No, I am not sad. Well, ok, maybe a little bit. I am not talking about emotion today, I am talking instead about Seasonal Affective Disorder.
What is this, you might be asking? According to the NHS:
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that has a seasonal pattern. The episodes of depression tend to occur at the same time each year, usually during the winter.
When my 10 year old was a baby (wow, it was really that long ago?), I was talking to my good friend at the time. She mentioned that the lack of sunlight really made her feel down. It was new information for me. We also talked about how many of our friends were finding it difficult to cope with just being a mom and were taking anti-depressants. She was taking them at the time and she invested in a light to help her deal with Indiana’s lack of sunlight.
This is a little more about SAD from the NHS:
I stayed busy and thought that I was fine. I exercised regularly as a fitness instructor and I was busy going to school at the time. I was dealing with postpartum depression at the time, but I made it through on my own steam.
Fast forward to 2008. I was finished with school, had four children and was trying to hold down a job, be a mom and a volunteer. It was tough. We headed to Florida for our first trip to Disney. We followed up our trip with a week in the keys. We were blessed with fantastic weather and we hit the beach and basked in the sun. It was glorious and it made the rest of winter bare able. It was soon after that I realized I was definitely a fellow SAD sufferer. It also happened to be when we decided that it was time to move to a sunnier, warmer climate. We had had enough of the midwest with the doom and gloom of winter.
I tested myself and the kids for vitamin D deficient in 2010 and was not surprised that we were all deficient. So, we try to take a supplement when I can a)remember and b) find it. I also try to keep my exercise up, as it helps.
While we live in the sunniest part of the UK, we still have some gloom in the winter. We are also blessed with a short winter, and no big temperature extremes. Being on an island helps, the wind is always moving the clouds around. Usually, we are blessed with a bit of sun everyday.
The past two days have been glorious and filled with sunshine. All three colors of crocus are now out and some of the daffodils that are in full sun are trying to bloom. Spring is such an exciting time!
I am SAD for my friends back home that are have been or are in the process of getting hit with a massive snow storm. I have watched my Facebook account as the storm has crossed the midwest, first hearing things from my Minnesota/Iowa, then Illinois, Indiana and soon to be my east coast friends. Not to rub it in, but yesterday, I had the sunroof open and the sun was lovely. Today, is another gray day as it looks like the rest of the week is destined to be. I can take it, at least it’s not snow!
What is this, you might be asking? According to the NHS:
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that has a seasonal pattern. The episodes of depression tend to occur at the same time each year, usually during the winter.
When my 10 year old was a baby (wow, it was really that long ago?), I was talking to my good friend at the time. She mentioned that the lack of sunlight really made her feel down. It was new information for me. We also talked about how many of our friends were finding it difficult to cope with just being a mom and were taking anti-depressants. She was taking them at the time and she invested in a light to help her deal with Indiana’s lack of sunlight.
This is a little more about SAD from the NHS:
The exact cause of SAD is not fully understood, but it is thought to be linked to reduced exposure to sunlight during the shorter days of the year.
Sunlight can affect some of the brain's chemicals and hormones. However, it is not clear what this effect is. One theory is that light stimulates a part of the brain called the hypothalamus which controls mood, appetite and sleep. These things can affect how you feel.
In people with SAD, a lack of sunlight and a problem with certain brain chemicals stops the hypothalamus working properly. The lack of light is thought to affect:
- the production of the hormone melatonin
- the production of the hormone serotonin
- the body's circadian rhythm (the body's internal clock, which regulates several biological processes during a 24-hour period)
I stayed busy and thought that I was fine. I exercised regularly as a fitness instructor and I was busy going to school at the time. I was dealing with postpartum depression at the time, but I made it through on my own steam.
Fast forward to 2008. I was finished with school, had four children and was trying to hold down a job, be a mom and a volunteer. It was tough. We headed to Florida for our first trip to Disney. We followed up our trip with a week in the keys. We were blessed with fantastic weather and we hit the beach and basked in the sun. It was glorious and it made the rest of winter bare able. It was soon after that I realized I was definitely a fellow SAD sufferer. It also happened to be when we decided that it was time to move to a sunnier, warmer climate. We had had enough of the midwest with the doom and gloom of winter.
I tested myself and the kids for vitamin D deficient in 2010 and was not surprised that we were all deficient. So, we try to take a supplement when I can a)remember and b) find it. I also try to keep my exercise up, as it helps.
While we live in the sunniest part of the UK, we still have some gloom in the winter. We are also blessed with a short winter, and no big temperature extremes. Being on an island helps, the wind is always moving the clouds around. Usually, we are blessed with a bit of sun everyday.
The past two days have been glorious and filled with sunshine. All three colors of crocus are now out and some of the daffodils that are in full sun are trying to bloom. Spring is such an exciting time!
I am SAD for my friends back home that are have been or are in the process of getting hit with a massive snow storm. I have watched my Facebook account as the storm has crossed the midwest, first hearing things from my Minnesota/Iowa, then Illinois, Indiana and soon to be my east coast friends. Not to rub it in, but yesterday, I had the sunroof open and the sun was lovely. Today, is another gray day as it looks like the rest of the week is destined to be. I can take it, at least it’s not snow!
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