Ready? Set? Switch On! October’s the time to get your SAD light out…

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Neens

Hello there!

Well it’s been a glorious autumn day here in the North East of England. I hope you’re well and have been enjoying the sunshine too?

This morning saw the arrival of Jack Frost. For me, this has always served as a useful reminder each year: if I’m not already using my SAD light, then start using it daily from now on, as the mornings have become noticeably darker and the nights are drawing in.

So, I thought I’d check in with you and give you the same advice. While I’m about it, I’ve also got some other October thoughts and tips to share with you…

If you’ve been considering buying a SAD light or dawn simulator, I thought you might be interested to hear that Boots have a shopping event on this week (mostly Thursday and Friday depending on the store). In-store, you’ll get £12 of Advantage Card points per £50 you spend. I did this last year when I bought my Lumie LED SAD Light Plus. I know you’re still spending £100, but getting nearly a quarter of the value back in points to spend certainly doesn’t hurt!! There’s usually ones in November and December too, if you’ve missed this one.
I’m not sure if you agree, but personally I think that you get the best sunsets at this time of year. Take the opportunity to savour them and maybe whip out your camera and lose yourself for half an hour. I took this one from a train on my way back from visiting my friend one evening; I was mesmorised by the bubbly clouds:

Along a similar line, now’s the perfect time to visit your local park as it will be absolutely beautiful with all of the leaves changing their colours. Go on – be a big kid and run through all the crispy ones!
Get organised for winter now. Pull out your woollies, dig out your hats, scarves and gloves, cosy your home up with blankets and candles.
Get your diary out and plan in occasions and treats to look forward to. They don’t have to be expensive. Here’s a couple of ideas: Plan to get together with friends at Halloween or Bonfire Night, organise a Christmas shopping trip away with friends, even if it’s just in the next town or city. Look up the cinema listings and pencil releases you want to see in your diary. Book a pantomine or other theatre performance, comedy show or music gig.

I know that this time of year can feel very bleak if you suffer from SAD or Winter Blues. I just hope that it helps you to know you’re not alone in feeling this way and that there is plenty of support out there for you. Given that we can’t change the seasons or the weather unfortunately, the best you can do is to be kind to yourself and try to manage your symptoms as effectively as possible. If you can aim to view autumn and winter more positively, so much the better (it’s hard, I know!) I hope that some of my tips above might help you a little.

What would you add to the above tips? How do you feel at this time of year? When do you normally start using your SAD light?

Speak soon and take care,
Neens

How can I manage SAD symptoms? Part Two – dawn simulators

Posted on August 20, 2012 by Neens

Hi again!

This is part two of ‘How can I manage SAD symptoms’. Part one covered the main kind of light therapy that is recommended for treating Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and Winter Blues – bright light therapy, which is delivered by a SAD light.

This second part is about another type of light therapy – dawn simulators. I’ve also discussed making the decision to invest in light therapy here. In part three, I’ll talk about medication and talking therapies. Then in part four, we’ll take a look at some other management strategies that I hope you’ll find helpful.

Dawn Simulators
These aren’t the best photos (I’m sure Lumie will want to sue me for these!), but this is my faithful old dawn simulator, which I’ve had for seven years and counting!

I use it every day, even in summer because it’s still lovely as a bedside reading light and an alarm clock.

As you can see, a dawn simulator’s purpose is to prepare your body for waking up by gradually raising the light level in your room. The artificial sunrise provides a cue for your body to reduce production of the sleep hormone melatonin and to start gradually increasing the production of cortisol, which gives you some ‘get-up-and-go’. You might find my earlier post, ‘Why do we suffer from SAD?’ and Lumie’s page on dawn simulators interesting too.

Dawn simulators don’t reach the same light intensity as a SAD light, so although they’re great for helping you to wake up in a more natural way, they won’t treat all of your SAD symptoms.

I’m not going to tell you that I leap out of bed in the depths of winter à la Mary Poppins. What I will say, is that it is a really lovely way to wake up, feeling like you’re ready to be awake. I recommend dawn simulators to absolutely everyone, regardless of whether they suffer from SAD or not.

I honestly couldn’t go back to a traditional alarm clock now. Being shocked out of sleep in the pitch black by a wailing alarm, feeling disgruntled and stressed, before I’ve even started the day – no thanks!

