Weather Watch: Seasonal Affective Disorder

The older I get, the more I realize how the seasons affect me. As a personal note, my wife and I love to garden. We spend most of the warm months outside working our garden and enjoying the vegetables that (sometimes) grow. We have our strengths: I water and fertilize while she pulls weeds and plants. As you could imagine, when the cool days of November set in, and the clocks turn back an hour, our moods quickly change as we joke about getting an RV and hitting the road to Florida. OK, maybe we aren’t there quite yet.

The point is, when winter sets in, we get prepared. It’s not our favorite season. As a matter of fact, I used to love winter. But the older I get, the more it hurts and the harder it is to warm up, and the lack of sunshine is just depressing at times. It turns out we are not alone. So many are affected by the weather and seasonal changes that the term Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.) is now used to describe people who suffer from it.

Lack of sunlight is usually most responsible for S.A.D. during the winter months. In the United States, the cloudiest, rainiest and foggiest places are mostly located in the Pacific Northwest. The town of Cape Disappointment, Washington endures on average 106 days of fog a year.

British fur trader John Meares supposedly named the dreariest of dreary towns back in 1788 when he thought the area was only a bay. He turned his ship back and missed discovering the Columbia River. What a disappointment. Seattle, Washington experiences cloudy days almost 9 months of the year with the sunshine coming mainly from June-September.

The town of Rjukan in Norway lies in a deep valley and during the winter months receives no sunshine at all, even at midday because of the shadows cast by surrounding mountains. Last October an idea that had been in the making for 100 years finally brought sunshine to the town. Three large mirrors brought in by helicopter were placed on the mountain. Controlled by computers the mirrors tilt along with the angle of the sun bringing sunshine to the main square.

Angela Etchison MS, LPE-I, with Abound Psychological Services of Little Rock explains that S.A.D. is not only a winter time disorder but can also happen in the summer. “The symptoms during winter include: depressed mood, loss of energy, over sleeping, weight gain, social withdrawal and loss of interest in things once enjoyed. Summer time S.A.D. symptoms include: insomnia, anxiety, irritability and even weight loss.”

Etchison also explains that several treatments are available with the most common being Photo Therapy where special light is designed to mimic the effect of outdoor light on brain chemicals. Psychotherapy, counseling and even medications like anti-depressants might also be used.

If you feel like you might be suffering from S.A.D. there are things you can try around the home first. In winter, open blinds to let more sunshine in and trim trees and branches that might be blocking the sun. Also make it a point to get outside even when it’s cold and of course exercise always helps.

So here we are, headed into some of the warmer months of the year after one of the worst winters in a while. My garden is planted, I’ve started mowing the yard and even breaking a sweat at times while developing a tan along the way. The sunshine and vitamin D is already working magic on my mood and I promise that I will not complain about it being hot until…well probably June when it gets really hot again!