I remember moving to upstate New York twenty six years ago from Colorado. I love the snow and cold, so was not the least bit deterred when folks told horror stories of the massive snowfalls and brutal winters I’d encounter in Buffalo.
We moved in April, so I spent a lovely summer, a beautiful fall and was looking forward to winter with the “Lake Effect Snow” everyone talked about.
When we were about halfway through November, I discovered that I was feeling pretty gloomy. Irritable, wanting to crawl under a quilt and be left alone, withdrawing from people were all symptoms that I hadn’t experienced before. I wrote it off to the change in location, the holidays, the new job etc.
After the New Year came and went, I was still miserable. Anyone who’s met me knows that I’m one of those annoying people who are happy and talking all the time. So I could not figure out why I couldn’t get out of this funk. I was taking St. John’s wort like there was no tomorrow and although it was helping, there was still something terribly wrong.
Time to hit the herb books and do some research. To my surprise, I discovered I was probably suffering from SAD. No, not sad, SAD! Seasonal Affective Disorder. It is very real and causes untold suffering to millions of people every year.
SAD is a type of winter depression that affects an estimated ten million people every winter between September and April, in particular during December, January and February in the United States alone. I’d heard of these “winter blues” before, but I lived in Colorado in the winter for 10 years and never felt like this. It had to be something else.
Nope. Evidently, SAD is caused by a biochemical imbalance in the hypothalamus due to the shortening of daylight hours and the lack of sunlight in winter. Some scientists have theorized that melatonin, a sleep-related hormone that’s also linked to depression, might be the culprit. Production of melatonin increases during the long nights of winter. Also, as many as 3% of all school aged children are SAD.
What’s worse is, this is often misdiagnosed as ADD and ADHD.
If your child is suffering from ADD like symptoms when forced to stay indoors, try getting them up off the couch and outside if the temperature permits, or sit them under a full spectrum lamp for at least 45 minutes per day and see if you notice any improvement.
Other research suggests that the lack of serotonin, that nasty little brain chemical that keeps us all happy, seems to be triggered by sunlight. People who are depressed are known to have decreased levels of serotonin in their brains. Ah HA!
For those of you who have never experienced a Colorado winter, they are wonderful, and snow filled. But the one thing I noticed when I first moved there is that even in the dead of winter, the clouds come, the snow falls and then the sun comes up and shines on everything! It’s enough to blind you, but we don’t seem to suffer from the winter blues there, at least that was my experience.
Some of the symptoms of SAD, (and no, it’s NOT all in your head!!) are:
Change in sleep patterns: Oversleeping but not refreshed, cannot get out of bed, need afternoon naps, (OK, who doesn’t!)
Depression: Feelings of despair, misery, guilt, anxiety, hopelessness etc, normal tasks become frustratingly difficult, withdrawal from friends and family, avoiding company – (tough during the holidays!), crankiness or irritability, lack of feeling or emotion, constant state of sadness.
Lethargy: decreased energy, everything is an effort, decreased productivity.
Physical Ailments: joint pain, stomach problems, lowered resistance to infection, weight gain, (OK, some of it is due to all the cookies, but I’m personally using THIS as my excuse for holiday weight gain this year!); PMS worsens or only seems to occur during this period.
Behavioral Problems: Changes in appetite, usually increased. (Hello! Have you tasted my sister’s Pumpkin Bars?!), Carbohydrate craving, (What good is turkey if you don’t have stuffing and mashed potatoes to go with it!?) loss of interest in sex, (Uh, no comment!) difficulty concentrating, not accomplishing tasks, (When was this article due again?!).
Apparently, women are three times more likely than men to suffer from this disorder. Not quite sure why that is. Are they inside more in the winter? People who live in colder climates have a higher incidence of SAD than those living in warm sunny locations, although it has also crept up in places where it is so hot, folks don’t go outside. Norway’s population has the highest percentage of SAD sufferers anywhere on the earth. Have you seen the women from Norway? I’d be depressed too! In the good ole US, Washington and Oregon are well-known high SAD risk areas. It has also been documented that suicide rates are higher in places of increased light deprivation as well as during the holidays. Hmmm. A definite link.
Great, so what do we do about it? Well, there are several things you can do, but some of them you aren’t going to like! Following are some suggestions:
· Low fat diet, without too much protein. (Yea, right!)
· Daily vitamins with magnesium, B complex and minerals. (OK, I can do that)
· Reduce Stress. (I think homicide is illegal in most states, isn’t it?)
· Elimination of refined sugars and flours. (Hmmm. OK, only 1 piece of pie!)
· Walking or aerobic exercise. (Come on, go out and help the kids build a snowman!)
· St. John’s Wort. (My salvation, truly!)
· Mustard Flower Essences. (Can I have a hot dog with them?)
· Herbal remedies like Lemon Balm tea, ginkgo, kava and of course St. John’s wort! (Doin’ that!)
· At least 30 minutes every day in the fresh air – preferably in the sunlight! (Walk down the block or park extra far away to do your shopping so it takes 30 minutes to get into the mall! (I think that happens anyhow!)
· Light therapy.
This last suggestion is one of the best. My brilliant and loving husband got sick and tired of hearing me moan the first year we were in NY and finally went to the store and bought some of those “blue” lights. They have the blue light from the spectrum, not like normal light bulbs. OK, I can hear all of you screaming about how expensive they are, but I can personally attest to their effectiveness. Grow lights have the same blue spectrum light and could be an alternative for fluorescent light fixtures.
Light therapy has been shown to be effective in up to 85% of diagnosed cases.
That is exposure for up to 4 hours per day to very bright light, at least ten times the intensity of ordinary domestic lighting. Ordinary light bulbs and fittings are not strong enough. Average domestic or office lighting comes in at about 200-500 lux, but the minimum dose necessary to treat SAD is 2500 lux.
The treatment should be used daily in winter, starting in early autumn when the first symptoms appear. You need to have the light shining through the eyes, but that doesn’t mean you have to sit and stare at a box for 4 hours a day. (Although during football season, most of our significant others seem to wrack up more than that on a Sunday!)
You can carry out normal activity such as reading, working, eating, and knitting while stationary in front of the light. Treatment is usually effective within three or four days and the effect continues, provided it is used every day. Tinted lenses or anything device that blocks the light to the retina of the eye should NOT be worn.
I have these bulbs all over my office and shop and they go in the lights in October and stay there until April. Since we get a bit more sunshine in the winter here, on a lovely snowy day, you’ll find me outside in my snowshoes getting that light therapy.
So go spend the extra bucks even if it’s only for the lamp on your desk and try this out as well as the other suggestions. You can find them at your local hardware store, Lowe’s, Home Depot, Menards, Meijers, even the dreaded Wal-Mart! Let’s make this holiday season a truly happy one – for us AND our families, and
Let’s get Better!
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