We are smack dab in the middle of winter here in the Northern Hemisphere and, is it just me, or is this getting harder with each passing year?
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), sometimes referred to as the “winter blues” effects millions of people across the globe. The colder and darker your environment becomes, the more likely you are to experience symptoms of SAD. To be clear, SAD is not its own diagnosis, but rather a condition that falls into a subtype of major depression. Though it’s most commonly reported to occur in the winter months, SAD can also occur in the warmer months, of spring and summer too.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), symptoms of SAD can include any of the criteria for major depression (i.e.: feeling depressed most of the day, nearly every day, lost of interest in activities you once enjoyed, low energy, difficulty concentrating, thoughts related to death and/or suicide), but also come with specific symptoms of it’s own. Namely, excessive sleeping and eating, weight gain, and social withdrawal. SAD symptoms for the warmer months can include insomnia, poor appetite, weight loss, excessive restlessness, anxiety, agitation and even violent behavior.
The NIMH also reports that SAD often co-occurs with other mental health conditions and is more common in women. In fact, SAD can even run in families!
Getting Through Your SAD
Unfortunately, like pretty much all mental health conditions, we don’t fully understand why SAD occurs. But if you’re like me, the why isn’t as important as the what – as in, “what can I do to help myself?!” As a mental health professional and life-long SAD sufferer, here are some of the tips and tools I have picked up along my journey to help me through this months-long struggle:
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- Sun Bathe – Find a comfy, sunny spot in your house and set up shop for 20 minutes. Bring your favorite blanket to snuggle up in or yoga mat to spread out on. If it helps, play some music! This natural light therapy is a staple for getting a good dose of Vitamin D (believed to promote serotonin activity, a key neurotransmitter linked to mood) and help regulate melatonin production, which some research findings suggest can perpetrate SAD symptoms due to the overproduction of melatonin (causing sleepiness). I like to sit in front of my bedroom window first thing in the morning, which sleep experts recommended if you’re struggling with sleep-cycle disruptions. Talking to your doctor about a Vitamin D supplement might be a good idea too!
- Move That Body – Lack of movement is linked to lots of health issues, one of which is depression. If you find yourself stuck in a sedentary lifestyle, getting your body moving is proven to help boost your mood, increase your energy levels, and overall, just help your body cope better with the cold. If you’re anything like me, going outside in the winter is an absolute HARD pass. So I purchased an inexpensive elliptical machine to use exclusively in the cold months. To be clear – I am not recommended a hard-core workout! I strive for 20 minutes per day of movement, whether that be yoga, dancing, or the not-so-fun-but-gets-the-job-done exercise machine.
- Therapy (and maybe medication?) – As a mental health professional I always encourage people (and myself) to seek out additional resources to help with coping when “the routine” isn’t cutting it. One thing that many people don’t realize is that therapy and medications are just another set of tools that you can use as you see fit! If you just need therapy from December to April, that’s perfectly fine! Just be sure to let your therapist know what your goals are, so they can help you to the best of their ability. Medications can also be utilized in a customizable way, but since that is not my area of expertise, I always recommend that clients bring up this idea with their prescribing doctors. My goal is just to make sure people to know it’s possible to receive individualized treatment based on your specific wants and needs!
In Sum
Over the years I have come to accept that winter might be really tough on me for the rest of my life. Thankfully, by utilizing my therapeutic tools (which I revisit and customize annually to fit my current needs) I now feel more confident with each passing year that I will make it through. Hell, this year I even started a blog in the winter!
OK, I feel like I have to acknowledge it’s like the warmest winter i’ve ever lived through, which is a bad sign for our climate, but for my mental and emotional health, I am counting it as a win!