Apologies that I haven’t blogged for a bit - it has been an amazing summer here in Edinburgh and SAD thoughts have been far from my mind.

Fantastic summer weather here though is anything between 24 and 30 C (up to about 84F!). Although the heat has been hard to cope with at times (we are just not used to it in Scotland and air-conditioned homes are a great rarity) it was not enough to bring on the kind of seasonal affective disorder found in summer.

I just read this article from the Edmond Sun which explains just how depressing and enervating heat can be for some folks. If you’re driven to stay indoors in air-conditioned rooms the lack of fresh air (and negative ions) and even ironically the lack of daylight can bring on a kind of summer depression which lifts when the weather grows cooler.

I heard to that excessive use of sunglasses can lead to SAD - the light is just not reaching your eyes even though it is bright.

If you have the kind of summer where you feel like you want to stay indoors make sure you still get some natural light - maybe by walking outdoors in the early morning when it’s cooler or even spending a little time in dappled shade - it will still be lighter than indoors.

The Edmond Sun, Edmond, OK - Is summer making you SAD?

technorati tags:SAD, Seasonal+Affective+Disorder, Summer, Heat, Negative+ions

Wherever you are in the world today it’s an important day in the calendar for Seasonal affective Disorder.

As one cheerful soul (obviously in the Northern hemisphere) remarked on a SAD support group I subscribe to “after today the days just get shorter and shorter, the light dimmer and dimmer”.

Of course the opposite is true “down under” in Australia and New Zealand. Things are going to start to get brighter.

Wherever you are in the world it makes sense to plan your activities to take into account the way the seasons affect you, taking things more slowly in winter and making the most of any good weather and bright light which comes you way by getting outside as much as possible. And of course, it helps to plan any treatment you need well before the level of light affects you so badly that it’s difficult to summon up the energy to do anything about anything.

The weather is so unreliable at this time of year in the UK that you really can’t pack away your light box for the winter if you seriously suffer from Seasonal Affective disorder.

One day it’s sunny and you think you’re in the clear and the next gloom has descended again. Reminds me of that old English saying

“Ne’er cast a clout ’til May be out”

(Clout is an Old English word for clothing, and the saying was a reminder not to be too quick to get rid of the winter woollies before the chilly days of May were over)

And the way recent summers have gone here in Scotland, the light box might as well stay around all year…

You can tell that the weather is getting better by the amount of activity in the SAD support groups. There have been just a handful of posts this month at the Yahoo group S-A-D I belong to and one of them was posted by mistake. When I looked at the history of postings over the last few years that holds true as well - posts about SAD drop off from April to September.

Makes me suspect that there’s not so much of a problem with Seasonal Affective Disorder in the Southern hemisphere.  I think it’s at least true that the highest percentage of sufferers (in particular those with access to computers at least) are in the Northern Hemisphere and starting to enjoy better weather and moods to match.

What about Australia and New Zealand where it is getting into winter? Do you have a separate support group for your region?

There are so many reasons why the sun is good for you - no wonder we get pretty “sad” without it even if we don’t suffer from serious Seasonal Affective Disorder.  In the Northern hemisphere at least things are starting to get brighter these days, even in Scotland …so the great outdoors beckons again. This Mirror article 15 REASONS WHY THE SUN IS GOOD FOR YOU gives us the following reasons why we should all spend more time enjoying the sun when we can

• It cheers you up
• It reduces heart disease
• It prevents diabetes
• Beats SAD
• Helps prevent MS
• Prevents cavities
• Relieves aches and pains
• Reduces risk of cancers
• Boosts fertility
• Gives you more energy
• Eases IBD
• Beats period problems
• Helps skin conditions
• Boosts your immune system
• Helps you lose weight

Of course sunlight is not all good - there is the little matter of skin cancer but as long as you treat it sensibly and use proper protection it’s great to catch those rays.

An article in the American Journal of Psychiatry (May 2006) The Can-SAD study: A randomized Controlled Trial of the Effectiveness of light Therapy and Fluoxetine in Patients with Winter Seasonal Affective Disorder describes a study which shows that both Light Therapy and Fluoxetine (an anti-depressant drug) are equally as effective for dealing with the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder.

