sunshine | Wellness Secrets of a SuperAger

I don’t know if I suffer from SAD – seasonal affective disorder – or not. If I do, I think it is a mild case. Don’t know what SAD is?

Here’s the Mayo Clinic explaining it, “Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that’s related to changes in seasons — SAD begins and ends at about the same times every year. If you’re like most people with SAD, your symptoms start in the fall and continue into the winter months, sapping your energy and making you feel moody. Less often, SAD causes depression in the spring or early summer.”

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Photo by Szabó Viktor on Pexels.com

“Treatment for SAD may include light therapy (phototherapy), medications and psychotherapy.” Continue reading →

England had several early advocates of the curative value of sun and fresh air. Physician John Lettsom (1744-1815) prescribed sea air and sunshine for children who were suffering from tuberculosis (TB). In 1840, surgeon George Bodington noted that those who worked in the open air—farmers, plowmen, shepherds—were generally free of TB, while those who spent much of their time indoors seemed more susceptible to it.

I love this kind of information. Sunshine and fresh air are good for us. Who’da thunk it?

I think we are all hard-wired to know simple, wonderful facts like this, but the information gets lost in the myriad facts of the mental mayhem that makes up modern living. Now we have science backing up our own intuition.

I know I am going to enjoy riding my bike out in the sun even more now.

Tony