full spectrum light | Wellness Secrets of a SuperAger

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that comes and goes with the seasons. It usually starts in the late fall and early winter and goes away during the spring and summer. Some people do have episodes of depression that start in the spring or summer, but that is a lot less common. Symptoms of SAD may include:

Sadness
Gloomy outlook
Feeling hopeless, worthless, and irritable
Loss of interest or pleasure in activities you used to enjoy
Low energy
Difficulty sleeping or oversleeping
Carbohydrate cravings and weight gain
Thoughts of death or suicide

SAD is more common in women, young people, and those who live far from the equator. You are also more likely to have SAD if you or your family members have depression.

The exact causes of SAD are unknown. Researchers have found that people with SAD may have an imbalance of serotonin, a brain chemical that affects your mood. Their bodies also make too much melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep, and not enough vitamin D.

The main treatment for SAD is light therapy. The idea behind light therapy is to replace the sunshine that you miss during the fall and winter months. You sit in front of a light therapy box every morning to get daily exposure to bright, artificial light. But some people with SAD do not respond to light therapy alone. Antidepressant medicines and talk therapy can reduce SAD symptoms, either alone or combined with light therapy.

I want to add a note from personal experience to this discussion. I took care of my aunt who suffered and died from Alzheimer’s Disease for the last six years of her life. We had always been close and spoke nearly daily on the phone for the years prior to her being diagnosed with the disease One of the things we had discussed was her getting ‘depressed’ in the winter time when the days got short. As I was acquainted with SAD, I feared that she might suffer far more in the winter when it combined with her Alzheimer’s Disease. So, I bought some full spectrum lights for her apartment. These are used in light therapy and unlike regular lights which give a yellow glow, they broadcast the entire spectrum of light – replicating sunlight. So, my aunt was able to have the equivalent of summer daylight in her home during winter’s darkest hours. She never sank into a depression in the years I took care of her. So, light therapy can be effective.

Tony

“The gloom of winter seems to get inside some people, the dark affecting their moods as well as their days.” So says the latest issue of Harvard Healthbeat.

Known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD), this form of depression affects a small percentage of the population. Although it strikes all genders and ages, women are more likely to develop SAD than men, and young people are more likely to develop it than older people.

“SAD seems to be triggered by decreased exposure to daylight. Typically, it arrives during the fall or winter months and subsides in the spring. Symptoms are similar to general depression and include lethargy, loss of interest in once-pleasurable activities, interpersonal problems, irritability, inability to concentrate, and changes in sleeping patterns, appetite, or both,” Healthbeat continued.

I have mentioned a number of times my aunt who died from Alzheimer’s. She lived just over six years with it and died at the age of 93. But, I had known her my entire life and before getting sick, she had been a major character in my life. For years I called her daily and chatted about everything under the sun. She had often told me how she hated the winter because it always depressed her and she didn’t really ‘feel good’ until spring.
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