Coping with SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder)
By Fiona Marshall and Peter Cheevers - a Sheldon Press book

Many of us feel a bit low during the gloom of winter months, but for an estimated one in twenty people a lack of light causes changes in energy, appetite, mood and sleep patterns — enough to interfere with normal living.

However, the good news is that Seasonal Affective Disorder — known as SAD — is now recognized as a real medical condition, and is easily treatable.

While the ideal solution of moving to a sunnier climate may be impossible, Fiona Marshall and Peter Cheevers explore a wealth of ways in which you can improve your symptoms, including diet, exercise and light therapy, and they show that you don't have to live with SAD.

Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction

• What is SAD?
• Sunlight starvation
• The symptoms of SAD
• Serotonin and other factors
• How to help yourself — an action plan
• Healing light — a history
• Light therapy
• Nutrition
• Exercise and SAD
• Other treatments
• Conclusion

Further reading
Useful addresses
Index

'For the rest of my life I will reflect on what light is', wrote Albert Einstein in 1917. Light, the source of life, is at the core of our culture. From romantic candles to the full intensity of holiday sunshine, the power of light to affect our mood and wellbeing is tacitly accepted by society.

It can be no coincidence that light features in so many of our religious festivals, from Diwali to Ramnavmi, the Hindu festivals of light, and gives such inspiration to the millions of children around the world celebrating Christmas, which despite its Christian nature, is based on ancient pagan celebrations of the return of sunlight after the winter solstice.

Yet many doctors now agree that the last two or three generations of people are the first to be spending at least three quarters of daily life under artificial light. In times gone by, survival dictated that many work outside or near to windows during daylight. Over the - past few decades, however, those of us in the West have been spending more and more of our time indoors.

In most cases, we wake indoors, breakfast under artificial light, get into our interior-lit car or train, arrive at our fluorescently lit office, eat in the subdued light of the canteen or restaurant and, even if we manage a lunchtime walk, in many of our major cities, tall buildings shade out the light. So, for modern-day city dwellers, especially those living in northern latitudes, the sun is not seen very much for large chunks of the year — the exception being the overkill doses on the annual two-week holiday.

The result of all this — our changed level of exposure to light — is the extraordinary increase in the documentation of SAD, which - stands for seasonal affective disorder. An estimated 1 in 20 people suffer from SAD, though it must be remembered that many will not bother to record what they regard as a normal condition of life — feeling low in the winter. Indeed, changes in energy, appetite, mood and sleep may be seen in most people in winter to some extent. But for those with SAD they are severe enough to interfere significantly with normal living.

In the US, an estimated 10 per cent of the population suffer from SAD, and this may be a contributing factor in the startlingly high figure of one in three cases of depression recorded on the North American continent.

However, there is hope. With the acceptance of SAD as a treatable disorder, people, encouraged by the availability of knowledge in our information age, are beginning to ask questions about light and health. Not just how lack of light affects our psychological wellbeing, but more fundamental, even revolutionary, questions. Could there be links between our modern screening out of light and the increase in many diseases? Why are so many degenerative diseases more common in Western societies? Diseases such as hardening of the arteries, senile dementia, multiple sclerosis and high blood pressure are very common, but is it just diet and lack of exercise that are to blame? Could there be a link between lack of light and these conditions? Could light therapy improve such things as hyperactivity, infertility and respiratory infection?

These ideas go well beyond the scope of this book, but the fact that such questions are being looked into suggests that SAD may only be the tip of the iceberg as far as health is concerned. The effects of sunlight on mood and health — the subject of much research earlier in the last century — had remained of marginal medical interest until relatively recently, from the 1980s onwards. Since then, serious research work has been done into SAD (and other conditions — studies suggest that therapeutic use of light is of benefit in a wide range of situations, including schools and zoos!).So, is the only hope to emigrate to a sunnier climate? While a winter holiday may be a great help, light therapy is a highly effective treatment and much more easily available than it used to be. In addition, there is a wealth of ways in which you can help yourself, including diet and exercise, which this book will also explore.

The latest research into the condition suggests that it is the result of an abnormality in the function of serotonin, the hormone which wakes us up and lifts our mood. Serotonin levels are known to fluctuate and be at their lowest in the winter. Serotonin also influences melatonin — the hormone responsible for making us fall asleep — and these links will also be explored further in this book, along with ways to boost serotonin levels.

People have somehow managed to endure SAD for millennia without treatment. However, as you will find, there are many options available for the sufferer of SAD. Seasonal affective disorder can be treated. It is hoped that this book will help sufferers of SAD, carers and families and be a source of support and reference.

About the authors
Fiona Marshall has written widely on health, psychology and parenting. She is the author of eight books, five of them for Sheldon Press, and also a novel.