I have a basic model, with fixed duration sunrise, sunset and alarm features. For the sunrise, you simply set your alarm for the time you want to get up. So if you set the alarm for 6.30am, it will come on very dimly at 6.00am, and then gradually brighten over 30 minutes. There’s a back-up beeper for peace of mind, but I usually wake a moment before it goes off. When it does, it’s not a shock because my body’s already awake – if that makes sense? The sunset is nice too, allowing me to wind down and the room to gradually darken as I drop off to sleep. Zzzzzz

More expensive models allow you to vary the sunrise/sunset duration, may have radio, soothing sounds, snooze and security facilities, etc. It just depends what you want and what your budget is. Lumie’s basic model is around £60. There are other manufacturers, but Lumie are the original specialists in light therapy, and the manufacturers of my product, so I can only recommend them.

Investing in light therapy
I appreciate that paying around £100 for a SAD light and another £60 for a dawn simulator seems like a lot. Personally, I would pay many times this, for the huge difference that light therapy has made to my quality of life in autumn and winter – and in fact, this summer! I was curious what this worked out at per day, so I’ve done some very rough calculations:

At £170 in total, my big lamp, plus my LED light, have cost me about £0.10 per day. This is based on using them daily for six months over nine years.

At £60 for my dawn simulator, used every day for eight years, I’ve paid about £0.02 per day!

One of the main concerns when deciding whether to buy a SAD light or dawn simulator is whether they’ll work for you. If you don’t want to buy outright, you can hire SAD lights and dawn simulators, from e.g. the SAD Shop. Or, you could buy a product direct from a manufacturer, who may give you a money-back guarantee. Lumie give you 30 days and Philips give you 28 days’ free home trial. Most people will notice their symptoms improve in around a week or two, so this would give you plenty of time to see if the products are helpful for you.

Given that light therapy is the first line of recommended treatment for SAD and Winter Blues, I really would encourage you to invest in at least a SAD light if you can. If light therapy works for you, you’ll be amazed by the difference it makes to your quality of life.

And if you find light therapy doesn’t work for you? Well then, firstly you have my sympathies. But there are other treatments you can try, such as medication and talking therapies like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) - look out for more on these in part three.

What’s your experience with light therapy? Have you tried a dawn simulator? Have you any tips and tricks of your own to share?

Neens

Image credits:
Mary Poppins: http://www.thefancarpet.com/uploaded_assets/images/gallery/919/Mary_Poppins_10976_Medium.jpg
Coins in hand: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1269975

How can I manage SAD symptoms? Part One – SAD Lights

Posted on August 12, 2012 by Neens

Good evening! Hope you’re well and have been enjoying the sunshine?

I’ve touched on how to manage symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and Winter Blues briefly in ‘Where to start’. As promised in that post, I’m working my way through the ‘What, Why, Who, Where, When and How’ of SAD in more detailed posts. So, this is the big ‘How’. “Finally” – I hear you say?!

This turned into a really long post, so I’ve split it into four parts, to make it more digestable – although they’re still long! I’ll add links at the end to the other parts as I post them. These posts are based on my own personal experience of living with SAD; I’ll signpost you to quality information available on the web if you want to do further reading.

So you’ve got a fairly good idea that you suffer from either SAD or Winter Blues – now what? How do you manage the symptoms so that you can get back to being you? Or a slightly more recognisable version of you, at least?

First the bad news, to get it over with: there is no one universal, this-will-definitely-work-for-you treatment for SAD or Winter Blues. You can’t permanently ‘treat’ these conditions in the traditional sense; unfortunately you can’t be cured of SAD. It is really about managing your symptoms with daily treatment when you feel you need it.

OK, so now that’s out of the way – the good news! According to the SAD Association, 85% of people will find some relief of their symptoms by using light therapy regularly, from the onset of symptoms (usually late September) until the time their symptoms normally disappear (for many, this is often late March/early April).

SAD Lights/Lamps are very bright lights that simulate the level of light you would get on a clear spring morning. They are highly recommended for managing SAD symptoms.

Light is measured in lux. A minimum of 2,500 lux output is recommended for treating SAD symptoms, but a brighter, 10,000 lux light will enable you to sit further away, or reduce your treatment time. The newer LED lights are often a lower intensity at 2,500 lux, but they contain more blue light, so can be as effective as a 10,000 lux light. Normal light bulbs, or even ‘daylight bulbs’, are not considered strong enough to treat SAD - 2,500 lux is roughly five times brighter than a well-lit office.

You can do other activities, like reading or watching TV while you’re having your light treatment; you don’t look into the light, it just needs to reach your eyes. How close you need to sit and for how long depends on the strength of your light and how severe your symptoms are. If you like to sit further away from your light, you’ll need a longer treatment time. The manufacturer of your light will give you an idea of typical treatment time; for example the light may be 10,000 lux and will take 30 minutes at 30cm (about arm’s length).

