It's getting darker earlier and staying darker later. Those of you who live up North and/or the continually overcast areas in the Pacific Northwest are certainly effected more than we Southern Californians. But, we feel it here, too. Only it's probably like 1% of what you guys and girls feel, so we don't feel all that bad. Plus, here it's sunny and never rains, right? So, we recover by about 9am.
Seasonal affective disorder, also known as winter depression, is an affective, or mood, disorder. Most SAD sufferers experience normal mental health throughout most of the year, but experience depressive symptoms in the winter or summer.
Go get your SAD lights, before it's too late!
Here's one source of lights (I'm not affiliated and there may be far better places (certainly more fashionable, let's hope. )).
Again, go get your SAD lights, before it's too late!
I recently purchased a cheap ($25) dawn simulator - simple little device that progressively increases the intensity of any lamp in about 30 minutes. As a result your brain perceives this as sunrise and you don't get that nasty jolt of lighting when you first turn on the lights in the morning. I get up around 5:30 to go to gym and I have to admit that this little toy has made a huge difference in how I feel during long and dark winter months.
I like the looks of the BlueMax dawn simulator in your post LD. I have one from VErilux, and it's been really handy here since it's dark when I get up...was even worse before time changed.
Now I just want a google add to pop up for BlueMax Dawn Simulator so I can get JP some $$ I'm getting one for my sister for Christmas.
It is amazing how much of a difference light can make on a person. There is a definite change in my mood and energy levels when it gets into the late/fall winter and we get less sunlight. I had never even heard of SAD until about 2 years ago in my psych class and as soon as we started discussing it everything made sense. I have not considered a light or anything similar but I might give it a try this year, worst that can happen is it doesn't do anything and I still stay as drained/moody as usual.
__________________ Beginning is Easy - Continuing is Hard
猿も木から落ちる Even monkeys fall from trees
- Japanese Proverb
My study/office has (4) 150w halogen lights. Aside from the warmth they put out (I have the heat turned off in here, if the lights run for a few minutes the room warms right up) they seem to lift my mood.
In the winter I usually eat more "home" style foods, which lift my mood. I guess there is something about a good marinara sauce on the stove or a baked ziti in the oven that reminds me of home.
I recently purchased a cheap ($25) dawn simulator - simple little device that progressively increases the intensity of any lamp in about 30 minutes. As a result your brain perceives this as sunrise and you don't get that nasty jolt of lighting when you first turn on the lights in the morning. I get up around 5:30 to go to gym and I have to admit that this little toy has made a huge difference in how I feel during long and dark winter months.
ProjectR, where did you get your dawn simulator from?
I noticed the darker earlier thing going on already. I live in So Cal and it bummed me out, so you people get your lights ready! Don't wait 'til you're down, preemptive strike!
And the Vitamin D thing might be worth checking out as an earlier post mentioned. I had mine tested - 35 or so - bottom of normal range. Optimal may be about 70. From a diabetic blogs I am on, it takes a LOT to get higher. I take 5000 units a day, anything up to 10,000 is said to be safe.
ps - things I read emphasize D-3 for supplementation.
Mine was 13 when I had it tested thru grassroots.org - so I'm going with 6-8K IU a day and then retesting in 3 or 4 months and will adjust from there. Even if there was a large margin of error due to the way I was tested, I'm way below optimum levels.
Vit D is a hormone after all, and what level of supplement it takes to get you up to optimum levels varies as it would for thyroid or insulin or any other hormone. It isn't really good to think of it like Vit C with a more constant daily allowance.
Not at all. Before I got daylight spectrum bulbs (they were originally meant for photgraphy but I used them as a desk light), I'd combat SAD with going under a tanning bed. Too bad that was only about once every 2 weeks.. doesn't cut it when you're chronically depressed due to SAD (from about mid-November thru February) it's dark between 4-5pm & 8-9am)
I've also got a Wake-Up light as an alarm as was referred to earlier in the thread & yep, in winter it does help lots!
Mine was 13 when I had it tested thru grassroots.org - so I'm going with 6-8K IU a day and then retesting in 3 or 4 months and will adjust from there. Even if there was a large margin of error due to the way I was tested, I'm way below optimum levels.
Vit D is a hormone after all, and what level of supplement it takes to get you up to optimum levels varies as it would for thyroid or insulin or any other hormone. It isn't really good to think of it like Vit C with a more constant daily allowance.
Wow, that's crazy, considering where you live!
Do you wear a lot of sunscreen or avoid the sun? I'm just curious.
And why did grassroots.org test it? Isn't that a nonprofit support organization?
I never wear sunscreen (don't tell Tina) unless I am deliberately going to be in the sun more than a couple of hours (sunning, going the beach, etc.).
I'm rarely outside during the middle of the day during the week except to walk to/from lunch on some days and at that only my face & arms are exposed. Apparently the morning or late afternoon sun when walking the dogs is not sufficient exposure. Plus, over 40 we just don't make Vit D as well from the same exposure as when we were in our teens and twenties.
I'm rarely out in the sun for any length of time on the weekends either - no yard so no yardwork, no garden, no soccer or baseball games to attend, none of that sort of thing. I'm a prime #1 candidate for deficiency, and I am deficient.
I didn't know I had SAD until I moved to Portland, OR. The Pacific NW is so cool, but I could never live there again, at least not in winter. All the full-spectrum lights and vit. D supplements in the world are no substitute for old-fashioned sunshine.
AFAIK, the weather in the NW corner of the US is much better than in the NW of Europe. At least you've mostly got bright & sunny days in winter! We are cursed with overcast skies most of the time!
I discussed lipolysis, steroidogenesis (yay testosterone), beta-endorphins, and the whole tanning process and how it's related to sunlight (aka get leaner as you tan), if anyone of you are interested in reading it.
It's at T-nation; nevertheless I made the posts before Tgayscle got way too shitty. A man can only handle so much lies.
SAD or Seasonal Affective Disorder
)).
I'm getting one for my sister for Christmas.
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