By JANET STOICA

Do you have Seasonal Affective Disorder (otherwise known as SAD)? Although I am not a psychiatrist nor do I hold a medical degree, I wanted to write an article about the emotions we all experience during the holiday season. The term that has been used over the past many years to describe our low points has come to be known as SAD. It is a reference to the low energy levels and mood changes that occur when sunlight diminishes beginning in September. For some of us, this slowly encroaching low point in our states of mind happens once annually beginning in the fall season and lasting until the spring. The sun sets sooner, the days shorten, holidays approach, anxiety sets in, and maybe loneliness begins to nudge us during the early onset of the season’s darkness. We become less active and staying in bed later seems like a better choice than jumping out from beneath those cozy blankets to greet the day.

Sydney Zatz of Rochester, Minnesota’s ABC news interviewed Dr. Craig Sawchuk of the Mayo Clinic and wrote the following: “For some people, they may experience this in early fall in mid-late September when the weather is still fairly pleasant. For other people, this might not hit until mid-January,’ said Dr. Craig Sawchuk, a psychologist at Mayo Clinic. SAD happens because of a chemical change in the brain when your body naturally makes more melatonin because it’s dark. Melatonin is a sleep-related hormone released by the pineal gland to the brain at night that has been associated with sleep/awake cycles.

“Some folks might be more vulnerable to that. In return, with more exposure to light, that helps to regulate the system more. Most are probably familiar with Winter Seasonal Affective Disorder, but it can also happen in summer. Those symptoms include trouble sleeping, weight loss, and increased irritability. But how do you know these feelings are seasonal, rather than a sign of long-term depression?

“When it’s more the seasonal pattern, usually what we see is this happening for a person over a course of two years so that starts to establish more of a pattern. And then what you do actually find are individual differences of when these symptoms come on or the onset of those symptoms.

When those symptoms do hit, it’s recommended you stay social, get regular exercise, and use light therapy. A light box mimicking outdoor light to help boost your mood. It can especially be helpful for those who work overnight shifts. They may experience more variability in their sleep patterns but if there’s an opportunity to regulate those patterns that would be great. However, when you do wake up in the morning, having to go with the artificial light is the way to go. And having a good, established wakeup routine. It’s normal to have days when you feel down. If you can’t get motivated to do things you normally enjoy that’s when you should see a doctor.”

SAD is also experienced when we are completely stressed out by the holidays. You know the feeling. Rushing around to get tasks completed before a family gathering and even the stress of buying gifts for those who won’t really appreciate them. Who among us hasn’t returned at least one holiday gift we’ve received? Then, of course, as we grow older we lose family members who always gathered with us during the holidays. One by one the jovial, the comedians, the shy, and even the grumpy of the large family we remember from holidays past become the ghosts and tender emotional moments of our lives. Suddenly, we realize, the joyful family celebrations have evaporated. We can still replay those gatherings in our minds but those happy times certainly can bring on melancholy not to mention tears to our eyes. The smiles, laughter, and sounds of glasses clinking in toasts to the holidays are but a distant memory. It is just so difficult for some of us to get through this dark time but most of us do get through it with hopes and forward-looking thoughts of a new year and how spring is not far behind with its promise of crocuses poking their beautifully vibrant heads through the fresh damp soil, trees in bloom, warmer days, longer days, beautiful sunsets, and the traces of snow that are nearly melted away like the past unhappy moods of winter. Soon, the spring and summer sun will be smiling upon us once again.

Contact Janet:  [email protected]