Nettie Culley serves cupcakes to Peggy Kratz, right, and other members of the Cranberry Senior Center at the center's WInter Blues party.

CRANBERRY TWP — As temperatures drop on bleak winter days, a person's mood can also plummet.

“I think everybody does,” said Connie Berie of New Sewickley discussing who gets cases of the winter blues. “As you get older, it's harder to go out.”

To counter seasonal depression, stay busy, she said.

“Keep busy around the house doing things you otherwise might not have gotten done,” she said. “That always helps.”

Over 70 seniors combated the cold and dark of the changing season with warm and bright fun at the Cranberry Senior Center, 2525 Rochester Road, last week during its Winter Blues Party.

Seasonal affective disorder, a type of depression related to changes in the seasons, is estimated to affect 10 million Americans, according to Psychology Today. Another 10 percent to 20 percent may have mild SAD.

This is an excerpt from a story that appears in Monday's Butler Eagle.