While Kiara was enjoying the long hot summer, her brother Rahul had begun to cast a cloud of depression.
He began to exhibit depressive symptoms like oversleeping, fatigue, irritability and even feelings of hopelessness. He had isolated himself from friends and family and would spend most of his days on the couch with a big bag of potato chips.
There were times he wondered why he felt so low, but little did he know that it was the season to blame. He had been hit by the Summer Blues also known as Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (also called SAD) is when we have depressive symptoms during specific times of the year such as the winter, summer or monsoons. It is a type of depression that occurs in a seasonal pattern, for instance, a depressive episode that lasts all through winter every year and diminishes as the summer begins to set in.
People who suffer from a depressive disorder with seasonal pattern generally lose interest or pleasure in most daily activities, may have significant weight gain and engage in regular overeating, and trouble falling or staying asleep, but with a constant feeling of energy throughout the day, most days.
Feelings of worthlessness and feelings of guilt may be common, as well as an inability to think or concentrate, or finish tasks at work or school. Some people even experience recurrent thoughts of death.
This specifier does not apply to those situations in which the pattern is better explained by seasonally-linked psychosocial stressors (e.g., seasonal unemployment or school schedule).
Major depressive episodes that occur in a seasonal pattern are characterized by:
SAD symptoms can vary from mild to severe and can include many symptoms similar to major depression, such as:
SAD may begin at any age, but it typically starts when a person is between ages 18 and 30.
Some of the triggers are listed below, so it’s important to take notice of these symptoms, especially if they generally occur like clockwork for you every time summer comes around. That can indicate the cyclical nature of your summer depression.
So, if you feel that the sweltering heat of summer is robbing you of your sleep, OR the winters find you hibernating excessively, here’s what you can do:
When you consider that brain tissue is 85 percent water and our bodies are 70 percent water, it’s easier to understand why hydrating yourself is so important. Dehydration causes a shortage of tryptophan, an important amino acid that is converted to serotonin in the brain. Our bodies can’t detoxify when there is a shortage of water, so tryptophan isn’t distributed to the necessary parts of the brain. Low levels of amino acids in the body can contribute to depression, anxiety, and irritability.
Even mild dehydration—approximately 1.5 percent loss in normal water volume — can affect our moods and impair our concentration.
It’s easy to grab a Diet Coke when you feel hot and thirsty, but a recent study by the National Institute of Health showed that people who drink four cans or more of diet soda daily are about 30 percent more likely to be diagnosed with depression than people who don’t drink soda. Coffee drinkers are about 10 percent less likely to develop depression than people who don’t drink coffee.
People with mood disorders are especially sensitive to the artificial sweetener aspartame in most diet sodas.
3. Eat ice cream.
Research published in the journal Nature Neuroscience explored the relationship between comfort food and mood. Studies did discover that the brain chemical that motivates us to eat, called ghrelin, can act as a kind of antidepressant. Ghrelin rises before meals and is associated with feelings of hunger.
4. Regular Exercise Routine
Morning walks, Yoga, Zumba, any physical fitness can trigger serotonin activity levels, that brighten up your mood and relieve anxieties.
5. Gardening
A daily dose of exposure to nature and sunlight, even if on your own terrace or balcony can do wonders for your mental health.
6. Vacation
Need a break from the heat, cold or rain? Maybe you could plan in advance and make a short trip to a place with weather that refreshes your mood.
7. Massage Therapy
Another enjoyable way to boost serotonin levels if you have SAD would be to treat yourself to a massage. Let loose, relax, release the stress and usher in a rejuvenated you.
8. Psychotherapy
Taking to a counsellor or therapist can support you with breaking patterns of negative thought and learning skills to better manage mood shifts through the season. Psychotherapy is another option to treat SAD. A type of psychotherapy known as cognitive behavioral therapy can help you:
9. Mind-body connection
Examples of mind-body techniques that some people may choose to try to help cope with SAD include:
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Disclaimer: Please note that we are not a crisis intervention helpline. Should you have severe symptoms or have thought about harming yourself, please seek immediate medical help or call suicide prevention helplines such as
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