Light and Seasonal Affective Disorder

Light is important for our health, sleep, and emotional well-being. We are all experiencing more and more stress each day, COVID-19, distance learning, forest fires, unemployment, working from home and the list could go on. We are also heading into Fall and Winter when we will have less daylight and more people will be experiencing SAD (Seasonal affective disorder).

SAD - From the MAYO Clinic Website

Signs and symptoms of SAD may include:

• Feeling depressed most of the day, nearly every day

• Losing interest in activities you once enjoyed

• Having low energy

• Having problems with sleeping

• Experiencing changes in your appetite or weight

• Feeling sluggish or agitated

• Having difficulty concentrating

• Feeling hopeless, worthless or guilty

• Having frequent thoughts of death or suicide

Fall and winter SAD

Symptoms specific to winter-onset SAD, sometimes called winter depression, may include:

• Oversleeping

• Appetite changes, especially a craving for foods high in carbohydrates

• Weight gain

• Tiredness or low energy

Spring and Summer SAD

Symptoms specific to summer-onset seasonal affective disorder, sometimes called summer depression, may include:

• Trouble sleeping (insomnia)

• Poor appetite

• Weight loss

• Agitation or anxiety

Causes of SAD

The specific cause of seasonal affective disorder remains unknown. Some factors that may come into play include:

• Your biological clock (circadian rhythm). The reduced level of sunlight in fall and winter may cause winter-onset SAD. This decrease in sunlight may disrupt your body's internal clock and lead to feelings of depression.

• Serotonin levels. A drop in serotonin, a brain chemical (neurotransmitter) that affects mood, might play a role in SAD. Reduced sunlight can cause a drop in serotonin that may trigger depression.

• Melatonin levels. The change in season can disrupt the balance of the body's level of melatonin, which plays a role in sleep patterns and mood.

Read more about SAD at the Mayo Clinic

What You Can Do to Help With Sleep and Reduce Stress

While so many things are out of our control, we can do some things to help with sleep and even stress reduction.

• Try to keep to a routine, go to bed and get up at the same time every day.

• Get regular exercise

• Eat healthy foods

• Pay attention to your lighting!

Light is the major cue to set our Circadian Rhythm which is responsible for almost of our bodily functions including the release or our hormones. We need bright light first thing in the morning to “entrain” or set us to our 24-hour day.

We need “blue” light mid-day to energize us and to inhibit the release of melatonin (when we have no melatonin we then have the hormone serotonin release, which is our feel good and energized hormone), and no “blue” light in the evening so that we can produce melatonin and sleep.

For those who are spending most of their time indoors, either at home or in an office there are some products that can help. (For those experience thoughts of suicide or severe depression, see your Doctor)

There are a number of task lamps available that you can change the color of the light to what is needed at certain times, there are also light bulbs that you use either during the day time (the blue enriched) or evening (the warmer, blue depleted bulb). If you would like information on any of these products, or others I have available let me know.

Suzanne