My daughter has issues with it toward the end of winter. She bumps her vitamin D up near the end of February for about 6 weeks and that solves most of her issues.
” Anybody on FR have this disorder?”
does the “windet blues” count?
I do. Grew up in NY/NJ and had it every year. Now, despite my outdated screen name, I live in Florida. I could never live in a state that is gray half the year again.
I lived at about 45deg N for a decade and between the really short days (exacerbated by being on west slope of mountain) it was a thing toward end of window with less than a third of the day with real sunlight and cold af
It’s real. The UV lights for 20 minutes or so in the morning makes a big difference for me.
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that's related to changes in seasons — SAD begins and ends at about the same times every year. If you're like most people with SAD, your symptoms start in the fall and continue into the winter months, sapping your energy and making you feel moody. These symptoms often resolve during the spring and summer months. Less often, SAD causes depression in the spring or early summer and resolves during the fall or winter months.
Treatment for SAD may include light therapy (phototherapy), psychotherapy and medications.
Don't brush off that yearly feeling as simply a case of the "winter blues" or a seasonal funk that you have to tough out on your own. Take steps to keep your mood and motivation steady throughout the year.
Careful. SAD could lead to SADS
Saddest cases are the ones who make it through every year coming out of it by the skin of their teeth.
Because they come out they believe they always will.
Until they don’t.
Took two kids with him.
Every year. Starts to ramp up when the days get shorter and colder. Lasts until real Spring without snow comes. I never had it until I moved to the Midwest. When it gets really bad, I use a light in the morning to help me. This is nothing like jet lag. It’s just a dreariness sort of feeling, like there’s a cloud hanging over my head. I consider myself and optimistic, pretty happy person, but when winter approaches, I have to fight for myself to stay above the fray of this disorder.
I live in NY and work outdoors and I get a winter tan as well as a summer tan. I have no idea what they’re talking about.
Some said it was an issue when I lived in Alaska — weeks and weeks of darkness and partial darkness.
Our group defied it by having extreme fun and not letting it get to us. The big party was Groundhog Day, and we’d call people in Punxsutawney just to check in. Dopey — but it was a reason for a party. Then Fun Rendezvous. I think it’s a mind-over-matter thing.
My boss managed a large call center of ladies who were crotchety so he thought that installing those lights to simulate sun would help. It didn’t. They were crochety ladies 24/7/365.
When we lived in Ohio, I grew to expect SAD. usually after Christmas through April. We moved to SC and interestingly enough my symptoms are more in the summer months. I am heat intolerant and with the oppressive humidity in the summer, I find myself staying in the house more, so I believe it has everything to do with sunlight.
Months of freezing temperatures, dark skies, heavy coats to ward off the chill, shoveling snow, car not starting, slipping on ice, sky-high heating bills, treacherous driving, power failures, frostbite, windchill, cabin fever ... What’s not to like?
I have a friend who does but she makes a conscious effort to get more light into her days. And I know of people, not close friends, who struggle with it but probably aren’t diagnosed. It is difficult for my dear friend. And the older we get the more difficult winter is for many reasons.
Anybody on FR have this disorder?
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Yup - I used to. When I worked at a bank, in an office with no windows and on weekends, I was pretty much house bound, I had it BAD. The depression really gets you down - no energy, puts a little dark cloud over your day that just hovers & won’t go away, hard to find joy in anything much ... best I can describe it. The tendency is also to eat/drink (alcohol) more which certainly does not help matters at all.
I started hiking as an activity and with some die-hard friends, we hiked in the winter, too. The sunlight is at a different angle, but when you’re out all day, often in sunshine, you do get a dose. Once I started hiking (pretty much every weekend, sometimes both days), no more SAD and also, no more winter colds ... it was like the fresh air/cold just blasted the germs away. I’m no longer hiking, but I make sure to get out & do something outside (work on garden for next spring, walk an hour, pick up tree branches on our 10 acres+ after storms, etc) & I also keep my Vit D levels way up.
Big benefits to get your D up if it’s low. Above 50 ng/ml, your chance of being a COVID mortality is almost nil, for one thing. Vit D is a pre-hormone & ‘science’ is finding out it’s implicated in lots of bodily functions in a good & necessary way.
Moved from GA to FL and then back again. When In Florida I did notice during the winter my mood was better. I think there is something to it.
We turned the clocks back last night and it will take days to get back to normal. Wish they would end that.
I have had terrible problems with it. When I lived in upstate NY, it was quite debilitating. In the south I get by just fine, though I am still affected if we have too many days of rain in a row.
I actually think a LOT of people are affected by this, if not damn near everyone. They just don’t realize it. Unless it’s a very serious case, a lot of people just don’t seem to realize that they’re a little more down or anxious or just quicker to snap during those grey months.
There are several people who have SAD. Try getting the Verilux light. It really helps!
Yep. I hate February, period.
I find that if I eat horseradish and shotgun a beer every day I am okay.