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How do Seasons Affect People?

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that usually starts in the fall, when days begin to get shorter and colder, and continues through the winter months. The side effects of lethargy, moodiness and sadness often start to subside when spring returns with more sunshine and warmer temperatures. Sufferers shouldn't necessarily try to tough out a case of "winter blues" when there are so many ways to treat it.

  1. Prevalence

    • First mentioned in print in 1985, SAD has not always been officially recognized as a type of depression. Statistics in the United States indicate that about 5 percent of all adults have SAD, with up to 20 percent exhibiting some of the symptoms, though not enough to meet diagnostic criteria. It has also been shown to have an affect on more people the farther they live away from the equator, which would go along with the suspected connection of reduced sunlight.

    Diagnosis

    • Seasonal Affective Disorder does have its roots in biology, says David Mrazek, M.D., Mayo Clinic psychiatrist, and the cause might be too much melatonin. When winter days get shorter and nights longer, some peoples' bodies use the extra darkness to produce an excess amount of the hormone melatonin, which regulates sleep, body temperature, and other hormones. The presence of too much melatonin confuses the internal body clock and leads to depressive symptoms.

    Winter Onset

    • Most cases of SAD appear in the fall and winter months and are characterized by such symptoms as oversleeping, irritability, depressed mood, loss of energy, social withdrawal and more. If you find yourself slipping into these behaviors when that time of year comes around, then feeling better at the approach of spring and summer, there's a good chance you might have some level of seasonal affective disorder. Treatment with varying intensity levels and duration of light are used by doctors to help alleviate the condition.

    Reverse SAD

    • A reverse form of SAD, appearing in the spring or summer, is actually similar to bipolar disorder and carries some of the same symptoms along with a few different ones. For example, reverse SAD can exhibit extreme agitation, a level of anxiety almost bordering on mania, poor appetite and an increased sex drive. A person with this might have an overly elevated mood that persists, maybe even to the point of hyperactivity.

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