SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is a type of winter depression that affects an estimated half a million people every Winter between September and April, in particular during December, January and February.
It is caused by a biochemical imbalance in the hypothalamus due to the shortening of daylight hours and the lack of sunlight in winter.
For many people SAD is a seriously disabling illness, preventing them from functioning normally without continuous medical treatment.
For others, it is a mild but debilitating condition causing discomfort but not severe suffering. We call this subsyndromal SAD or 'winter blues.'
Symptoms
The symptoms of SAD usually recur regularly each Winter, starting between September and November and continuing until March or April. A diagnosis can be made after three or more consecutive Winters of symptoms, which include a number of the following
Sleep problems:
Usually desire to oversleep and difficulty staying awake but, in some cases, disturbed sleep and early morning wakening
Lethargy:
Feeling of fatigue and inability to carry out normal routine
Overeating:
Craving for carbohydrates and sweet foods, usually resulting in weight gain
Depression:
Feelings of misery, guilt and loss of self-esteem, sometimes hopelessness and despair, sometimes apathy and loss of feelings
Social problems:
Irritability and desire to avoid social contact
Anxiety:
Tension and inability to tolerate stress
Loss of libido
Decreased interest in sex and physical contact
Mood changes
In some sufferers, extremes of mood and short periods of hypomania (overactivity) in spring and autumn.
SAD & Weak Immune Function
Most sufferers show signs of a weakened immune, system during the Winter, and are more vulnerable to infections and other illnesses.
SAD symptoms disappear in Spring, either suddenly with a short period (e.g., four weeks) of hypomania or hyperactivity, or gradually, depending on the intensity of sunlight in the Spring and early Summer.
In sub-syndromal SAD, symptoms such as tiredness, lethargy, sleep and eating problems occur, but depression and anxiety are absent or mild.
SAD may begin at any age but the main age of onset is between 18 and 30 years.
It occurs throughout the northern and southern hemispheres but is extremely rare in those living within 30 degrees of the Equator, where daylight hours are long, constant and extremely bright.
Treating SAD
Light therapy has been shown to be effective in up to 85 per cent of diagnosed cases. That is, exposure, for up to four hours per day (average 1-2 hours) to very bright light, at least ten times the intensity of ordinary domestic lighting.
Ordinary light bulbs and fittings are not strong enough. Average domestic or office lighting emits an intensity of 200-500 lux but the minimum dose, necessary to treat SAD is 2500 lux, The intensity of a bright summer day can be 100,000 lux!
Light treatment should be used daily in Winter (and dull periods in summer) starting in early Autumn when the first symptoms appear. It consists of sitting two to three feet away from a specially designed light box, usually on a table, allowing the light to shine directly through the eyes.
The user can carry out normal activity such as reading, working, eating and knitting while stationary in front of the box. It is not necessary to stare at the light although it has been proved safe.
Treatment is usually effective within three or four days and the effect continues provided it is used every day. Tinted lenses, or any device that blocks the light to the retina of the eye, should not be worn.
Some light boxes emit higher intensity of light, up to 10,000 lux, which can cut treatment time down to half an hour a day.
Try Our Get Fitt SAD Lightbox
Dimension: 15' x 5' x 5', 38 x 12.5 x 12.5 cm
Minimum treatment time: 45 minutes
10,000 lux
This sad light box is perfect for use around the home or in the office. It is Ideal for using next to your computer or below the screen. This unit is one of the smallest and most powerful 10,000 lux SAD light boxes available.
Taking your SAD Treament
Have the lightbox about an arms distance away and slightly to one side, or under your computer screen.
The light needs to go into the eye, so do not wear goggles or tinted glasses. Plain glasses or contact lenses are fine. Do not doze or sleep - you must be awake to take the treatment.
Do not look at the light all the time, just glance at it every now and then. You can carry on with your normal routine, reading and writing, have breakfast beside it or use when you are using your computer.
It is better to take your light treatment as early as possible during the day, but do not use the lightbox within 4 hours of bedtime as this may disturb your sleep.
Repeat daily.
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