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SAD

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K

kentish maid

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
February has always been a bad month for me, and it has been put down to Seasonal Affective Disorder. Normally I would have been stuffing my face but as I am trying to control my diabetes by diet I find I am resisting the urge to gorge, and finding things to distract me. Working so far. I am determined not to regain the weight I have lost. Does anyone else suffer from SAD (btw I am perfectly aware that a lot of health professionals look upon it as a myth)
 
I don't think it is a myth, kentish maid, and although I'm getting a bit fed up now with the cold, I suffer from the opposite quite a lot, the summer depression. I can't cope with heat & humidity, and very light evenings & mornings, and get quite depressed in July and August. So I sympathise with you!

I haven't any solutions to offer, I'm afraid...
 
Well sunshine's the cure for SAD isn't it - so let's campaign for better winter weather I say.

Winter's a PITA for me too, but we are seeing some sun now even though it's still freezing so I think Robin's right - get some sun on your face.
 
I definitely get this but since I have been making a point of going for a 20 minute walk after lunch it has been much better!
 
Pine Marten said:
I don't think it is a myth, kentish maid, and although I'm getting a bit fed up now with the cold, I suffer from the opposite quite a lot, the summer depression. I can't cope with heat & humidity, and very light evenings & mornings, and get quite depressed in July and August. So I sympathise with you!

I haven't any solutions to offer, I'm afraid...
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I was aware some people get SAD in the summer but not 'met' anyone that had. It must be quite difficult, especially with so many people looking forward to the summer
 
SAD light panels, varying between £40 and £150 are easily available, and really do work at lifting mood. It’s like sitting in the sunshine. Well worth getting one. If you go for a very cheap one at Argos you may not get full benefit. Look for good reviews on Amazon, many manufacturers are there.
 
Well I certainly get more than my fair share of being outdoors, difficult not to with a dog, rain or shine she has 2 walks a day, minimum half hour a time. It is the evenings I find hard, perhaps a light panel is worth looking into.
 
But not late in the evening, or you’ll reset your body clock and find getting off to sleep harder.
 
We have one. My husband swears by it, the light box, as soon as the clocks change, every morning.
S.
 
One of my fellow nightshifters swears by her light box, I might ask her to bring it in next time I work with her :D
 
That's part of the reason (not a major one though) that I decided to make the move to California; January & February were never my best months, especially if they were wet.... Used to so much look forward to the first blooms of spring.
 
@Martin Canty you must mean southern California? I think the northern part is soggy, at least Oregon and Washington area wet. Well, not that I've ever been! But my cousin lives in Nevada and I think that's close.

Good morning, 6.7 for me this morning.
S.
 
I can sympathise with this, my husband especially suffers with SAD too. This is our first winter back in the UK after living in Spain for 5 years, and we are finding it challenging to say the least! We are taking vitamin D supplements aka the sunshine vitamin. Not sure if they are helping.

We are really looking forward to a week in our Spanish holiday home in the sun in March.
 
Benny G said:
KM, you didn't say who 'put [it] down to Seasonal Affective Disorder.' Was it a friend, or a professional?

The lamps really do help with SAD, you use it first thing in the morning, for maybe 20 to 60 minutes. It helps to regulate your melatonin cycle and allows you to feel sleepy at bedtime.

Personally, I find the change of seasons challenging. During the winter months I work 4 days a week to cope with delayed sleep phase insomnia and mild depression, which creeps in, like clockwork, from November onwards.
I look forward to the Spring, when the insomnia changes gear and I can happily manage on 3 or 4 hours of sleep.
I think in a past life i was a cat.
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Hi Benny, I think I used to be a dormouse, and hibernated for the winter. I worked as a dragon (GP receptionist) for 10 years and one of the GP's there recognised a pattern. At the time he was also my GP. Part of the reason I got a dog was to ensure I had an incentive to get out of bed during the winter months. The lamp is looking more and more like the way forward.
 
kentish maid said:
I was aware some people get SAD in the summer but not 'met' anyone that had. It must be quite difficult, especially with so many people looking forward to the summer
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It's interesting, and according to this site one tenth of affected people get the reverse SAD version:

"While many of us are familiar with SAD, there are, in fact, people who get SAD in reverse. For a small group of people, the dark days of winter don’t elicit depression, but renewed vigor and improved mood.

Reverse seasonal affective disorder affects less than 1/10th of all SAD cases, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. But just like winter-onset SAD, reverse seasonal affective disorder returns every year at about the same time.

While winter SAD is linked to a lack of sunlight, it is thought that summer SAD is due to the reverse—possibly too much sunlight, which also lead to modulations in melatonin production." ~ from a US website found on google.
 
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