There were 96 participants in the study all with diagnosed Seasonal Effective disorder and the study was carried out over 3 winters.

Separate studies have been done in the past but few have compared results in the same study.

The results are good news for patients who might prefer one type of treatment over another.

With a 16 year old son about to take important school exams I was interested in this recent article about light therapy helping teenagers sleeping habits A bright idea to get teenagers switched on and out of bed.

Like a lot of teenage boys my son likes to stay up late playing video games and then tiredness sets in when he’s meant to be studying!

But the article explains

“At the most crucial stage in their academic life many teenagers show obvious symptoms of sleep deprivation such as appearing groggy and grumpy or even falling asleep in class, but they will probably also under performing in school activities and tests, especially those taking place in the morning.

The reason is far more fundamental than late night Play Station games and, to be fair to them, it is not their fault. During puberty the body clock of a teenager shifts fundamentally so that they can be incapable of getting to sleep before the early hours and cannot function normally before noon.”

And it seems that light therapy may help as this “can reset the teenage body clock in just 15 and 30 minutes if used as soon as they wake up. Leaving them fired up and ready to tackle the day ahead”.

The article is advertising one particular type of light therapy : the Litebook but I assume that all other types would work too.

Worth a try if your children have a real problem that is affecting their studies?

Bit old news this (from the end of 2005) but I’ve just come across it and it fascinated me. Rattenberg, near Innsbruck in Austria sits so much in the shadow of the Rat mountain that it gets very little light in winter. It’s not that uncommon in the Tyrol region as many towns and villages were built on the dark side of mountains to help shield themselves from attack.

But there’s an interesting project going on in Rattenberg to cope with the lack of light that many of the residents suffer from. The town is planning on installing 30 specialized rotating mirrors (heliostats) designed by a company who specalises in lighting design (Bartenbach Lichlabor) to reflect sunlight into the town in winter. The town will get help from the EU who will pay half the $2.4 million cost of the project.

Now with my trusty calculator I make that more than $5400 a resident for the population of just 440. Maybe they should just invest in communal light boxes or offer them to every household. I wouldn’t like to be paying their council tax or whatever the local income tax is over there!

Anyway it will be interesting what the effect is this winter when the project is finished and see if the rate and seriousness of Seasonal affective disorder is reduced in the population. It may not even help that much as SAD is partly caused by staying indoors more in winter….but it will be a great tourist attraction anyway.

For more information see Mirrors shed light as winter grips small town 

It seems Californian residents are experiencing SAD-type problems due to an exceptional number of gloomy days for the time of year. It has rained almost every day for weeks, which must be tough if you are used to almost wall-to-wall sunshine.

Apparently it is producing a low mood among the general population in the area as well as affecting individuals who are susceptible to Seasonal Affective Disorder. See more details in articles Mental health experts’ tactics for rain blues and Lack of sun have you feeling glum?

I wonder if it makes a difference what kind of weather you are used to. Maybe we adapt a bit to a sunnier or cloudier climate after living in it for a while unless we have serious problems with SAD.

I know that here in Scotland a bright day makes everybody much more cheerful and grey skies and rain make everyone a little grumpy at times but we still keep going through the grey and rain in both winter and summer. (At least the rain is warmer in summer!)

I lived in the South of France for a year as a student and almost always felt cheerful because of the sunshine - maybe it takes a little longer to adapt and get used to it!

Although the effectiveness of therapy with white light has proven very effective for seasonal affective disorder, research continues into the effect of different types of light on our body and hormonal systems.

There are cells in our eyes called ganglions which have little to do with seeing, but send signals to our brain and help regulate our systems. A few hundred of these ganglion cells contain a light-sensitive protein called melanopsin, that helps convert light into an electrochemical signal which eventually reaches the pineal gland, in the centre of the brain.

Research at Jefferson University has shown that staring at a blue light for 90 minutes for example causes the pineal gland to stop production of melatonin. Blue light it seems helps keep us alert and some hospitals use this in nurses stations to stop medical staff feeling sleepy through the night while using more red/yellow based light in patient areas.
For more information see Eye Cells that don’t see, but Regulate