We’re almost there guys, we’re almost done with winter.
Hang in there, please don’t be sad anymore.
Hey everyone Julia here for DNews.
Dudes, i get it.
winter sucks.
its why i moved to California.
In winter its miserably dark and cold and you just want to stay inside, sleep all the
time, you lose all interest in your hobbies, everything seems meaningless..
wait. that sounds a lot like depression.
Is winter blues a thing?
Is seasonal affective disorder real?
Well for 1 out of ten people it is.
according to a review published in Physician and Sportsmedicine.
Other studies suggest that number could be as high as 1 person in 6 in high latitude
areas like Glasgow or Moscow.
Symptoms are pretty similar to depression, like feeling down and sluggish.
With SAD energy level decreases too but it’s more common for people to eat more, especially
starches, and to sleep a lot.
ur r
So how does this happen?
Well one popular idea is that during the winter you get exposed to less sunlight and that
makes you sad.
Sunlight contains two forms of light, ultraviolet A (UVA) and ultraviolet B (UVB).
Your skin needs UVB to make vitamin D. Shorter days in the winter means less sun, and makes
you less likely to get your daily dose of vitamin D. Vitamin D does a lot of things,
but it’s involved in the synthesis of serotonin and dopamine in the brain, the two chemicals
usually identified as playing a role in depression.
A review published in the journal Medical Hypotheses looked at bunch of other studies
and found that vitamin D deficiency was likely to be a contributing factor in SAD.
But what if it’s a kind of hibernation?
Recently the sleep tracking app “Sleep Cycle” said that among their users, people in snowier
states sleep longer than those in sunnier states.
On average they slept about 13 minutes longer.
Maybe that’s not the most scientific data, BUT those who suffer from SAD often sleep
more and are more tired during the day.
They have an increased appetite and often gain weight.
This sounds a lot like what happens during hibernation, which is a way for animals to
conserve energy during winter months when food availability changes.
In animals, hibernation is controlled by a lot of processes throughout the brain and
in the body.
One of which is the production of melatonin.
Hibernating animals produce it for longer during the winter months.
One study in the Archives of General Psychology found a similar thing in people with SAD,
the period of production of melatonin at night was longer in winter months than in summer.
Healthy people didn’t have this pattern.
Either way, hibernation or not, it’s annoying and there is something you can do if you suffer
from SAD.
You can get vitamin D from fatty fish like tuna.
Lightboxes, which aren’t approved or regulated by the FDA are said to trick your body into
thinking it’s sitting in daylight.
One study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that lightboxes are just
as effective as antidepressants and help patients feel better sooner and with less side effects.
Alright, what about you?
Do you feel pretty bleh in the winter?
Let us know in the comments below.
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