It's SAD

[GreenTealael 25,579]

Anyone experiencing SAD? How are you managing it? I've experienced it for years and years. A few things work but mostly summer helps. Temporary, yes but definitely havoc. Let's share some tips, because comfort food is not therapy for the winter.

[Wanda247 908]

1 hour ago, GreenTealael said:

Anyone experiencing SAD? How are you managing it? I've experienced it for years and years. A few things work but mostly summer helps. Temporary, yes but definitely havoc. Let's share some tips, because comfort food is not therapy for the winter.

You just need to move to Florida young lady @GreenTealael I was born and raised here, so I had no choice in the matter...don't get me wrong it's beautiful here, sunny, palm trees, beaches...yada yada yada BUT I do feel sad when I see snow up north and it;s 80 plus degrees here. My first time actually seeing snow in person was the beginning of this year when I went to Lake Tahoe in January, to me it was the most beautiful experience ever. It was 20 degrees at night time and I actually slept with the sliding glass door cracked open...it felt soooo good to me.

But I have heard people say that winter makes them sad so I do understand.

[Briswife15 890]

Have you tried one of those special light boxes? I hear they work, but may be pricey. May be cheaper than moving to Florida! :-)

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[MIZ60 1,291]

I have a friend in Vermont with this and she uses one of those lights every morning (calls it her Happy Light) and it has really helped her.

[CrankyMagpie 509]

I used to live above 60 degrees latitude. Here are some of my tips, gathered from folks when I moved there and from research and from my own experience:

• yes, a light box - Verilux makes nice ones, and the ones that are primarily blue (different brand) are bad for your eyes, so avoid them
• take a walk at lunch time, even if it looks overcast or it's cold - being in that natural light will do wonders for your mood
• you already are on top of this, I'm sure, but get exercise and enough Vitamins, especially Vitamin D
• find a winter sport you like - the folks who did this were the happiest among us
• grow plants in your house and at work, or if you really don't want to do that, get some nature photos and put them up in your workspace
• if you have the vacation time and can afford it, travel somewhere warm for a week
• I don't personally think this is a good idea, but other Great Northerners would use tanning beds and swore it made their winter more bearable

[MegPRN 204]

I live in Arizona. I start feeling depressed and grumpy when it's been too sunny and hot for too long - April through June are the worst part of the year for me. It's the monotony. Clear, blue sky and hot, for weeks and weeks on end, dusty and dry, no rain in sight. I feel refreshed and happy when the weather turns cool and we get rain more regularly! I wouldn't call my situation SAD, exactly, but my depression is definitely worse in the spring and summer.

[Frustr8 7,886]

So instead of Seasonal Affective Disorder, you have Summer Affective Disorder,stand to reason there would be some, you are just rarer and don't have the benefit of good PR. Remember there was someone on the Learning channel, seems to me a Lady, anyhoo. she had relocated from Upper Midwest to Florida, got so sick she liked to die, only thing that cured her? To move back to Minnesota, the suns rays at the lower latitude of Florida and angles of the suns rays about did the poor lady in!

[ElectricBoogaloo 337]

9 hours ago, CrankyMagpie said:

I used to live above 60 degrees latitude. Here are some of my tips, gathered from folks when I moved there and from research and from my own experience:

• yes, a light box - Verilux makes nice ones, and the ones that are primarily blue (different brand) are bad for your eyes, so avoid them
• take a walk at lunch time, even if it looks overcast or it's cold - being in that natural light will do wonders for your mood
• you already are on top of this, I'm sure, but get exercise and enough Vitamins, especially Vitamin D
• find a winter sport you like - the folks who did this were the happiest among us
• grow plants in your house and at work, or if you really don't want to do that, get some nature photos and put them up in your workspace
• if you have the vacation time and can afford it, travel somewhere warm for a week
• I don't personally think this is a good idea, but other Great Northerners would use tanning beds and swore it made their winter more bearable

I would like to co-sign and add to CM's list:

• If you work in an office, full spectrum, happy lights can be installed overhead (it is slightly blue tinged).
• I want to second getting outside during the day, especially if you go to work in the dark and leave in the dark (a Minnesota special!)
• Make sure you are not just going to work and coming home. Continue activities (DATING!!!) and make good use of weekends.
• I try to vacation in February, which is about the time I am so ready for winter to be over that I could scream. Minnesota has 7 months of winter, 4 months of summer, and two transition periods called spring and fall! 😊

Take care of yourself!

[NYJenn 1,464]

I agree with the taking a walk on your lunch break, even 15 mins. Also my son and I are taking up snowshoeing this year. We need a winter activity (I shattered my ankle a few years back so I don’t see any skiing in my future)

[elcee 3,343]

I hate winter. Cold, dull miserable days. They definitely drag the mood down.

Love the sun, it puts a special shine on things.

No real tips other than try not to become a recluse! I sometimes have to force myself out of the house to do things even when i know that it will be fun.

[GreenTealael 25,579]

Great tips everyone!

[sideeye 1,440]

On 11/1/2018 at 1:22 PM, MegPRN said:

I live in Arizona. I start feeling depressed and grumpy when it's been too sunny and hot for too long - April through June are the worst part of the year for me. It's the monotony. Clear, blue sky and hot, for weeks and weeks on end, dusty and dry, no rain in sight. I feel refreshed and happy when the weather turns cool and we get rain more regularly! I wouldn't call my situation SAD, exactly, but my depression is definitely worse in the spring and summer.

JOIN US. Seriously, something like 8% of SAD-susceptible people get it in summer. I'm one of them. At one point I moved from the Northern hemisphere to the Southern and timed it so I'd skip summer for an entire year and a half. I hate that it's brighter, that it's hotter, that there are more people and that they are louder and dumber, that people constantly try to get you out into the sun which does NOT feel good thank you, etc etc. Reverse SAD, it's a real thing and it makes you feel like a space alien because it's the complete opposite of how people tell you you're supposed to be feeling. Then the weather turns and it rains and you get to wear sweaters and drink cocoa and everyone tells you AGAIN that you're supposed to be mourning the end of summer. Whatever, you lunatics! I'm going to Canada for the weekend!

In my case, a very low-dose depression med has been the fix. My doc has it on automatic: it shows up at the pharmacy in April, and I go off it mid-October. This prevents me from snarling at sunbeams and generally behaving like Nosferatu when people ask me to barbecues. I can only imagine it might do the same for someone with the more traditional SAD traits?

[sillykitty 10,787]

@GreenTealael ... you already have the solution!

[johnsons13 359]

I am depressed in the winter for reasons other than the weather and time change. Mine are from sad things that has happened. I get really depressed and want to mope in the summer. It's hot, sticky, I stink from sweating in places I didn't know I had to even know they could sweat. I did notice that when I made myself do opposite to emotion, I felt better. When I would get up and mow and get even sweatier on purpose felt better than just sitting and sweating and I felt like I accomplished something. I live in Tennessee so fall and spring when weather would be perfect for me hardly exists. I see maybe a week or 2 of those seasons then it's straight ice cold or hell hot.

[Frustr8 7,886]

So Meh I hereby rename your Problem- ATSAD. Atypical Timing Seasonal Affective Disorder, not the lovely PR campaign regular SAD gets but Just As Valid!