The Antarctic winter presents numerous challenges. Some of these challenges make the project more difficult, such as minimal access to spare parts and repair materials. Other challenges are tough for people, such as 24 hour darkness, constant work, and isolation. We are completely cut off from the outside world, with no mail or fresh produce being flown in and no flights taking people in and out. The harsh conditions mean we spend little time outside and are generally far less physically active than we normally would be. Another challenge is the monotony of the same daily routine and how difficult it is to stray outside the same few buildings and activities.
These challenges usually lead to a condition called “winter brain,” or “winter-over syndrome.” The symptoms of this condition can be insomnia, irritability, forgetfulness, depression, absentmindedness, or the “Antarctic stare,” a far-eyed, glazed look. These are the most common symptoms, but many people experience other physical and mental issues over the Antarctic winter due to the poor diet and psychological stress.
While it may sound like this is all an excuse for us being tired of the winter, there has been actual research done on the topic. Some researchers have studied what happens to Antarctic winter-overs, both because of the interest in the topic and because the results could potentially be applied to other situations, such as astronauts (who also experience isolation, poor diet, immobility, monotony, and more). Roalf et al. studied 25 winter-overs at the Antarctic Concordia station, and found that “Gray matter in the temporal and parietal lobes, hippocampus, pallidum, and thalamus as well as global white matter decreased during the mission in crewmembers, with all but the thalamus returning to baseline after five months” (Roalf et al., 2025). Another physical response to the winter is a significant decrease in the thyroid hormone T3, which effects almost every physiological process in the body, including metabolism, growth, body temperature, and heart rate. During the strenuous winter, your body and brain progress towards a hibernation-like state, causing winter-over syndrome.
The recorded changes in brain structure and T3 levels can be directly linked to the symptoms described by winter-overs with winter brain. I can confirm that, nearing the end of the winter, polar winter-over syndrome is very real and the symptoms of decreased T3 and gray matter are no joke. Hopefully the symptoms retreat with the return of the sun later this month, fresh produce, new people and finally returning home.
Roalf, D., Basner, M., Beer, J. C., Shinohara, R. T., Ruparel, K., Moore, T. M., Dinges, D. F., Stahn, A. C., Nasrini, J., Hermosillo, E., Ecker, A. J., Prabhakaran, K., Almuqbel, M. M., Smith, M. G., Jones, C. W., Johannes, B., Gerlach, D. A., Healey, B., van den Berg, F. P., Gunga, H. C., … Gur, R. C. (2025). Transient gray matter decline during antarctic isolation: Roles of sleep, exercise, and cognition. NPJ microgravity, 11(1), 39. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41526-025-00497-6
Don’t forget that researchers see a drop in T3 for summer people in November too! Winter has a lot of unique stressors, but the isolation, confinement, and stress can sometimes be accentuated with the increased population density in summer. I wonder if we would see similar impacts on gray and white matter in summer folks! It’s a shorter season so maybe less impact too. V cool
I would love to see more research on this topic! I’m sure it would be interesting to see the differences between folks who stay for the summer season, winter season, and those who stay a full year.