Seasonal Affective Disorder
Today is December 6th (if you are reading this blog on its publication day), and we have fourteen short days and long nights until the Winter Solstice (which technically occurs at 2:19 am on December 21st MST.) I was surprised to learn that the Solstice is a precise time—and not an entire day—but it seems that the Solstice actually occurs when the Sun reaches the Tropic of Capricorn, and this is when we have our shortest day and longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere in terms of daylight. It’s the astronomical start of winter, but we commonly use the meteorological definition that the first day of each season is the first day of the month in which the solstice or equinox occurs.
So, we are now almost a full week into winter. Does anyone else feel like we have been immersed in winter for more than a week? Unfortunately, cold wind and snow do not care about astronomical and meteorological definitions—they come when they come.
I am less bothered by wind and snow than I am by days with short periods of daylight, and the Winter Solstice is important to me because, being the day with the shortest period of daylight, it also means that days will be getting longer (and nights shorter!)
You see, I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). I was raised in a SAD household, where I thought that it was commonplace to feel the impacts of reduced daylight—I had no idea that experiencing fatigue and sluggishness during winter months was not universal.
SAD is, in psychological and medical terminology, a type of depression caused by changes of season. Many of us with SAD thrive during summer with abundant sunlight (and warmth) and struggle during the reduced light periods of late fall, winter and early spring. But there are people with the opposite, who thrive during low light periods and struggle during the long, bright days of summer.
According to the Mayo Clinic, signs and symptoms of SAD include
- Feeling listless, sad or down most of the day, nearly every day
- Losing interest in activities you once enjoyed
- Having low energy and feeling sluggish
- Having problems with sleeping too much
- Experiencing carbohydrate cravings, overeating and weight gain
- Having difficulty concentrating
- Feeling hopeless, worthless or guilty
- Having thoughts of not wanting to live
Here are a few facts about SAD courtesy of a wonderful book called The Full Weight of the Law: How Legal Professionals Can Recognize and Rebound from Depression” written by two clinical psychologists with the Massachusetts Lawyers Assistance Program, Shawn Healy and Jeffrey Fortgang:
- Most SAD cases occur in fall and early winter as we experience shorter days and less sunlight.
- It may be more common in climates where there are significant changes in temperature and amount of daylight (like ours!)
- Sunlight affects our circadian rhythm and the amount of serotonin and melatonin we have which influences our sleep.
We don’t all have all of the signs and symptoms listed above, and signs and symptoms vary in severity (and if you are experiencing feelings of hopelessness of not wanting to live, please call Assist’s counselling office for help, including crisis counselling, at 1-877-498-6898.) Some people call these feelings the “winter blues” but this likely refers to the mild end of the spectrum. SAD can be disabling and individuals who feel that their day to day activities are impaired should seek medical advice or meet with a counsellor.
Cognitive behavioural therapy, a “talk therapy,” can help individuals learn to focus on immediate thoughts, moods, and feelings as part of a process to break down problems and make them more manageable,
Conventional treatment of SAD can also include using a light therapy lamp, usually first thing in the morning, which replicates the positive effects of sunlight. Light therapy lamps are high intensity—typically 10,000 lux—which are placed about 16 to 24 inches from your face for 20 to 30 minutes per day.
It is tempting to simply purchase a lightbox without bothering to see a counsellor or doctor, but lightboxes come with the warning that you should consult with your family doctor before starting a light therapy regimen.
Drs. Healy and Fortgang point out that just because it is fall or winter, it doesn’t mean that your feelings of depression are caused by decreased exposure to sunlight. Depression has many causes, from neurotransmitter breakdowns to physical illness to hormonal imbalance to sleep deprivation to genetics, and in order to deal effectively with depression, you need to identify the underlying cause.
People may also have skin or eye issues which make using light therapy inappropriate. Certain medications, including some antibiotics and anti-inflammatories, can also increase your sensitivity to light. So can the supplement St. John’s Wort. And if you have bipolar disorder, mania can be triggered by light therapy.
