WITH the end of winter, the days are getting a bit longer and it will not be long until summer and full days of sunshine once again.
For those who suffer with seasonal affective disorder (SAD), it will be a welcome relief.
SAD is a diagnosable condition where the winter blues can turn into bouts of depression.
The depression is a specific type of depression exclusive to the long rainy and dark winters that we endure in Mount Gambier and much of the south of Australia.
Once the sunny days of spring return, the depression seems to disappear.
And it’s not just depression.
You tend to want to sleep more, put on a bit more weight, are attracted to fatty foods and your mood is having a marked impact on your ability to function and often impacts on your thoughts and feelings about yourself.
Dr Milford McArthur, chair of the Tasmanian branch of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, confirmed the lack of light in winter could seriously affect some people’s moods.
“Disruption to sleep patterns is a key sign of a mood disorder such as depression,” Dr McArthur said.
“SAD sometimes is a little atypical from normal depression.
“Sometimes there’s a reversal of the more common symptoms, instead of not sleeping well, people tend to oversleep, instead of losing weight, people tend to gain weight.
“We would always tell our patients who have clear mood disorders to try and have regular hours.”
New York Lighting Research Center and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute director and professor Mariana Figueiro PhD has done research that ties a deficiency of light exposure to an increase in dementia symptoms in the elderly, especially in nursing home settings.
“Light helps control circadian rhythms,” Figueiro said.
“Every day, when you get light in the morning, you reset your biological clock.”
Exposure to daytime light helps consolidate sleep and improve behaviour in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia.
However, lighting fixtures in institutions do not deliver the relatively high level and the spectrum of lighting that best affect the circadian system.
After implementing a program that introduced appropriate light exposure, Dr. Figueiro stated “we saw the tailored light intervention improved sleep.
“We also saw a significant decrease in depression scores with the active lighting intervention and a significant decrease in agitation scores compared to the placebo.”
What can you do to minimise the effects of the winter blues?
Start with replacing your old lighting with full spectrum lighting.
“In many cases, light therapy can replace medication for people with seasonal and non-seasonal depression, bipolar depression and depression,” director of the Center for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms at Columbia University Medical Center and author of Reset Your Inner Clock Michael Terman, PhD said.
“In other cases, adding light therapy can boost the effect of drugs alone.”
There is some thought that a diet high in omega 3 fatty acids can alleviate the symptoms of SAD.
“I usually suggest to my patients with mood disorders they do take fish oils, that is the omega 3 fatty acids and probably vitamin D,” Dr McArthur said.
While it can be harder to find the motivation in the cold, keeping active with exercise is a good way to help you stay mentally healthy as well.
“Exercise is important,” Dr McArthur said.
“There is some evidence that exercise is nearly as good as an antidepressant if you’re going to treat someone with depression.
“People should always start off with their exercise, being up during the day, getting morning light, perhaps their fish oils and vitamin D.
“Who knows for certain if it will work, but it’s probably not much to lose, not much harm.
“If it’s helpful, why not?”
If all of that does not help, a trip to Darwin might be in order.
Good luck trying to get your insurance company to pay for it.
