Terminology Tuesday: Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

I know – this isn’t really an Instructional Design term, but it’s a term that likely affects many folks between the months of October – April…at least if you’re lucky enough to live on the east coast of North America. In these parts, we were lucky to see a flake of snow between October and December. However, once mid-January hit, we were saddled with an onslaught of snow and ice and cold. And sunshine is a very rare sighting…almost like a unicorn sighting.

What is Seasonal Affective Disorder?

Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, is a seasonal mood pattern that occurs most often in individuals with major depressive disorder. However, it also occurs in a variety of other individuals. For example, I suffer from Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and I am affected by SAD, so if SAD impacts you, it doesn’t necessarily mean you suffer from depression.

SAD often illicit feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, pessimism, and sluggishness. You may find that all you want to do is lay in bed and sleep until July. You may find that you prefer to binge eat all of the carbs. You may find that you retreat to all of your introverted tendencies…even if you’re traditionally an extrovert. However SAD affects you, it’s important to realize that it is a disorder and it is brought on by certain times of the year, and once you recognize that it’s not ‘just you’, you can take steps to create a more positive life environment. This is extremely important if you live on the east coast and frequently throw your Christmas tree to the curb in December only to find it still on your lawn when the snow melts in April.

The winter months can be desperate times, but there are some measures you can take to reduce the impact of SAD on you and your loved ones.

Suggestions for combatting SAD

• Light therapy. There are SAD lamps, and I’ve heard very good things about them! Alternatively, you can get some fake sun in a tanning bed…which I know is not the best recommendation from a health perspective, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
• Vitamin D supplements – When sunshine is an infrequent visitor, we all start becoming deficient in vitamin D. My general practitioner has even suggested taking vitamin D supplements year round, because in our climate, we don’t receive nearly enough of it.
• Exercise! As hard as it is to motivate yourself to do anything when SAD is weighing you down, you need to just get off your butt and exercise! You’ll get your endorphins flowing, and eventually you’ll begin to feel more energized and less sluggish.