There are also practical considerations if you decide to try light therapy. You need to use the device at the same time every day and it must be placed in a location that is the correct distance from your face. Check out “Seasonal affective disorder treatment: choosing a light therapy box.”
Not every case of the winter blues is SAD or will respond to light therapy, so what else can we do when we feel blue or sluggish during the low light months?
- Ensure that you have a healthy diet and exercise on a regular basis. Eating foods with added sugar causes a quick sugar high, followed by a crash. Following this pattern over time can cause recovery from the crash to become more difficult. Include whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and foods containing omega-3 fatty acid, folate and vitamin B12.
- Be aware of the link between vitamin D deficiency and depression. While I can’t pretend to understand the biochemistry, our bodies produce vitamin D from a form of cholesterol through exposure to sunlight, and when we get less sunlight on our skin, we synthesize less vitamin D. While some studies suggest being outside for 10-30 minutes of noon-day sunlight three times a week, wearing a tank top and shorts, we Northerners may have to take supplements. Again, it is wise to consult with your physician to ensure that supplements are safe for you!
- When we exercise, our brains release endorphins—the “feel-good” hormones. We all know this and many of us struggle to get enough exercise. When you are depressed, you often have low energy, and even thinking about exercise can be exhausting. But if you summon the energy to start, you may find that have more energy afterward. Consider making a plan to exercise with a friend since we are less likely to cancel on another person than on ourselves.
- Get sufficient sleep consistently. Lack of sleep and poor-quality sleep are tied to depression. It isn’t exciting or glamorous but having a regular bedtime and wake up time can help you feel better.
- Spend more time outdoors when the sun is shining. I had a colleague who had lived in the Northwest Territory, and I asked her how she coped with the short days. She said that when the sun came out for its short intervals in the dead of winter, people just stopped what they were doing and went outside. Try to get outdoors when you can!
- Consider counselling as the days get shorter to help you develop strategies and helpful thinking processes if you think you will descend into the blues. Proactive counselling is covered through Assist’s program—just call 1-877-498-6898.
- Some forms of depression are most appropriately treated using medication to address the underlying issue (e.g. a neurotransmitter failure or chemical imbalance.) This is part of why it is important to talk to your family doctor (as well as to identify medical issues which could make a proposed strategy unsuitable.)
- Meditation, mindfulness and yoga can help with depressed thinking. Check out Assist’s Tuesday 15-minute mindfulness breaks at 12 noon and our free online yoga class on Wednesday at noon.
While there are practices we can engage in to help us ward off some of the feelings associated with SAD, please do not engage in self-blame. We don’t know why some of us suffer from SAD while others don’t, and while practices like the ones outlined above can help many people, we are not all the same.
The nature of SAD can make it hard for us to develop and implement strategies to reduce SAD or winter blues—it is easier to curl up indoors with a book or a streaming service than to structure activities which feel overwhelming. Please consider adding one activity to your day at a time to reduce feelings of overwhelm and languor, something as easy as walking outside for ten minutes at lunch (if you bundle up!) You can gradually increase the length of time you are moving outdoors, and you can gradually add in healthier eating choices.
If you struggle with signs and symptoms associated with SAD, know that you are not alone. According to the Canadian Psychological Association (https://cpa.ca/psychology-works-fact-sheet-seasonal-affective-disorder-depression-with-seasonal-pattern/), about 15% of Canadians will experience a mild case of SAD, while 2-3% will experience a serious case.
And remember that you can join our Monday Red Mug Coffee Circles—it’s as easy as following a Zoom link—to meet a group of caring lawyers and students if you feel isolated or lonely during the dark months. Just call us. We can help.
Loraine
PS: Some of this content was published in the Assist blog on October 19, 2020, where I stated that we were entering our first (and hopefully our last) COVID winter. How little we knew, then. But we came through COVID winter a few times, and we will get through this one, too.