Mental health and...S.A.D.
It can be quite common to experience a drop in mood or energy levels during the colder darker months – but did you know that as many as 1 in 10 people are thought to have seasonal affective disorder (SAD)?
SAD is a type of depression that typically happens in the darker autumn and winter months and goes away in the summer. According to the British Psychological Society, the condition could be behind the loss of more than 9.6 million workdays every year in the UK.
The condition is more prevalent in countries where there are greater changes in the weather and number of hours of daylight during different season, and is three times more common in women than men, especially during child-bearing years (Royal College of Psychiatrists).
Some experts suggest that SAD occurs in people whose internal body clocks are more disrupted by the change in daylight hours (this is called your circadian rhythm). Usually, your brain sets your body clock by the hours of daylight, but the darker days can affect the parts of your brain that make ‘feel-good’ or mood regulating hormones like serotonin and melatonin.
So, what are symptoms of seasonal affective disorder?
The NHS lists these:
- low mood
- a lack of interest in things you usually enjoy
- feeling guilty, hopeless or worthless
- feeling restless or irritable
- difficulty concentrating
- being more hungry and eating more than usual
- being more tired and sleeping more than usual
- thoughts of suicide or self-harm
- Some people also have a period of feeling more energetic than usual at the start of spring or summer
SAD is usually linked to the winter months, but it is possible for people to be affected the other way round and experience depression in the spring or summer. The main defining factor is that the depression has a seasonal pattern.
So, if this is something that sounds familiar to you, what can you do about it?
The treatment or support for SAD is similar to how you might treat any form of depression, although some sufferers swear by light therapy, or ‘SAD lamps’, that mimic sun exposure.
Other things to consider are:
Taking a Vitamin D supplement (recommended for everyone in the UK and northern Europe because of a lack of exposure to sun in the winter)
- Getting as much natural daylight as possible – try to go outside every day
- Regular exercise
- Making time to contact or see friends and family – try to avoid becoming isolated
- Maintaining your usual activities
- Trying to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day
Some studies show that SAD disproportionately affects neurodivergent people, with as many as a third of people with ADHD experiencing symptoms. One of the LionHeart ambassadors, who has previously blogged about her late diagnosis of autism and ADHD, shares her experiences.
Jen Hobart
“I’ve always noticed a significant change in my mood when the days start getting shorter. Getting out of bed in the morning can become ineffably harder. The best way I can describe the experience is it being like a heavy weight in the core of my being, which pulls me into a kind of empty void feeling that I've known ever since I was young.
Unfortunately, I haven't had much success with SAD lights. Rather than helping, I found that waking up to a warm light in a dark room just reminds me that it's dark and cold outside.
The thing I’ve found most helpful is getting outside as soon as I can after waking up to get natural light exposure, even if it's just for 5-10 minutes. There’s something about being outside in the morning light that feels noticeably different to simply turning on a lamp or sitting in a bright room.
That being said, by February or March, I find myself desperately waiting for that first proper blue-sky day – the kind where you step outside and suddenly remember what it feels like to have the sun warming the skin on your face.”
