Seasonal depression

asajj

I also found that exercising helps.

amandacat

I suffer badly with this. Usually kicks in October for me. I find taking Vitamin D helps- I just take the ones from Aldi. I also have a SAD lamp that I bought from Amazon, it’s quite small and looks like an I pad. It does help me but I only use it in the morning as otherwise I can’t sleep.
Otherwise exercise helps a little and getting outside on sunny days.
While I’m sure I’ll get scalded by others for this, I find the occasional sun bed helps, no scientific evidence for this but it perks me up no end.

halogen

I strongly recommend sunlight alarm clocks. Used one for 10 years and it really helps with the morning lethargy. Lidl/Aldi often have them for under £20

UKTigerlily

halogen wrote: »

I strongly recommend sunlight alarm clocks. Used one for 10 years and it really helps with the morning lethargy. Lidl/Aldi often have them for under £20

These are ok, but for SAD a lightbox is needed, the alarm clocks don't treat SAD (but can be used alongside a lightbox)

Sharon87

Mojisola wrote: »

In the winter months in the UK, you won't get any Vit D from the sun.

SAD light boxes aren't the right wavelengths to produce Vit D in our skin.

That's why I take vitamin D as well. The light box helps with the SAD symptoms side of things rather than the vitamin D deficiency. It perks me up and reduces my fatigue/lethargy.

Also I find even if you only get a bit of sunlight at lunch times it helps your mood. Maybe it's the walk, maybe it's the sun. Exercise helps to improve moods as well. Whenever I walk partly home from work I feel much better than just getting the tube/bus - even if I walk in the dark!

No one thing is going to work, it's a case of doing everything you can to improve symptoms.

coffeehound

Got this badly when I was younger and used to dread the arrival of the dark months. Depression, insomnia at night, sleepiness during the day, constipation, loss of muscle tone, fatigue, etc.

The sunrise alarm clock helped with keeping the circadian rhythms in sync and give a less rude awakening than normal alarms, so worth a try.

Lightboxes I never really got on with. Bought a good one from one of the specialists but was too undisciplined to use it before symptoms started, and once they had started, I was struggling to get up on time, and therefore didn't have 30 minutes spare to sit in front of it before work.

Not up to date with the latest developments, but from what I recall it's important to have a large lightbox so that it fills as much of your field of view as possible. A big one allows you to read or work in front of it while still getting an effective dose of light, too.

A smaller one might be effective if you are closer to it, but then you can't read or work and just have to sit and stare at it. Similarly a large, bright box might give you enough light in say 30 minutes, where a smaller or less-bright box might take an hour or more a day to get enough.

Also, whereas at one time 'they' said light wavelength/colour doesn't matter, apparently now the light colour is imortant, and 'daylight spectrum' light is recommended.

The only winters I was free from it was once when a maverick GP let me take Bupropion ('Wellbutrin") for six months straight. Absolutely no SAD symptoms at all and I felt great. Sadly no subsequent GP has agreed to prescribe it as NICE are twitchy about anything that affects dopamine. Think it's only approved for short-term use for smoking cessation(?)

The other year I was free from symtoms was when sat in an upper floor office next to a large south-facing window at work. So it shows there is potentially enough daylight in the UK to avoid SAD if you can just get enough of it!

Anyway, good luck with the upcoming gloomy season.