Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of mood disorder which occurs with some people who typically have normal mental health throughout most of the year exhibit depressive symptoms at the same time each year, often during darker, colder months.
SAD is estimated to affect 1 in 5 people. Symptoms of winter SAD include fatigue, decreased energy, increased need for sleep, craving for sweets and starches, lack of pleasure, anxiety and sadness. These symptoms interfere with many important aspects of daily life, both personal and professional. The good news is that they can be defeated if promptly recognized and actively tackled.
There are certain approaches that can treat (or prevent) SAD, especially of the form that occurs when daylight savings time change. One set of approaches has been developed by Norman Rosenthal, a psychiatrist at Georgetown University School of Medicine.
Rosenthal explains in a message sent to Digital Journal: “The good news is you’re dealing with a predictable phenomena…The bad news is it is not always as predictable as you would like.”
The pros and cons of putting the clock back one hour in the autumn occurs in many countries, when they move from Daylight Savings Time (DST) to Standard Time. The net effect of the time change is to give people an extra hour of light in the morning as the days get shorter, but an hour less in the afternoon.
Although some people may benefit from more light in the morning, for example children on their way to school, for millions of people with winter seasonal affective disorder (SAD) this extra hour of evening darkness can come as a shock and compound their feelings of gloom and despair.
In Defeating SAD: A Guide to Health and Happiness Through All Seasons, Rosenthal explains that bright light can affect mood in two different ways:
- Indirectly via the circadian rhythms system.
- Directly through relatively newly described pathways between cells in the retina and a certain part of the brain.
The immediate depressing effect of losing an hour of afternoon light in the afternoon suggests that replacing light at that time would be helpful, and clinical experience bears that out.
A common symptom of winter SAD is difficulty waking up in the morning, which may make it difficult for SAD sufferers to benefit from the extra hour of morning light following the DST change.
In terms of strategies to minimise the impact of SAD, Rosenthal recommends:
- Ensure exposure to morning light by waking and getting out of bed earlier.
- Using a special wake-up light (dawn simulator) or simply putting your bedside lamp on a timer may help get your day going.
- Get some light therapy in the morning as early as you can and, weather permitting, go outdoors to enjoy the sunlight.
- Be sure to get some extra light therapy in the late afternoon, especially after the DST change, to make up for the sunlight that has been lost.
These tips provide the basis of advice only. For those with serious symptoms, medical advice should be sought.
