Laura Watkins
WELLBEING
A
s the days get shorter and the temperature starts to drop, those suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) will not be looking forward to the winter ahead. The end of October is when, across Europe, the clocks move back an hour. Most relish the extra hour in bed, and enjoy the increased light in the morning, however it soon feels like the night is closing in when we start going to work and coming home in the dark. This may be an inconvenience for most people, but it has a serious impact on a minority that suffer from SAD. The symptoms of sufferers can range in severity, to being grumpy and gaining weight, to barely being able to get out of bed, having to take time off work, and having to limit activities. Increased desire for sleep and calorific foods, as well as depression, anxiety, loss of libido and moodiness are common symptoms of SAD, and it seems that sufferers want to ‘hibernate’ for the winter. As the name suggests these symptoms are related to the changing seasons, and usually start to kick in around October/ November and start to lift in March/April. It is this that makes it different from depression. There are a few theories as to why people should be so affected, one idea
is that people struggle to sync their internal clock once the light gets too low, so they are in a kind of perpetual jetlag. Another is that some people produce more melatonin during the winter, which affects their sleep cycles. Melatonin usually increases at night helping people feel sleepy and decreases in the morning sunlight, something vanishingly rare from
WHYSO
SAD? GETTING THROUGH THE LONG NIGHTS
November onwards. Scientists are also seeing results that suggest these factors suppress the formation of serotonin, which would exacerbate the conditioni. Adding to this, there is growing evidence that the lack of vitamin D, caused by the lack of sun, could be feeding into these mechanisms. It seems that there is probably no one answer, and SAD is caused
by more than one factor working together. Many people are affected to some degree, and while it’s not realistic for most to move away from the Northern hemisphere for winter and escape, there are some ways of alleviating or managing the symptoms. Light, or lack of it, seems to be the main cause of SAD. There are different ways of combatting this; light boxes can simulate real sunlight, and don’t require any effort. Just sitting in front of one for an hour a day while reading or working for two weeks, sees symptoms alleviated in around 85%ii of cases. Many people swear by a dawn-simulating alarm clock as well; these slowly brighten simulating a natural dawn to wake people naturally, and many will also offer a dawn chorus to really speed people on their way to a bright morning. Many people with SAD take vitamin D supplements; people get vitamin D from their diets as well as sunlight, and it is thought that supplements may help, although science is divided on their effectiveness. It’s also recommended that people who suffer from SAD try different forms of therapy to help them cope with the symptoms. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) has seen promising results, and is a treatment used for depression and anxiety in general.
NATIONS WILL NEED TO DECIDE IF THEY WANT TO BE ON PERMANENT ‘SUMMER’ OR ‘WINTER’ (STANDARD) TIME IN 2020.
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