How can I help myself when I get the winter "blues"?
Posted on February 5th, 2010
Posted by admin
Any tips from anyone else who experiences this?
Winter-onset SAD is most likely caused by your body’s reaction to the lack of sunlight. Light therapy is one option for treating this type of SAD because increased sunlight can improve symptoms.
If your doctor suggests you try light therapy, you may use a specially made light box, or a light visor that you wear on your head like a cap. You will sit in front of the light box or wear the light visor for a certain length of time each day. Generally, light therapy takes about 30 minutes each day throughout the fall and winter, when you’re most likely to be depressed. If light therapy helps, you’ll continue it until enough sunlight is available, typically in the springtime. Stopping light therapy too soon can allow the symptoms to come back.
When used properly, light therapy seems to have very few side effects. However, some side effects may include eyestrain, headache, fatigue, irritability and inability to sleep (if light therapy is used too late in the day). Light therapy should be used carefully in people who have manic depressive disorders, skin that is sensitive to sunlight and/or medical conditions that make their eyes vulnerable to sunlight damage.
Tanning beds should not be used to treat SAD. The light sources in tanning beds are high in ultraviolet (UV) rays, which harm both your eyes and your skin.
Your doctor may also want you to try medicine or behavior therapy to treat your SAD. If light therapy or medicine alone doesn’t work, your doctor may want you to use them together.