What is SAD?
Overview of SAD.
Why does this
happen to me?
How long will I have SAD?
SAD Treatment.
Getting the Best SAD Treatment.
SAD Lights: Boxes vs. Lamps.
Stand Lights.
Circadian Balance
Depression
Sleep
Womens Health
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Seasonal Affective
Disorder
Seasonal Affective Disorder is a depression
that afflicts people primarily during the winter months, and is
often referred to as seasonal depression. Seasonal
Affective Disorder was discovered in the early eighties by the
National Institute of Health. The NIH estimates that over 36 million
Americans suffer depressive symptoms brought on by the winter
months. Seasonal Affective Disorder causes you to feel down, gloomy,
and lose energy. You may have difficulty concentrating and feeling
alert, withdraw socially and have carbohydrate cravings. Seasonal
Affective Disorder sufferers also experience sleep problems.
Seasonal
Affective Disorder vs. Winter Blues
Although often confused
with the ‘winter blues,’ Seasonal Affective Disorder and Winter
Blues are not the same. Seasonal Affective Disorder is manifested by
symptoms of clinical depression, with impaired social interaction
and cognitive ability. On the other hand, Winter Blues is milder
than SAD and is typified by the lack of energy and feeling sad or
down. If you have the winter blues, you can still function. If you
have Seasonal Affective Disorder, normal daily functions are
difficult to perform. Although Seasonal Affective Disorder and
Winter Blues differ in the degree of severity, the treatment is the
same for both conditions.
What causes
Seasonal Affective Disorder?
Researchers
agree that the lack of sunlight in the fall and winter causes the
effects of seasonal depression. Without sunlight, the brain doesn't
produce enough serotonin, which results in the symptoms of
depression. The darker days also signal the brain to overproduce the
hibernation hormone, melatonin. The symptoms diminish as the days
get longer, although many Seasonal Affective Disorder sufferers note
brief (1-2 week) periods of SAD-like symptoms in the summer.
Seasonal Affective
Disorder Treatment
Light
Therapy
The NIH has
demonstrated that specialized bright light (a large field of 10,000
lux intensity) to be the most effective means of reversing the
effects of this winter depression. Light therapy produces serotonin
in the brain, and researchers believe low serotonin levels
contribute to depression. Since this discovery, scientists have
successfully used bright light to treat non-seasonal depression as
well as other mood disorders with light therapy.
Light also suppresses the hibernation hormone
melatonin. This is important, because melatonin forces us to pull
back, conserve and sleep. Melatonin secretion is necessary during
the night, but daytime melatonin can be harmful. By suppressing
melatonin during the daytime, our activity cycle is extended, and we
actually sleep better at night.
Light resets
Circadian Rhythms
Scientists
also believe that Seasonal Affective Disorder is associated with
shifted circadian rhythms (i.e. body clock). The body clock
regulates our daily activity cycles, and it needs bright light
signals to reset itself each day. When it doesn't receive this
signal, it can malfunction. This can affect how you sleep and feel
during the day. If you have difficulty waking up, or you fall asleep
and wake up at the wrong time, you may have a circadian rhythm
disorder.
SAD Lights: Light
Boxes vs. SAD Lamps
Since the
discovery that light therapy was the most effective treatment for
Seasonal Affective Disorder, researchers and manufacturers have
sought to create the ideal light box or SAD lamp. Generally light
boxes have been the preferred devices because they can produce a
diffuse field of full spectrum, 10,000-lux light.
Since light boxes produce a much larger field of
bright light than SAD lamps, more photoreceptors in the eye are
subject to exposure. This phenomenon, called spatial
summation is an important factor in light therapy. When
searching for SAD lights, one should consider whether the light box
or SAD lamp can produce a large, diffuse field of 10,000 lux light
at an effective distance of 15 inches or more.
Body clock
Assessment tool
You can now
take a test to see if you have a circadian rhythm disorder. The
assessment tool will let you know which circadian rhythm disorder
you may have as well as its degree of severity. Since our body
clocks react differently, this assessment tool will also develop a
customized treatment schedule so you can respond as quickly as
possible. |