I now have two lights. I know – I’m greedy! My big old 7,000 lux one lives at home and was about £70. I’ve had it since I was diagnosed in 2003 and it’s from Tchibo, which is unfortunately no longer trading in the UK. It’s similar in style to Lumie’s Arabica. This light has served me very well; I have my breakfast and watch the news while sitting in front of it. However, I was finding that I didn’t have enough time to sit in front of it to receive a full treatment.

So last November, I invested in a Lumie LED SAD Light Plus (currently £99), which is made by Lumie for Boots. It’s similar to Lumie’s Zip, but it doesn’t have batteries or the timer and is a little cheaper. This light sits on my desk at work and is about the size and weight of a paperback novel. What’s great about this is that I can put it away in my desk drawer when it’s not in use, and if I happen to travel somewhere, I can easily take it with me.

Before I bought this light, I did consider how I’d feel about having it on my desk, with colleagues coming in to see me to discuss projects. I also wondered whether the bright light would bother my team. I needn’t have worried. Actually, the light’s quite targeted and I sit in a corner, so it’s no problem for my team. And when my other colleagues come to see me, some of them ask about the light, and I tell them what it’s for. Many of them are quite interested! Or if they’re not, they’re too polite to say so, and are told anyway – hehe!

You can also get light therapy in the form of a visor, so you can move around while receiving light therapy, but I’ve never used these. Also, a new kind of device, the Valkee Brain Stimulation Headset, was launched last year. I’ve never used this either, so if anyone has any feedback to share, I’d love to hear about your experiences.

You might need to play about a bit with light therapy before you find what works best for you. It’s really worth persevering for a little while though, trying different times of the day, different distances and length of treatment.

Most people will start to feel better (more energy, improved mood) within about two weeks, but if it takes longer than this for you, don’t worry! If you’re not finding the light therapy helpful, try calling the manufacturer for some advice. If you still find that light therapy doesn’t work for you, try not to lose hope; your doctor will be able to recommend other treatment strategies, some of which I’ll talk about in part three.

Try to be as consistent as you can with your light therapy – use your light every day in the months that you normally experience symptoms. This will help keep your serotonin levels on a more even keel and, together with a few other coping strategies, hopefully you’ll feel much more your normal self than in previous winters.

In spring and summer, a run of dull weather can bring your symptoms on again. Don’t worry – many people experience this! It would be so nice to be able to put your light away in a cupboard for six months. Unfortunately the UK’s spring and summer months seem to be becoming wetter and so it’s worth keeping your light within easy reach.

And of course, my final piece of advice about light therapy: try to get as much natural light as you can! I know it’s hard, but force yourself to go out each day – or get a friend or family member to give you a prod! Sit by windows if you can too – it all helps.

I hope that you will have found this post helpful, but as always, I welcome your feedback and comments. What’s your experience of light therapy? Have you tried the Valkee in-ear system; what did you think? Is there anything missing from this post that you’d like me to include?

The next part of this post looks at dawn simulators; they’re great little inventions that help get you out of your pit in the morning!

- Neens -

Image credits
Hands up: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/299658
Laurent: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/776380

Parts three and four are also now available

SAD see-saw – the ups and downs of managing SAD

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Neens

Good evening! When I started this blog, I was very clear that I wanted it to be not only a place where people could come for information, but also to get a more personal perspective on managing Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and Winter Blues symptoms. I want you to know that you’re not alone in feeling the way you do.

I’ve shared a little bit with you already of how I used to feel before I was diagnosed with SAD. I’ve also told you that in general I have my symptoms pretty well managed now. What I’ve not done so far is tell you what it’s like when I’m not managing my symptoms very well! There’s a reason for this; I don’t want to be too self-indulgent and I don’t want you to get pulled down while you’re reading. I’m by nature quite an empathetic person, easily affected by other people’s emotions, so in recognition that other people are like this too, I’m trying to be careful on this blog to keep things reasonably upbeat.

That said, I don’t want to give the false impression that I’m always okay (no-one ever really is, I find!). I’ve had a funny old few weeks; I feel like I’ve been on a see-saw! Besides having a few things on my mind, I’ve realised that I haven’t been managing my symptoms very well. My poor brain can’t seem to work out whether I should be bouncing around like Tigger, or curled up on the sofa with my book and a hot chocolate!

