you can't afford to be warm.
02:11So there we are. As I say, a lot of people across the UK are really affected by this seasonal affective disorder, aptly nicknamed SAD.
02:19It can be something that's really, really hard to get through and also really hard to understand where it comes from.
02:24But that thing of waking up in the morning and it being dark, and then when you leave the office as well, it remains dark.
02:30You never really get to see the light.
02:32Hopefully now, with the sun coming out, beaming down on Manchester, the opportunities for, as I say, post-work pints and going out with friends
02:39and even just waking up in the morning and seeing the sun outside your window.
02:42Although, you know, we'll get our fair share of rain as well, I'm sure.
02:46It can make a massive difference to people's mental health.
02:48If it's something that you struggle with, please reach out to friends, family, talk to someone about how you're feeling.
02:53But hopefully spring has, as I quipped earlier, given you a spring in your step.
02:58And now we can all look forward to summer together.