SAD is an acronym for Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is a type of sadness or depression that usually occurs each year over and over again in dark and wintry days. This disorder is also commonly known as winter blues.

Some people usually behave adversely to winter’s dark and cold days after experiencing the long sunny and bright days of summer. This brings them a sort of depression termed as seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Sad is usually considered to occur because of a chemical imbalance in our body in response to a change in season, specifically to lack of sunlight.

People living far away from the equator are more prone towards this disorder. For most people, SAD can be a disabling illness which may get serious, preventing them from functioning and working normally until they receive proper treatment or medical consultation.

Seasonal Affective Disorder can affect a person’s mood to a much greater extent than regular mood swings. You can get irritated, anxious and even hyperactive.

Common symptoms of SAD include:

• Irritability
• Poor appetite
• Lack of concentration
• Lethargy
• Difficulty in task completion
• Lack of energy, enthusiasm and interest in social gatherings
• Craving for carbohydrates causing weight gain in some cases
• Agitation
• Weight loss
• Anxiety
• Mood changes
• Poor sleep or over sleeping habits
• Hyperactivity

All of these symptoms lead to a grumpy, sad and changing moods as well as depression, which is a characteristic of SAD disorder. These symptoms are prone to get more intense during the darkest days of the winter months.

Treatment for Seasonal Affective disorder.

Diagnosing SAD can prove to be a difficult task as it is not easy to recognize and distinguish it from various other forms of depression. SAD is curable disorder with many treatments available for it including cognitive-behavioral therapy, negative air ionization , bright light therapy, and medication as well. Exposure to bright light on regular basis significantly helps in improving the situation by lowering the depression.

Fluorescent lights especially help a lot in producing good results in curing this type of depression. Light treatment is used in the morning as well as in the evening for deriving the best results. Even temporarily changing locations and moving to places of bright sunshine and light can offer the same results. Phototherapy however has a few side effects by its use including insomnia, irritability, eye strains and headaches.

Exercising can also help in reducing depression. The idea of exercising is to make you feel better and make yourself busy. Go for a brisk walk, hit the treadmill, run a long or short distance and other forms of exercising that can make you sweat. Various other normal activities such as reading, knitting, and other works of interest should be carried out to make your mind busy. Usually, effects of these treatments take time though. Allow about three days to show positive results but continue after that, provided that the proper treatment is taken on regular basis.

Medication as approved by your doctor also proves to be beneficial in cases of SAD. Common negative aspects of this treatment include nausea, diarrhea and insomnia.

Even though this type of disorder is hard to diagnose and difficult to deal with, with the proper care and treatment, it can be managed easily.

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