Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), also known as winter blues or winter depression, is a mood disorder in which people experience depressive symptoms during the winter or a particular other season (although depressions during the winter seem to be most frequent). People suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder do not experience these symptoms during other seasons and have a normal mental health throughout the rest of the year.

Symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder

People that experience mood changes when the seasons change often experience the following symptoms:

• difficulty waking up in the morning
• tendency to oversleep
• tendency to overeat (especially a craving for carbohydrates)
• lack of energy
• difficulty concentrating on completing tasks
• withdrawal from friends, family, and social activities
• general feeling of depression and pessimism

When the season is over, the symptoms usually clear up and they feel quite happy again.

Causes of Seasonal Affective Disorder
Seasonal mood variations appear to be related to light, or a lack thereof during the winter season. SAD has been shown to be measurably present in artic areas such as Finland where the SAD rate is 9.5%. Cloud cover and seasonal limitations in natural sun light seem to influence SAD. Thus, light therapy is a popular treatment for (particularly winter based) seasonal affective disorder.

How Serious is SAD?
SAD should not be taken lightly. According to one study, 6-35% of people that suffer from seasonal affective disorder require hospitalization during one period of illness. The symptoms of SAD are in line with those of clinical depression. Then again, many other patients say that they don’t experience major depressions but simply lack the energy to perform everyday activities. SAD Researcher Norman Rosenthal found that the prevalence of SAD in the adult US population is between 1.5% in florida and about 9% in northern USA.

A milder form of SAD that is experienced by an estimated 14.3% of the US population is called Subsyndromal Seasonal Affective Disorder. Sad or depressed feelings in both SAD and SSAD patients can usually be taken care of by increasing solar exposure.

Read more about the benefits of light therapy as a treatment for SAD

If you think you have symptoms of any type of depression you should talk to someone who can help you get treatment.

You can read more about Seasonal Affective Disorder here:

• It’s a SAD Time of year by Gabrielle J. Melin, M.D.
• Seasonal Affective Disorder – Teenshealth
]]> http://www.sadlightshop.com/info/what-is-seasonal-affective-disorder/feed/ 0 http://www.sadlightshop.com/info/light-therapy-as-a-treatment-for-seasonal-affective-disorder/ http://www.sadlightshop.com/info/light-therapy-as-a-treatment-for-seasonal-affective-disorder/#comments Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:23:29 +0000 admin http://www.sadlightshop.com/?p=15 SAD Treatment with Light Therapy
The most popular treatment for Seasonal Affective Disorder, also known as “winter depression” or “winter blues”, is bright light therapy. It is a simple and natural way to help you restore your mood and energy levels and beat the winter blues – without the use of drugs or artificial stimulants. If you find you are less active, and your mood and energy levels are less than what they were before winter set in, light therapy may bring the relief you are looking for.

Here are some of the benefits of light therapy over other forms of treatment:

• Light therapy can be done pretty much anywhere
• Light therapy devices are fairly cheap
• Light therapy has been proven to be very effective
• Light therapy doesn’t involve drugs that can have nasty side effects
• You can do other things while the lightbox does it’s work!
• Results are often felt within the first week of treatment

Boost your energy levels and combat the winter blues!

How does light therapy work?
Light therapy makes use of a special light box that is far brighter than a regular light bulb and emits full spectrum, or special blue light. To experience the benefits of a lightbox, all that is necessary is to sit between 30-60cm of the device in such a way that the lights falls into your eyes. With most lightboxes, treatments are about 30 to 60 minutes long depending on the distance to the device. If combined with aerobic exercise, treatment times can sometimes be made shorter.

How quickly will I see the benefits of this therapy?
Patients usually report a significant improvement in their mood within the first week of treatment. In order to get the full benefit of the device, we highly recommend repeating the treatment for several weeks during the fall and winter season until frequent light exposure is naturally available again.

What is the best time for light therapy?
We recommend getting light therapy in the morning hours. Using light therapy devices late at night can cause insomnia due to the high doses of light that makes your body think its a bright sunny afternoon.

Are there any limitations to light therapy?
Some people have stated that light therapy can triggering a (manic) episodes in people with bipolar. So if you suffer from bipolar, talk to your doctor first.

Recent developments in light therapy technology
In recent years various manufacturers have experimented with blue light that appears to be more efficient than the traditional full spectrum lightboxes. As a result of this light therapy boxes using Bluewave technology have become much smaller than their predecessors and are now available in a “portable” format. A recent example of Bluewave technology is the Philips goLITE BLU Light Therapy Device that is considerably smaller and lighter than most other light boxes.

Which lightbox should I get?
Which lightbox you want to buy will likely depend on the size of your room or office space and budget. There are many manufacturors that make lightboxes but only few of them emit the full spectrum light or use the real bluewave technology that actually works. On your right you can find some of our recommended devices that are sold through AMAZON.COM We recommend a portable design if you wish to get light therapy in the office as well as in your home.

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