This disorder is a type of depression which occurs usually in autumn and winter. This is the time of year when the days get shorter and dark. The reason it occurs mostly during the winter months is due to lack of sunlight. Other situations in which people don’t get enough sunlight include cloudy or rainy periods at other times of year, living in dark places and working for long hours in dark offices. Whenever there is insufficient sunlight, those people who are vulnerable to Seasonal Affective Disorder may develop symptoms.
The symptoms include fatigue, depression, crying spells, irritability, trouble concentrating, body aches, poor sleep, decreased activity level and over eating.
Women are about four times as likely to develop SAD as are men. During the winter months, people with SAD are less able to handle stress than they are at other times of year.
There are several ways to treat SAD and combining the treatments can make things better.
1) Light therapy - Because SAD is triggered by decreased light. You can get outdoors more. You can bring more lighting into your home or office with regular lamps. There is also phototherapy which can be purchased in the form of light boxes. I use one every morning while getting ready for work. I know people who put them on their treadmill in the morning when working out. If interested look into it or email me.
2) Stress Management - Winter months also come with holidays which obviously brings even more stress than normal. People with SAD have a decreased ability to handle stress which can cause them to go into a deeper depression. Refer back to some of my previous blogs on ideas to help handle these triggers.3) Counseling - For me, my counselor and psychiatrist are very essential. It has helped me regain stability. They will also help with ideas for you specifically on how to handle this time in your life.
4) Prescribed antidepressant medications - If you are aware this disorder affects you, the more you incorporate the above suggestions, the more it could reduce you needing antidepressants if at all. For me since I take antidepressants, we usually just have to make an adjustment through this time and then once the season changes, we go right back to the original medication.
5) Watch your diet - Yuck, who wants to be told that, right? However, if you are one of us who have SAD, we often crave sweets and starches i.e. all the weight gaining foods. This is a bad cycle because these foods make you feel good for a short time, then you feel tired, and if you are like me, you want to eat more. This is an extremely difficult task for me as I am already a stress eater, so when you add SAD to it.....Well, you can figure out the rest.
I encourage you to do a self-check to see if this is something that might be going on. Even if you do not have a diagnosis of a mental disorder, this can still affect you. Don't be afraid and think you will be on medication the rest of your life if that is suggested to you by a professional. But I know it has helped me and others I know to manage this time of year.
Isn't it worth it to feel better during this time of year?