Part of the reason is that I don’t think I should have to be managing SAD symptoms in June and July – I can’t get my head around it! I normally jolly myself along in January and February, thinking about spring being ‘just around the corner’ and trying to plan nice things to look forward to. Problem is, with confirmation that the UK has just experienced the wettest April to June on record and double the average rainfall for June, I’m struggling to find that kernel of hope that there’s going to be a longer run of sunny days.

wpid IMAG0317 300x226 SAD see saw the ups and downs of managing SAD

My view from the bus a moment before I had to get off!

I’ve had just about all the weather I can handle in the last two weeks! After finding my walk in the pouring rain quite funny the other Sunday, I can assure you that being out in the storm up here in Newcastle and Gateshead last Thursday was really not funny. I was very lucky compared to many of my friends and colleagues.

wpid IMAG0319 300x226 SAD see saw the ups and downs of managing SAD

Driving along a main road through Dunston, Gateshead, which had become a river!

I got a soaking going to an appointment and was then stuck on a packed bus for 2.5 hours – but I was safe and sheltered! I did, however, feel really anxious, which I’m pretty sure was heightened because I was already feeling fed up with the rain. It took me ages to calm down.

A bit of sunshine at the weekend while visiting my family in Leeds had me feeling hyper again, with my Mum laughing at me talking ten-to-the-dozen, hardly pausing for breath!

Then - argh! - I felt so flat early this week. I awoke Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday mornings to grubby grey weather and felt thoroughly fed up!

So, given that I’ve had some things on my mind, how do I know that I’m suffering with SAD symptoms? Well, yesterday and today have been the perfect indicators. After waking for the third day in a row feeling miserable, I used my SAD light in the office yesterday and felt almost instantly better. A good laugh with my lovely colleagues helped plenty too! Today, I sat out in the sunshine (yes, really, there was some!) for an hour at lunch and felt great. Nothing has changed in terms of what’s on my mind, but the bright light gave me a very perceptable lift.

The silly thing is, I know that I need to use my light on dull days, but perhaps I’m more of an optimist than I give myself credit for! I kept thinking that it might be brighter on the way home, or the next day.

A day or two of dull weather in summer isn’t normally an issue, but a run of several days or weeks can very easily leave you feeling as bad as you do in winter, if you’re a Winter SAD or Winter Blues sufferer. Once you’re feeling bad, it can be harder to lift yourself back up, so please – don’t make the same mistake I’ve made this last couple of weeks – get your SAD light back out of the cupboard!

If you’re supporting friends, family or colleagues who suffer from SAD, please try and be patient with them; what can seem like baffling mood swings really can be a result of what the weather’s doing!

One last thing; I thought I’d let you know that Lumie has a sale on at the moment. If you’ve been thinking about buying a SAD light for a while, now might be a good time to invest in one!

How are you managing with the summer rain? Can you relate to my see-saw analogy? Does anyone fancy emigrating with me to the Canary Islands?!

Image credit – children playing – http://www.sxc.hu/photo/884206

Summer Solstice and SAD

Posted on June 20, 2012 by Neens

Evening! So today’s the Summer Solstice. Midsummer. The longest day of the year… Depending on whether you suffer from Winter SAD or Summer SAD, you might be experiencing a sense of either dread or relief today. Or maybe you feel just fine and dandy, thanks very much, and you can ignore me!

I just wanted to write a quick post to say that if the prospect of the longest day of the year does make you feel a bit down, you’re not alone. Even though I know there’s still plenty of long days to come, the fact that the days are gradually shortening from now on does bother me a bit – it always has (pesky pessimistic nature!)

Chatting on the Lumie forum, it’s clear that the particularly rainy and grey spring we’ve been having has meant that many people feel ’robbed’. With few longer spells of bright weather, it has felt like a long slog this year. Coming through winter and looking forward to a bright spring, only to get a couple of short spells of sunshine followed by a lot of grey weather has meant some people feel like they’ve spent nine months battling with SAD symptoms. The sunny spells haven’t been enough to lift them sufficiently.

One woman on the forum made a really good point that it’s the strength of the light that makes a difference, not the length of the day. So even though our days are longer at the moment, because it’s been so often overcast and dull, the symptoms have persisted for many people. However, when we get really cold and frosty days in winter with bright sun, our inner Tigger comes out to play, right?

