Have you heard of Seasonal Affective Disorder? SAD? ”Depression and anxiety are not unusual feelings during the winter months. They can be triggered by grief, isolation and loneliness. For some, being in the home in the colder months means that you are not as social and are not in the company of friends. Also, nightfall comes sooner and some folks go into work and the sun has not come up and they leave and the sun is nowhere around.
Blame SAD on the sun—or the lack of it
Seasonal Affective Disorder is a more severe form of the “winter blues. People may over-sleep, feel angry, emotional and unhappy.. Some people may withdraw from others. . Approximately 90 percent of people with SAD experience depressive symptoms yearly in the fall and winter, while about 10 percent have depression in the spring and summer. No one knows for sure but what we do know is that the amount of sunlight during different times of the year as one factor.
SAD is more common in adults than in children
Adults can verbalize their feelings and we can say I feel empty, pessimistic or hopeless, We can become short tempered and restless., Symptoms in men and women differ. If symptoms, exacerbate then antidepressant medication is needed. In children, schoolwork suffers, students have difficulty getting up in the morning and arriving late for class, homework is incomplete, and grades may plummet. . In schools, our attendance rates plummet during this time,
How to help yourself during SAD?
Keep in touch with others
This might be a good time to become active on the annoying group chats that our friends make us join. There is also a 52 Postcards set that you can send out to different people. It's a lovely way to keep in touch with folks.
Exercise
Exercise is an important part of staying healthy. Recent research has suggested that the Exercise we do to improve our body also helps our brain. When we do high intensity Exercise our heart rate increases, supplying more blood flow to the brain. The increased heart rate also increases our breathing, making us breathe harder and faster
Practice Meditation
In the morning, you can always YOUTUBE some guided meditation practices. Yoga and meditation also increases serotonin levels, which can also be prescribed in the treatment of SAD.