S.A.D. - Seasonal Affective Disorder

Seasonal Affective Disorder kind of sounds like something to do with allergies, huh?  Well, not the case, but it could effect just as many people.  

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?

Walkinitthru?????

I came up with the title of my blog and Facebook page because during my journeys of depression there were times I just did not want to function.  Some times were harder than others.  Many times I could not get out of bed and did not want to get out of bed.  Functioning was not something I felt I could do mentally and physically.

Many people think you can just put your big girl or boy drawers on and go.  At times, it is not possible.  It is not about sucking it up and moving.  It is a mental issue/disorder.  It is something medical; a disease with a diagnosis.  It is similar to being diagnosed with hypertension, cancer, diabetes, etc.  You are diagnosed with a mental disorder of some type.

You hear people say 'one day at a time'.  Sometimes if I could get through one task at a time it was encouraging to me.  But A LOT of the time it was one minute at a time.  The thought of having to move was almost unbearable. 

So walkinitthru is something each of us have to and need to choose to do every single day.  It could be baby steps, minute by minute or day by day.  I encourage you to try with all your might to set a goal to walk, move or think yourself towards a goal.  When we have a goal and we accomplish it, it encourages us and makes us feel good and like we can do it again.  My desire to help you with these blogs and Facebook posts is to encourage you to do just that. 

If I can help in any way, please comment back or send an email to sandy@walkinitthru.com.  I would love to help in anyway I can!!!

Back to School (Happiness or Sadness)

It’s that time of year again.  Can you believe it?  August AND back to school time.  This time of year can stir up a lot of feelings for a variety of individuals.  In this day and time, we have kids who go to public and private schools.  We have stay-at-home moms and dads.  We have home schooling.  We have caregivers/parents/guardians who work as well.  Along with the variety of individuals as well as the variety of schooling, people can have a lot of anxiety as well as depression.

Words that come to my mind when I hear back to school is money, clothes, school supplies, shopping, bullying, safety issues, etc.  It is very expensive to get all the items needed for school.  Safety issues in this day and time have deemed it to make things very specific like clear backpacks, etc.  We now have to purchase hand sanitizer and more tissues and no pointy scissors.  Then, if you do not like to shop, it makes it worse.  Sadly enough, people are almost as pushy and vicious during this time of year as they are on Black Friday.  Right?!  

Clothing is just as bad.  Some schools require uniforms which cannot obviously be purchased easily although it is getting better than it used to be.  Some schools have a dress code regarding the sayings on T-shirts, how short you can wear your shorts, and how much shoulder you can show with girls tops.  There are even schools where you cannot wear certain colors due to gang problems. 

Now, if you home school obviously some of this may not apply.  However, you have to get organized from a teacher’s point of view.  You have to be prepared on things you want to teach and supplies you have to buy.  She have to work on managing teaching time as well has keep up a household.  

Then there is another issue maybe not talked about as much which is stress because their children are going back to school and they will be all alone.  Many moms and dads are excited the kids are going back to school so the house will be less cluttered and quieter and the electric bill may even go down from the doors opening and closing all the time.  Some people have anxiety and depression because their children are going back to school.  The feelings of not being needed surface.  Sometimes having an idle mind or being alone is difficult.  

Here are some ideas to help you in some of these areas no matter which way you feel:

·         Get someone to do your school supply shopping for you (as a grandma I enjoy doing that)

·         Shop on line for school supplies and clothes

·         Make a lunch date with a friend and do it together

·         If you aren’t an organized person, find someone who loves to do that and have them help or do it for you

·         If you don’t like being alone, find an activity to do during school hours when you kids are at school

·         Make a new friend

·         Volunteer

·         Work on holiday things now so you aren’t so stressed out at holiday time.  If you get started on it now, you will be able to enjoy the holidays and be less stressed then

·         Read

·         Find new recipes

·         Find a project

These can be difficult times for different reasons.  Since you already know certain things cause anxiety and/or depression, your best plan of action is to plan ahead.  This will help keep you in a good place!!!