There’s not much we can do about the weather unfortunately (wouldn’t it be great to have personal weather settings? ), but perhaps the following thoughts/ideas will help you feel a little better:

If you have a SAD light, use it daily as you would in winter if the weather is dull and rainy.
Remind yourself there’s plenty of summer left – in fact we still had warm, sunny weather into the first week of October last year, remember? Perhaps our seasons are just shifting forwards.
If you haven’t booked a summer holiday yet, maybe consider taking it later than usual, to stretch the summer out?
Even when it’s grey outside, try to get out as it’s still likely to be brighter outside than artificial indoor lighting.
Try to keep the summer spirit, even if the weather outside doesn’t match; put on your favourite summer tunes; wear bright clothes; insist on barbecuing your food, even if you do it under an umbrella/gazebo!

Most of all, be kind to yourself – telling yourself you ‘shouldn’t’ be feeling bad in spring/summer won’t help you. Plenty of people who don’t suffer from SAD are fed up with the rain too – try to show yourself the same understanding you show others around you.

Neens

Image credit: Beach at Dusk – http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1289415

SAD – coping when the weather’s gloomy

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Neens

So, hands up – who’s felt their Seasonal Affective Disorder - SAD – and Winter Blues/Winter Depression symptoms return in the last few weeks?

The papers are reporting today that we’ve had a month’s worth of rainfall in 24 hours; the wettest day of the year so far. Frankly, I wish the rain would pack its bags and get lost! Yep, I’m missing the sunshine…can you tell?! Having a daily dose of artificial sunshine from my SAD light isn’t really making up for it (especially because it’s spring and it should be sunny, dammit!) Last year my colleague, Lynda, coined the term ‘spring anticipation anti-climax’… I think that’s exactly what the country’s suffering from!

As I made my way home this evening in the rain, I thought about the things that I do, or try to focus on, to make myself feel better when the weather is what we British folk might call ‘mucky’. I thought I’d share them with you to see if they might help you feel better, too…

Things I like to do to make myself feel better:

my home at Christmas

Putting on cosy socks after being soaked.
Cosy nights in. I light candles, wrap up in a blanket or drag the duvet onto the sofa and snuggle up with a book/watch a film and enjoy a cup of hot chocolate.
Comfort food. There’s nothing better to me than simple dishes like chilli, casserole, bangers and mash, soup, cottage pie and lasagne – mmm!
Have little home spas. Long hot baths and ‘proper’ facials just aren’t the same in summer – you don’t really feel like steaming your face in summer, right?
Visit the local Turkish baths or sauna. I find this particularly helpful for relaxing my neck and shoulder muscles, as I often find myself hunching against the cold and wind.

Things I like to focus on:

That simple feeling of relief when I get into the house and it’s warm and dry.
There’s no rainbows without rain.
There’s no wasps around. The huge house spiders we get in autumn are usually gone by winter, too.
I love the smell in the air and how everything looks freshly rinsed after a good downpour.
Without the rain we wouldn’t have such a beautiful, lush green countryside that’s so admired by other countries.

When you suffer from SAD, light therapy is just one of the things you can do to manage your symptoms. Trying to adapt the way you think about the weather or darkness, treating your body with care during these conditions and a little self-indulgence can go a long way.

I’ve come to believe that if you listen to your body, it will let you know what it needs. If the darkness makes you feel like you could hibernate, sometimes it’s easiest to go with the flow and indulge that a little. Not too much, mind – you still need to get out into natural daylight and move your bones. But what I’m saying is that if you find yourself wanting more of those cosy nights in than you’d want in summer, it’s quite natural – please don’t beat yourself up about it!

Have you been struggling with the extreme change in the weather compared to the end of March? What do you do to help yourself feel better in gloomy weather?

Take care,

Neens

Image credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1204146

Where’s the sun gone?

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Neens

Hi folks

So, we’ve had the most glorious weather over the past week or so. I’ve been very fortunate to be off work, and I’ve made the most of it!

wpid IMAG0235 Wheres the sun gone?

wpid IMAG0233 Wheres the sun gone?

I woke up to a very different picture this morning, as I’m sure the whole country did. It’s no suprise; I knew the forecast. But goodness! What a difference. Dark grey clouds hang like an overhead press gang.

It’s a bit of a shock to the system after a week of wall-to-wall sunshine. If you suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder – SAD, these shifts in the weather can have quite an affect on you. I know all-too-well how it feels: you think, ‘Yay! Winter’s done, sunny days are here, and I can say goodbye to SAD or Winter Blues symptoms for six months.’ Then some dull days go and spoil the fun.

