Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
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SEASONAL AFFECTIVE DISORDERSAD or Seasonal Affective Disorder is a kind of depressive illness linked with deficiency of daylight. Alternate names include “winter depression” or “winter blues” considering that season and location are believed to be major external factors setting off this disorder.
People living in the northern and southern latitudes like Vancouver, Alaska, Artic region, and Scandinavia are highly susceptible to SAD during fall and winter seasons. These are areas experiencing reduced daylight for several months. Moreover, SAD is more prevalent among women and commonly starts during early adulthood. There are about 12 million Americans suffering from seasonal affective disorder.
What triggers SAD remains unclear to medical professionals but there are different theories and suppositions. Some medical experts pinpoint melatonin as the main cause of this disorder. It is the hormone secreted during nighttime controlling the sleep-wake cycle of the body but secretion is inhibited during daylight. With less daylight particularly during winter, more melatonin is secreted in the body causing sleepiness, tiredness, and depression.
Another research suggests that reduced exposure to daylight disturb the circadian rhythm or biological clock. These are rhythms generated in the body responsible for controlling internal bodily functions such as sleep. Disruption of circadian rhythm eventually leads to depression.
SAD triggers not only depression but also anxiety, social withdrawal, decreased libido, loss of energy, sleepiness, fatigue, cravings for sweets and other foods rich in carbohydrates, menstrual difficulties, and difficulty on focusing or processing data. In rare cases, mania or hypomania may be experienced during summer season and this is often called reverse SAD.
There is no cure for SAD but only treatments. An effective method to treat SAD is light therapy or intense exposure to light in a confined environment. It is easy, non-medical, and non-invasive procedure with 75% to 85% of users felt better after 3 to 4 days of therapy. Light therapy is composed of fluorescent bulb within a box, a diffusing screen, and a comfortable place where you can sit or lie down. There are different stores online or offline where you can buy different light therapy products.
Treatment method is very simple. You need sit close to the light box, eyes open, and adjust your body towards the lights. Do not look at the lights directly. You can do pretty much whatever you like such as read, eat, relax, write, and talk with your friends as long as you are exposed to the light. Treatment can last for as short as 15 minutes and as long as 3 hours at least once a day. Session using 10,000 lux illumination lasts 30 minutes while 2,500 lux takes about 2 hours. An important factor in light therapy is time of the day. It is variable depending on the users. Majority of users respond better during morning sessions or upon waking up.
Full spectrum lighting is recommended for treatment of SAD. This is an indoor light that mimics outdoor daylight after sunrise or before sunset. It is very similar to a fluorescent tube and gives off all colors of the spectrum comparable to sunlight less ultraviolet light. The amount of light varies from people to people.
Aside from light therapy, use of antidepressants is also prescribed to treat SAD. Common drugs prescribed are sertraline, fluoxetine, venlafaxine, paroxetine, and newly approved drug called buproprion HCL. Combination of light therapy and SAD is highly recommended to get optimum benefit. |