Seasonal depression
What exactly are seasonal depressions?
Seasonal affective disorder or SAD is mostly referred to as a seasonal depression many a times. This condition mostly occurs at a particular time in a year. Be it the same whether or even a month. This depression is quite different from summer depression or even winter blue, it is a form of depression that might trouble you later on.
Symptoms of SAD:
People who suffer from SAD are troubled by the symptoms t5hat are shown, these people often show common symptoms. They often have common signs of depressions sadness and even anxiety, irritation and also lack of interest in social activities. There are some features as fatigue and even increase in sleep which is a result of lack of energy in the person’s body. Sometimes the symptoms might differ because of the change in the season.
Symptoms of winter depression are:
1)Extreme fatigue
2)Increase in the pattern of sleep.
3)Decreased energy levels
4)Gain in the body weight
5)There is desire to be alone
Symptoms of SAD in summers:
1)Weight loss in the person’s body
2)There is trouble in getting proper sleep
3)There is tremendous amount of decrease in appetite.
How frequent and common is SAD?
In U.S there are around 4-6% of the people who are suffering from SAD. There are 10 to 20 % of the people that are suffering from mild form of depression. There are many women mostly of the age group of 20s 30 and 40s who suffer from winter blues and other forms of SAD. This is due to the fact that SAD is quite common in their age so they are affected more by such disorders. But SAD is also frequent among boys in their adolescent and adulthood.
The problem of SAD is most commonly seen in people who live at higher altitudes. This is due to the fact that the geographical changes also affect people more in this type of depressions. This can be more evident with the fact that 10% of the residents of Alaska also suffer from SAD.
What causes SAD?
The main and the exact causes of SAD are still not clear to the doctors. There are few theories that say that due to the less availability of sunlight at the latitudes result in this factor basically results in the bringing up imbalance in the normal behavior. Decreased exposure towards sunlight can also cause a less regulation in thoughts and other biological processes. There is a sow change in the mood, when there is sufficient sunlight available then the mood regulates fine and thus person is out of the phase of depression.
The exposure to sunlight is also known to correct the nerve cells of the human body.
How to identify SAD?
The basic suggestion is that if you feel that you are showing certain symptoms of depression then there you must not check yourself. Always trust a medical expert and visit a proper doctor as SAD is also a complex disorder in depression so needs proper checkup and care.
Treatment of SAD
The best treatment for SAD is said to be the light treatment, sometimes anti depressants along with proper exposure to sunlight is given. This also proves to be an effective method to treat SAD. Using sunlight to the fullest basically helps in treating SAD.
What and how safe is light therapy?
There are devices that contain photoelectric beams of light and they transfer light to the body. These are florescent tubes that are covered with white sheets and emit ultraviolet rays. The intensity of light is around 10,000 lux. The patient generally reads or even eats while in front of the source of light, this is done at a distance of around 2 to 3 feet. The light therapy is very safe and even well tolerated by the body.