This is why I recommend keeping your SAD light handy. It would be great to put it in the back of the cupboard until October, but unfortunately you might need to use it again. The longer daylight hours will hopefully be easing your symptoms now, and even on a dull day, a walk during the day will be beneficial. But please don’t struggle, thinking you ‘shouldn’t’ need your SAD light – if you feel the familiar symptoms reappearing, don’t ignore them.

Hopefully the sun will put his hat back on and come out to play again very soon. In the meantime, take care of yourself and please afford yourself the same understanding you’d show a friend.

- Neens –

Spring/summer essentials

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Neens

Helloooo!

Happy first day of the British Summer Time! And what a way we’ve marked it, with such glorious weather here in the North East… I hope you’re feeling the benefits of the longer daylight hours and the sunshine?

Tonight I watched the sun go down at about 7.15pm and it felt like such a milestone in managing my Seasonal Affective Disorder – SAD. Finally, I reckon I can stop using my light each day (although it will be on when it’s particularly dull).

I wanted to do a lighter post today (‘scuse the pun!), since my last one was rather serious. So, I thought I’d share my top five spring/summer essentials with you…

1) A camera
I rewarded myself for my efforts at the gym today by sitting outside with a cuppa, a biscuit and a book, in the company of these little guys… honestly, they were everywhere! I finished a beginners’ digital photography course this week, so I’m looking forward to practising my new-found skills this summer. I only had my compact camera today; the SLR I borrowed from work for the class would have been great to use for this macro shot, but my trusty compact didn’t do too bad!

2) Innovative clothing solutions
Ladies, I bought some of these recently and they are just brilliant! Thanks to my lovely colleague Sarah, for spotting these in the Avon catalogue, and remembering that I’d been after a solution like this! They’re perfect for wearing with blouses, wrap dresses/tops and v-neck tops. It means that you don’t have to overheat in two layers, just to avoid giving people an eye full!

3) Handbag organiser
I’m sure these have probably always been around in some form, but I’ve been late to cotton on! I bought one recently and can now find my office key/pass, my name badge, hair brush, lip balm, painkillers and all those other bits and bobs that normally hide at the bottom of my bag. It also appeals to my ‘lazy mare’ instinct, making it easy for me to change handbags quickly, without having to pull everything out and swap over. I’ve also found a large beach bag version, which I might consider investing in, too… just need to get my holiday sorted now!

4) Sanctuary salt scrub
I just love this stuff. It’s wildly indulgent (for me, anyway!), so I usually buy it with gift vouchers I’m given, or Boots points. It’s one of those luxuries that makes me feel really pampered and leaves my skin so soft. It’s great for this time of year when you want your skin to glow, and when you’re using lots of sun cream that can clog your pores.

5) Long-lasting sun cream
Speaking of sun cream, I use a long-lasting sun protection cream or spray most days in summer. I burn really easily, but I love sitting out at lunchtime reading a good book. There’s many times in the past when I’ve been caught out and have burned, so now I try to be more careful and apply in the morning, so I can be protected on the way to work and at lunchtime, without having to worry about re-applying.

So, there you have it… my spring/summer essentials. I wish I’d heard about some of these earlier, so I hope you will find them as ‘essential’ if you decide to give them a try! What would be your top five essentials? How are you feeling now the clocks have gone forward?

On another note, I may not post so often during spring and summer, as hopefully everyone will be feeling happy and healthy during these months. I will do a post about Summer SAD, though, and if you ever need to chat, do feel free to get in touch, as I will be monitoring the site and still posting occasionally. Maybe you can post some suggestions for other topics you’d like me to cover?

Take care,
- Neens -

Why do we suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder – SAD?

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Neens

Hi folks Finally, here is instalment number two of my ‘who, why, what, where, when and how’ of Seasonal Affective Disorder – SAD - and Winter Blues. I’ll warn you – it’s a long one!

In this post I’ll be covering a couple of the accepted theories of why people get SAD and Winter Blues / Winter Depression. This is my own understanding, based on what I’ve read over the years and a little background reading I’ve done for this post. It’s taken me quite a while to write, as I keep changing my mind what to put in! I don’t want to overwhelm you with too much info, but wanted to give you enough too. As always, do let me know what you think?

Anyhoo… the first thing to say is that nobody seems to really know what causes SAD and Winter Blues! There’s a lot of theories, but it’s very likely that there’s a complex interplay of factors that will determine whether a particular individual develops SAD or not.

The most commonly held theory is that a lack of exposure to daylight in the late autumn to early spring months affects the brain’s production of the hormone melatonin and the neurotransmitter serotonin.

