To Your Health: Overcoming SAD in winter

By Gillian Slade on September 30, 2019.

gslade@medicinehatnews.com
@MHNGillianSlade

It certainly feels and looks as though winter has arrived. 

Although we may still have comparatively warm days, the daylight hours are diminishing rapidly and for some people that can have a dramatic effect on their sense of well being.

Anyone diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) can identify. Even if you have not been diagnosed with SAD you may be aware that you struggle more with mental health in the winter months.

There are special lights that can give some relief and researches have found that cognitive behavioural therapy can be very helpful too.

The symptoms of SAD may include an increased appetite, anxiety, depression, and feelings of irritability.

A few years ago scientists are the University of Vermont studied about 200 people who had been diagnosed with SAD. 

During a six-week period half people were given light therapy  and the others cognitive behavioural therapy that challenged negative thought patterns about shorter daylight hours.

Some of the behavioural therapy included getting out to meet other people rather than staying indoors. Feelings of isolation is thought to affect levels of depression. The therapy also included about two sessions each week with a SAD trained professional.

The first study showed similar results for both groups but the pattern changed over subsequent winters.

Roughly half of those treated with light therapy said the effectiveness of the exposure to the lights had worn off and they were experiencing more severe depression than before.

Some participants also expressed concerns about the time it took to spend enough time in light therapy each day. If they did not spend the required amount of time in light therapy there was no relief. In fact only about 30 per cent of the participants were still using the special lights they had been given.

Conversely only 26% of those who’d participated in cognitive behavioural therapy said it was no longer working for them in the long term.

Cognitive behavioural therapy is a form of psychotherapy designed to address current problems and modify unhelpful thinking and behaviour.

Those participating in behavioural therapy reported feeling a sense of control rather than feeling powerless about the lack of light.

Behavioural therapy is also something that can be done at any time and almost anywhere. It can even be an initiative while going about a normal day. There is other research that shows the positive benefits of physical exercise when treating symptoms of depression.

SAD was officially recognized and given a name in 1984 by Norman Rosenthal.

Here’s to positive thoughts and physical exercise, even if it does have to take place inside a building during the long dark days of winter and here’s To Your Health.

To Your Health is a weekly column by Gillian Slade, health reporter for the News, bringing you news on health issues and research from around the world. You can reach her at gslade@medicinehatnews.com or 403-528-8635.

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