The warmer weather of the past few days has been a welcome break from the bone-chilling cold and massive amounts of snow we've seen so far this winter.

And while the cold and snow can be a nuisance to some, it can be a health problem to others.

With more on that, here is tonight's Eye on Health with Perry Olson.

Living where we do we are pretty much all used to weather like this. Sure it has been a few years, but a winter like we are experincing now is nothing new to North Dakota...and with that winter, comes this...

"There is an increase of depression and that can be on top of worsening of depression of those who already have it."


The short stints of sunshine paired with lots of snow can put people down in the dumps...so how do you combat that?

"Exercise. It realeases endorphins...that is your happy chemical and also going out and being more social. Doing things that depressive symptims make you do, like staying inside...doing the opposite can counteract the effects of depression."


What should you be wathcing for in yourself...or family and friends?

"You are going to want to look for any significant changes in appeite, mood, loss of pleasure, lack of motivation and not wanting to be around people as well as hopeless thoughts about life in general."


If those syptims exist...make sure to see a doctor so that the proper course of action can be taken right away. With your Eye on Health, Perry Olson, KX News. watch the video | save this article / add to your favorites list