We’re in a transitional season. Do you find it beautiful, yet cringe at the same time?
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) describes a spectrum of depression. The reduced level of sunlight in fall and winter may cause winter-onset SAD. This deficiency may disrupt your body’s internal clock and lead to feelings of fatigue and depression as well as difficulty focusing, sleep issues, irritability, and weight gain or loss.
It is estimated that five percent of all Americans are negatively affected by the changing seasons and waning of summer light. Another ten to twenty percent experience milder symptoms. Some people are more attuned to their light sensitivity than others.
Do you…
Find it more difficult to wake up as you approach winter? Feel down or like your energy has been drained on days without bright sunlight? Have trouble falling or staying asleep during winter nights? Count the days until Daylight Savings Time?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you could be suffering from SAD. Over the past month, a good number of clients have come to me with these complaints. In the majority of the cases, we discovered that SAD was the cause of their symptoms.
The lockdown we have experienced due to this year’s pandemic has already taken a toll on our mental health. It has also caused us to spend much more time than usual this year indoors. Due to our lack of exposure to natural light, SAD could affect us much more than it normally does this coming winter.
I’m offering 30-minute Breakthrough Sessions to explore if you could be suffering from SAD.
I know all about SAD because from the time I was a child, I was conscious of my craving for natural light. Everyone who knows me is aware of me yearning for the beach during my school years, reading outdoors on the lawn at Voorhees Mall as a college student, and sunbathing in Central Park as a Manhattanite. Twenty years ago, I was fortunate to have had a progressive physician who evaluated all of his patients for SAD. Once I discovered that my bias for natural light was biological and not merely an idiosyncrasy, I was able to adopt some simple lifestyle methods to make the seasonal transitions easier.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me for support with this condition that, in most cases, is totally navigable with some uncomplicated adjustments. Of course, people can suffer from a wide spectrum of SAD. Those with severe symptoms should always consult with a physician.
Here’s to keeping it sunny in your mind! 😉