The days are shorter, the weather is gloomier, the temperatures are colder, and life becomes less busy. In the months of December, January, February, and March, winter hits those in the Northern Hemisphere, and with the darker days comes feelings of depression. Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, typically arises during the fall months and extends into winter, however some cases begin in spring and extend into summer.
Everyone knows the “winter blues,” when one feels slow, sluggish, or even sad in the winter months. But, SAD is a different animal. According to the Mayo Clinic, SAD is a subtype of major depression. Symptoms include frequent thoughts of death or suicide, a leaden feeling in the legs or arms, weight gain, and changes in appetite, such as intense cravings for carbohydrates. While the “winter blues” can cause some of the symptoms, if symptoms last for days at a time, a doctor should be called.
Newtown High School AP Psychology teacher Tom Pescarmona says, “There is some biological base to [SAD]. Your body is designed to be awake when it’s light out, and asleep when it’s dark out. Your body needs to absorb light, mainly through your eyes, to produce certain neurotransmitters and chemicals that help it. One of those neurotransmitters is melatonin. Melatonin helps regulate your sleep cycle. If you’re not sleeping when it’s dark out, and awake when it’s light out, you don’t produce melatonin.”
Melatonin is the neurotransmitter that then produces serotonin, and serotonin is the neurotransmitter that affects one’s thoughts and perceptions about themselves. With SAD, a person’s serotonin levels are irregular due to the effect of the equinox. This leads to depressive thoughts and feelings. Starting in the fall, an hour of light is lost, causing one’s body to not be able to produce enough melatonin and serotonin.
“Your body changes right around the time when the clocks change because of the amount of light. Your appetite increases or decreases, some people have trouble sleeping, [and all of these] can lead directly to feeling depressed,” Pescarmona said.
SAD has the possibility of becoming major depression if left untreated. One NHS senior has been diagnosed with SAD since middle school. Choosing to remain anonymous, she said, “I would definitely recommend seeing a therapist or psychiatrist for someone who thinks they might have SAD. Medicine isn’t the only trick, though. I have found that keeping lots of lights in my house is a very good strategy. Keeping the house clean is good, too. An overwhelming amount of visual stimulation can result in stress, so I try to keep my spaces tidy. I also recently started going to the gym, which is amazing.”
Like regular depression, it can be treated with the use of antidepressants, but the most common treatment is light therapy. With light therapy patients are asked to look into a light for a certain amount of time each morning, which guarantees a patient with enough light for their bodies to produce melatonin, in turn producing serotonin. Melatonin supplements are also available for patients.
NHS Nurse Karen Powell says, “I have students in here every single day with mental health issues, with anxiety and depression. [...] We have resources here in school; social workers, school psychologists. If a student comes [to the nurse’s office] having a particularly bad day and needed help in the moment, I would get one of our other staff to come over and speak to that student and help them figure out what we could help them do to get through the day.”
Above all else, Powell wants students to know they are not alone in their struggles, and that both SAD and major depression are treatable. There is always someone to talk to and get help from, whether it be someone here at NHS or outside of school.
Additionally, the NHS senior says, “Most importantly though, it’s important to share how you feel with others. I’ll acknowledge the fact that this can be a tremendously difficult thing to do at first, but getting your feelings out in the open in front of someone you trust can actually be a very liberating experience. [...] Find something you’re passionate about and run with it! Sometimes the best way to use your energy is by investing in something you love.”
If you or anyone you know may be suffering with Seasonal Affective Disorder or major depression, please contact your doctor right away or call the suicide prevention lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
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