Dealing With Winter Blues

Does the winter time make you sad or depressed? There are a lot of people who undergo mood changes which can range from mild "fall/winter blues" to severe Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), which can mostly be attributed to the decrease in daylight that occurs during the fall and winter months. This decrease actually causes hormonal changes in your body, which can affect your mood significantly. And of course, if you live in Seattle, you never see the sun!


SAD is a serious disorder that is a subtype of Major Depressive Disorder in which your life can severely be burdened by low mood, fatigue, anxiety, reduced sex drive and many more symptoms. SAD is really just a tiny aspect of the entire realm of depression. Many of us experience similar but less severe symptoms which makes us just short of being clinically depressed. And I think that's just, well, sad!      


Here's a few things you can do to prevent or treat symptoms of SAD:       


1. Don't hit the snooze button. Oversleeping, even if on the weekends, causes your circadian rhythms to drift later, which can cause the lethargy and SAD symptoms associated with winter.


2. You should eat at the same time daily and never after 8 p.m. for dinner. Just as with light, our circadian rhythms respond to meal times as well.


3. To counter the season's reduction in light, create it by purchasing a light-therapy box (a box that emits bright light that mimics natural outdoor light, which is more intense than normal household. I believe anybody can benefit from light therapy. It's just a highly convenient and effective breakfast-table routine. By the time you're done with your eggs and the paper, you'll likely have received enough therapy to prevent any mood shifts and stay energetic throughout the day. I recommend light boxes that have been clinically tested and provide a broad field of illumination from above the line of sight.
Also, UV radiation should be filtered out, and the light should be smoothly diffused, to eliminate glaring bright spots.


4. To a lesser extent, indoor light can also help combat symptoms of SAD. But you don't need full-spectrum light bulbs. Instead of scouring the aisles for full-spectrum bulbs, I suggest you choose light bulbs based on color temperature ratings. A color temperature around 4100 Kelvin is ideal. Higher color temperatures of 5500 Kelvin and above should be avoided.


Still feeling blue, despite actively trying to brighten your days? You may have clinical depression. To get an objective assessment of where you fall on the seasonal-depression spectrum, check out the Center for Environmental Therapeutics' Personal Inventory for Depression and SAD, an online symptom self-assessment at www.cet.org. And, of course, consult your doctor.