The body has an internal body clock, known as the circadian rhythm. It regulates sleep/wake cycles, appetite, digestion, mood and many other functions.

Before we learned to artificially light our homes, people went to bed when it became dark and woke when the sun rose. They also spent a lot more time outdoors and had more physical jobs.

The brain responds to decreased light by increasing production of the hormone melatonin, which signals to the body that it’s time to sleep. In the morning, when light reaches the eyes, melatonin levels begin to decrease and the hormone cortisol is released. This gives us the get-up-and-go that we need to start the day. In the depths of winter, when many of us need to get up while it’s still dark, the body hasn’t received the correct signals to wake up. This is why it can be a real wrench to get up and why you may feel shocked out of sleep by a traditional alarm clock – your body simply isn’t ready to be awake!

But the problem isn’t only to do with waking… with very dull days, your levels of melatonin can stay high throughout the day, leading to those feelings of lethargy and sleepiness that you might recognise all-too-well. Before I was diagnosed with SAD, I would return from college and want to go straight to bed – I couldn’t keep my eyes open!

The neurotransmitter, serotonin, is also thought to have a key role to play in SAD, as it appears to in other types of depression. Researchers have found that levels of serotonin can vary from day-to-day and across the year, with levels markedly lower in winter. People with lower levels of serotonin appear to be more likely to experience symptoms of depression, SAD, Winter Blues / Winter Depression and even PMS in women.

Reading about how to increase serotonin in the human brain without drugs (Dr. Simon N. Young, 2007), this theory makes sense to me. If you’re anything like me, in winter you’ll be less likely to go outside at lunchtime, or whenever (funnily enough, I don’t enjoy sitting in the freezing wind and rain as much as I enjoy reading a book in the sunshine in the summer! ). Often eating at my desk means I move my bones less, get less natural light and I’m probably eating stodge, too. I mean - who really fancies a salad in the middle of winter? Certainly not me!

Haha – yes, yes, I’m aware that I don’t always follow my own advice!

So, if light, exercise and a healthy diet are major natural ways of increasing serotonin production, then it would seem to follow that not doing/having these things may cause you to feel rubbish. At least, that’s how I’m understanding it!

As always, if you haven’t already, I’d recommend you have a look at the following excellent articles about SAD, which explain a bit more of the why in more medical terms than I have done:
NHS
Mind

If you’re interested in doing a bit more digging around into theory, here’s a few other theories that caught my eye:

People who suffer from SAD may have retinal sensitivity anomalies -
Evidence of a Biological Effect of Light Therapy on the Retina of Patients with Seasonal Affective Disorder - Marie-Pier Lavoie,Raymond W. Lam,Guylain Bouchard,Alexandre Sasseville,Marie-Claude Charron,Anne-Marie Gagné,Philippe Tremblay,Marie-Josée Filteau,Marc Hébert (2009), Biological Psychiatry, Elsevier

People who suffer from SAD have lower levels of cortisol production in winter -
Seasonal differences in the diurnal pattern of cortisol secretion in healthy participants and those with self-assessed seasonal affective disorder - Thorn, Lisa and Evans, Philip D. and Cannon, Anne and Hucklebridge, Frank and Clow, Angela (2011), Psychoneuroendocrinology

I’ve said to my mum and friends several times in the past that I bet there’s a correlation between babies born in spring and summer and high incidence of SAD… I should have put money on that, as it appears to be true! I can’t find the published article, but this is what was reported in the Daily Mail.

There’s a lot of debate still ongoing, though, as many of the theories don’t give absolute or satisfactory answers. So for example, suppressing melatonin doesn’t ‘cure’ SAD; anti-depressants don’t work for everybody; not everyone born in spring/summer suffers with SAD. It really does seem that individual differences can play a big part. So you may be more at risk of developing SAD if you or your family have a history of depression, if you’ve been under chronic stress, or sudden stress, such as bereavement. If you suffer from depression that isn’t seasonal, it can feel worse in the winter.

Having said that, there does seem to be strong evidence to support the theories surrounding melatonin and serotonin having a key role to play. Correspondingly, there’s also strong evidence to support light therapy. If you want to do some more reading still, have a look at Lumie’s page of research abstracts.

I hope that this will have been a helpful post for you. Do you think there’s anything I need to add? What other theories have you read?

Speak soon

- Neens -

Image credit
Alarm clock: http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=download&id=1146532

What is Seasonal Affective Disorder – SAD – and Winter Blues?

