As the days start getting shorter and darker, people might feel impacted by seasonal affective disorder (SAD). The downturn in mood that happens with the change in light is likely associated with decreased levels of neurotransmitters, ...
Dec 4, 2024
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Shorter days and lack of sunlight can greatly affect one's mental state. People often suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD) during the fall and winter months due to lack of sunlight. A Baylor College of Medicine psychiatrist ...
Nov 21, 2024
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Many Americans experience a "winter funk" as the days grow shorter and temperatures turn colder, a new American Psychiatric Association poll reports.
Nov 6, 2024
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During certain seasons of the year, you may notice changes in your energy level, sleep and interest in activities.
Nov 4, 2024
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The good news: You will get a glorious extra hour of sleep. The bad: It'll be dark as a pocket by late afternoon for the next few months in the U.S.
Nov 2, 2024
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The good news: You will get a glorious extra hour of sleep. The bad: It'll be dark as a pocket by late afternoon for the next few months in the U.S.
Nov 1, 2024
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It's spring and you've probably noticed a change in when the sun rises and sets. But have you also noticed a change in your mood?
Oct 31, 2024
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Americans set their clocks ahead one hour on Sunday to transition into daylight saving time. That "springing ahead," however, can come with serious negative health effects—including an increase in total heart attacks and ...
Mar 14, 2024
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We know you're thinking about it: Turning the corner from winter into spring. Although warmer days are on the horizon, the effects of weeks of gray, winter days are real. For some, winter weather comes with a particular dose ...
Feb 15, 2024
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Scientists have shown that storing your eggs on the worktop rather than in the fridge—and how you cook them—matters when it comes to preserving vitamin D, known as the "sunshine vitamin."
Feb 7, 2024
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Seasonal affective disorder (SAD), also known as winter depression, winter blues, summer depression, summer blues, or seasonal depression, is a mood disorder in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year experience depressive symptoms in the winter or summer, spring or autumn year after year. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), SAD is not a unique mood disorder, but is "a specifier of major depression".
Although experts were initially skeptical, this condition is now recognized as a common disorder, with its prevalence in the U.S. ranging from 1.4 percent in Florida to 9.7 percent in New Hampshire.
The U.S. National Library of Medicine notes that "some people experience a serious mood change when the seasons change. They may sleep too much, have little energy, and may also feel depressed. Though symptoms can be severe, they usually clear up." The condition in the summer is often referred to as reverse seasonal affective disorder, and can also include heightened anxiety.
SAD was formally described and named in 1984 by Norman E. Rosenthal and colleagues at the National Institute of Mental Health.
There are many different treatments for classic hormones (winter-based) seasonal affective disorder, including light therapy with sunlight or bright lights, antidepressant medication, cognitive-behavioral therapy, ionized-air administration, and carefully timed supplementation of the hormone melatonin.
This text uses material from Wikipedia licensed under CC BY-SA
