Health and Wellness
Leaves fall, and so do you
Shorter days, longer nights can bring on depression. It's called seasonal affective disorder (or SAD) - the "winter blues."
"A SAD diagnosis is usually based on whether the person has been depressed in the winter and recovered in the spring or summer for at least two years in a row," said Gary Malone, MD, a psychiatrist at Baylor All Saints Medical Center in Fort Worth. "These dramatic mood swings during season changes are what distinguish SAD from other forms of depression."
The symptoms: irritability, sadness, anxiety, decreased activity, drowsiness during the daytime, and problems with work and relationships. According to Dr. Malone, SAD may cause an increase in appetite marked by cravings for carbohydrates, weight gain and excessive sleeping too. Most adults who develop SAD are women.
"For people with SAD, these symptoms usually occur at the same time each year beginning in the fall and ending in the spring," he said.
Treatment includes medication and counseling. Light therapy can be highly effective. It is believed that light therapy helps to reset a person's internal "clock." Someone with SAD would sit in front of a light box that produces artificial light for a certain amount of time in the morning.
Another popular form of light therapy is called "dawn stimulation." A low-intensity light is timed to turn on at a certain time in the morning before a person wakes up. The light gradually gets brighter.
Used with permission from www.health-eheadlines.com, © 2007 Write On, Inc.
