Winter Could Leave You SAD

Coping with SAD

You can take action to help cope with seasonal affective disorder. Here are tips to help you manage the condition, in conjunction with your doctor or mental health provider:

Stick to your treatment plan. Takemedications as directed and attend therapy appointments as scheduled.
Let there be light. Make your home sunnier and brighter. Open blinds, add skylights and trim tree branches that block sunlight.
Get out. Get outdoors on sunny days, even during winter. Take a long walk, eat lunch at a nearby park, or simply sit peacefully on a bench and soak up the sun.
Exercise regularly. Physical exercise helps relieve stress and anxiety, both of which can increase SAD symptoms. Being more fit can make you feel better about yourself, too, which can lift your mood.
Take care of yourself. Get enough rest, eat a balanced diet and take time to relax. Don’t turn to alcohol or un-prescribed drugs for relief.
Practice stress management. Learn how to better manage stress. Unmanaged stress can lead to depression, overeating, or other unhealthy thoughts and behaviors.
Socialize. Stay connected with people you enjoy being around. They can offer support, a shoulder to cry on or a joke to give you a little boost.
Take a trip. If possible, take winter vacations in sunny, warm locations if you have winter SAD, or cooler locations if you have summer SAD.

As the cold of winter settles in and the darkness falls earlier, like many people you may find yourself eating or sleeping more. You may even start feeling a little bit depressed.

While these are common and normal reactions to the changing seasons, people with seasonal affective disorder (SAD) experience a much more serious reaction when summer shifts to fall and on to winter. With seasonal affective disorder, the short days and long nights may trigger feelings of depression, lethargy, fatigue and other problems.

If this happens to you, don’t brush it off as simply a case of the “winter blues.” SAD is a type of depression, and it can severely impair your daily life. But with treatment — such as light box therapy — you can successfully manage SAD and won’t have to dread the arrival of each fall or winter.

What is SAD?

Seasonal affective disorder is a type of depression that is triggered by the seasons. The most common type of SAD is called winter-onset depression. Symptoms usually begin in late fall or early winter and go away by summer. A much less common type of SAD, known as summer-onset depression, usually begins in the late spring or early summer and goes away by winter. SAD may be related to changes in the amount of daylight during different times of the year. In either case, problems may start out mild and become more severe as the season progresses.

What are the Symptoms?

Not everyone who has SAD experiences the same symptoms. Common symptoms of winter-onset SAD include a change in appetite, especially a craving for sweet or starchy foods, weight gain, a drop in energy level, fatigue, a tendency to oversleep, difficulty concentrating, irritability and anxiety, increased sensitivity to social rejection, and avoidance of social situations and a loss of interest in the activities you used to enjoy.

What Causes SAD?
The specific cause of SAD remains unknown. It’s likely, as with many mental health conditions, that genetics, age and perhaps most importantly, your body’s natural chemical makeup, all play a role in developing seasonal affective disorder.

Specific culprits may include your circadian rhythm – the physiological process that helps regulate your body’s internal clock letting you know when to sleep or wake; an excess of melatonin, a sleep-related hormone that, in turn, has been linked to depression; and a lack of serotonin, a natural brain chemical that affects mood.

How Common is SAD?

As many as half a million people in the U.S. may have winter-onset depression. Another 10 percent to 20 percent may experience mild SAD. SAD is more common in women than in men. Although some children and teenagers get SAD, it usually doesn’t occur in people younger than 20 years of age. For adults, the risk of SAD decreases as they get older. Winter-onset SAD is more common in northern regions, where the winter season is typically longer and harsher.

When to seek medical advice

Most people experience some days when they feel down. But if you feel down for days at a time and you can't seem to get motivated to do activities you normally enjoy, see your doctor. This is particularly important if you notice that your sleep patterns and appetite have changed — and certainly if you feel hopeless, think about suicide, or find yourself turning to alcohol for comfort or relaxation.

Treatments

Because increased sunlight improves symptoms, light therapy is often a main treatment for many people with SAD. Light therapy mimics outdoor light and causes a biochemical change in your brain that lifts your mood, relieving symptoms of seasonal affective disorder.

Caution: Tanning beds should not be used to treat SAD. The light sources in tanning beds are high in ultraviolet (UV) rays, which harm both your eyes and your skin.

Your doctor may also want you to try medicine or behavior therapy to treat your SAD. If light therapy or medicine alone doesn’t work, you doctor may want you to use them together.