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Neens

Well, I promised you in ‘Where to start…‘ some longer, more detailed posts on the what, who, where, why, when and how of SAD and Winter Blues… and here’s the first of these posts. I hope you’ll find it helpful – do let me know, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

I already told you my Tigger and Eeyore analogy, but I have a couple more for you that I use when trying to explain to friends and colleagues what SAD is. Before I go into them, I’d like you to know that these are just my ways of thinking about SAD and my experience. I’d also encourage you to look at the SAD Association (SADA) page, or NHS page for a more medical explanation, if you haven’t already – I’m not trying to replace or replicate their information.

I find it helpful to think of SAD and Winter Blues as a scale, or continuum, and everyone has their place on it. On one side, you have people who experience no change to how they feel in winter compared with how they feel in summer. Then further along are those who feel a bit down and notice a change in their moods when winter comes round (Winter Blues). On the furthest point of the scale are people who suffer from SAD and will be significantly affected by the lack of daylight in the autumn and winter months. Don’t laugh at my amateur attempt with Paint, but this is what I mean!:

SAD is a type of depression, but it is different to other types of depression in that it has a definite seasonal pattern. Symptoms will appear in the autumn months and usually last until spring. But sometimes, if our lovely British climate gives us a long spell of rainy weather in summer, people can experience SAD symptoms in the summer months. Left un-managed, SAD can become debilitating to the same extent as any other type of depression.

822176 55586868 baby hedgehog 274x300 What is Seasonal Affective Disorder SAD and Winter Blues?

image credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/822176

In terms of how SAD makes you feel, my favourite way to describe this is that ’I would quite like to hibernate, thank you very much!’ Like this little guy:

Like a hedgehog, before I learned to successfully manage my SAD symptoms, I really, really wanted to hibernate for the winter. I would’ve been quite happy to just sleep and for the world to leave me alone!

Like many people who suffer with SAD, I started noticing that I felt awful in winter around 17/18 years old. Typically onset of symptoms appears between 18-30 years old and is about twice as common in females as males. I was diagnosed with SAD at 21 after visiting my doctor in 2003.

I had all the classic symptoms: finding it hard to get up, get moving, concentrate. I would feel weepy and down and/or irritable for no reason. And I just wanted to sleep and eat – stodgy carbohydrates in particular! I remember my first year university flatmate laughing when she saw my food basket - filled with several different breads and potatoes and a token bit of chicken!

Looking back at those few winters I spent feeling like that, I can barely believe I felt so bad. I’m not really sure how I functioned to be honest, but I know I wasn’t a pleasant person to be around on some days!

I’m being really honest and open because I want you to know that you’re not alone in feeling this way. Or if you’re hoping to provide support to a family member or friend, then believe me, this is a serious condition and it’s not ‘all in the mind’. I want to help people understand the realities of suffering from SAD and Winter Blues and know that although there is no ‘cure’, you can manage the symptoms.

According to SADA 85% of people can successfully manage their symptoms using light therapy, which is how I manage mine. If light therapy doesn’t work for you, your doctor might recommend using anti-depressants and/or having some Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) sessions. If you think you have SAD or Winter Blues, I really do recommend you see your GP. I’m going to do a separate post on treatments, but if you want some info in the meantime, have a look at Lumie’s website. They’re specialists in light therapy.

I hope this post has given you some useful information about what SAD and Winter Blues are – but feel free to use the comments box below to ask any questions you might have.

- Neens -

Welcome to The Light Room!

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Neens

Hey! I’m Neina and this is The Light Room. My aim is to help bring a little light into your days if you suspect, or know, that you have Seasonal Affective Disorder – SAD - or Winter Blues.

I’ve wanted to start a blog on this subject for quite a while now, as it’s a topic that I’m very passionate about. I’m really excited that it is now up and running!

I’m just starting to get to grips with this whole WordPress-malarky, but while I do this and write my first ‘proper’ post, I want you to know that you’re not alone in feeling bad in autumn and winter – almost a quarter of us do!

I’m looking forward to speaking with you!

- Neens -

The Light Room

Information, advice and a personal perspective on managing Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and Winter Blues

Tag Archives: light therapy

Ready? Set? Switch On! October’s the time to get your SAD light out…

How can I manage SAD symptoms? Part Two – dawn simulators

How can I manage SAD symptoms? Part One – SAD Lights

SAD see-saw – the ups and downs of managing SAD

Summer Solstice and SAD

SAD – coping when the weather’s gloomy

Where’s the sun gone?

Spring/summer essentials

Why do we suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder – SAD?

What is Seasonal Affective Disorder – SAD – and Winter Blues?

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