December is Seasonal Affective Disorder Awareness Month
The dark and dreary days of fall and winter can make these seasons hard to weather, especially if your mood appears to follow the forecast. For some people, this seasonal shift can be overwhelming and leave a lingering sense of sadness for nearly half of the year. While it’s normal to occasionally feel down, this seasons-long sadness is more than just a mood and is clinically known as a type of depression called seasonal affective disorder or SAD. Since this seasonal sadness spreads far and wide, the month of December has been declared Seasonal Affective Disorder Awareness Month. Whether you have fallen into a fall or winter funk or want to avoid this type of depression, see the light about SAD and understand its prevalence and your risk, along with the symptoms of sadness and a few feel-good treatment options to help you give seasonal blues the cold shoulder.
The misery isn’t a mystery
If your mood is falling faster than the temperature, it isn’t all in your head—it’s all in the weather. While many people seem to feel slightly sad during these grayer and gloomier months, some experience a more serious type of depression, aka seasonal affective disorder, that starts and ends when the seasons change. If you’re susceptible to this sadness, certain seasons can make you slip into a slump that leaves you sad, sullen, moody, cranky, and losing interest in the things you once enjoyed. It usually appears in the gray and gloomy days of fall or winter, then completely disappears by the brighter and lighter spring and summer. And in very rare cases, some people have symptoms during the warmer months instead.
Misery loves company
The prevalence of seasonal affective disorder varies as much as the seasons. Millions of Americans experience SAD each year. Overall, approximately 5% of adults in the United States suffer from SAD and it tends to last about 40% of the year.
Breaking down your risk
Don’t mistake seasonal affective disorder for a case of the “winter blues,” which are feelings of sadness or anxiety that are triggered by the stresses of the fall and winter, such as the pressure of holiday gatherings and the anxiety of family visits. While these are brought on by the calendar, SAD is caused by changes in the brain related to fewer hours of sunlight during the fall and winter. Factors that increase your risk of developing SAD include:
- Living in locations at higher latitudes where there are fewer daylight hours during the colder months
- Being a woman
- A personal history of depression or bipolar disorder
- A family history of depression, schizophrenia, or other mood disorders
- Experiencing certain mental disorders, such as ADHD, an eating disorder, or anxiety disorder
Symptoms of seasonal sadness
Depression can be deceptive. The signs of despair aren’t always written on somebody’s face. Since seasonal affective disorder is a type of depression, it shares many of the same symptoms and sufferers face many of the same problems. SAD goes beyond an occasional bad mood because it affects how you feel, think, act, and function daily for several seasons of the year. Speak to your SignatureMD-affiliated doctor if you experience the following symptoms of SAD:
- Ongoing sense of sadness
- Hopelessness
- Helplessness
- Anxiety
- Irritability
- Restlessness
- Frustration
- Feelings of worthlessness or guilt
- Lack of energy
- Loss of interest or pleasure in normal activities and hobbies
- Trouble focusing and making decisions
- Sleeping too little or too much
- Changes in appetite or weight
- Physical aches, pains, or issues that don’t go away with treatment
- Thoughts of suicide or death
Treatments to put a spring in your step
If you’re affected by seasonal affective disorder, you don’t have to let the bleak and blustery seasons of fall and winter cast a dark cloud over the way you feel. Several treatments are available and can be used alone or in combinations, including:
- Light therapy – This exposes you to bright light to replace the reduced daylight during darker months.
- Cognitive behavioral therapy – This type of psychotherapy teaches new ways of thinking, acting, and responding to alter habits related to depression.
- Antidepressants – These change the way your brain works by producing the missing chemicals involved in your mood.
- Exposure to sunlight – Spending time near a window or outside may help ease the uncomfortable symptoms.
- Vitamin D supplements – Since many sufferers are deficient in vitamin D, supplements may help improve symptoms of SAD.
Hopefully, seeing the light about seasonal affective disorder will help you lose those seasonal blues and find happiness all year long.