Will you be S.A.D. this winter?

[Gray-Wolf]

I've just read an article suggesting that the lack of sun over this summer will lead to more folk suffering from S.A.D. this winter. Any thoughts on this?

I know we ,here, try to compensate over the darker 2 months by having 250 and 500 watt blasts over Breakfast and Dinner so the kiddies can have a good hour of 'bright' in their day.....do you suffer or think you may suffer?

[parmenides3]

If the posts on NW are anything to go by, more people will be made miserable by a lack of snow than by a lack of sunlight.

:)P

[Essan]

I only suffer SAD in the summer, when I'm confined indoors due to the heat ......

[laserguy]

A repeat performance of last year's non- winter would make me very SAD indeed. But seriously I don't know if serotonin levels accumulate in proportion to the amount of summer sun and then dwindle away over winter,or if they drop away fairly abruptly regardless of accumulated amounts. Perhaps SAD is just really a mood thing because I tend to feel gloomier in spring and summer and perk up come autumn!

No doubt during the course of this thread someone knowlegable on the subject will come along and make it all clear 'cos I reckon it must be fairly well understood by now.

[Osbourne One-Nil]

Every year I think I'll be fine in the winter, and every year, I get it completely wrong and turn into a morose lump.

If you think I'm miserable now...

[Andy Bown]

Only if we get stuck with anticyclonic gloom for 3 or more days in a row. I don't care how cold it is as long as there's good sunshine to brighten the short days.

[Thundery wintry showers]

I'm not an expert in the field, but I reckon that sunshine levels in autumn and more especially winter are more likely to determine SAD levels than the sunshine of the preceding summer.

Although this year's summer was outstandingly wet, it hasn't been exceptionally dull, taking the country as a whole. Summer 1998 featured a similar sunshine shortage in most regions; 2000 likewise in north-east England, 2002 likewise in the Scottish Lowlands. Meanwhile, there were many duller summers prior to 1989.

I've posted before about a belief that many commonly-diagnosed mental/health issues may well be issues that affect many of us to some extent, but an unfortunate minority (generally the ones that get diagnosed) more so than most others. SAD may well be one of them; I certainly wouldn't classify as an official SAD-sufferer, but I have regularly noticed that my mood and feeling of well-being is often closely correlated with sunshine amounts.

Edited September 18, 2007 by Thundery wintry showers
stop posting and then making substantial edits you moron!

[Admiral_Bobski]

I'm not an expert in the field, but I reckon that sunshine levels in autumn and more especially winter are more likely to determine SAD levels than the sunshine of the preceding summer.

Although this year's summer was outstandingly wet, it hasn't been exceptionally dull, taking the country as a whole. Summer 1998 featured a similar sunshine shortage in most regions; 2000 likewise in north-east England, 2002 likewise in the Scottish Lowlands. Meanwhile, there were many duller summers prior to 1989.

I've posted before about a belief that many commonly-diagnosed mental/health issues may well be issues that affect many of us to some extent, but an unfortunate minority (generally the ones that get diagnosed) more so than most others. SAD may well be one of them; I certainly wouldn't classify as an official SAD-sufferer, but I have regularly noticed that my mood and feeling of well-being is often closely correlated with sunshine amounts.

Hi TWS,

I agree with you - I thought that sunshine had a fairly rapid effect on the body, not a sort of cumulative effect. We know that sunshine inhibits the body's production of serotonin, which is basically the chemical that makes us want to go to sleep. During winter there is far less sunlight, so our bodies are dosed up on serotonin for longer periods of time. Some people who are particularly susceptible to serotonin's effects become depressed as a result of the prolonged exposure to the chemical.

Serotonin - a neurotransmitter, derived from tryptophan, that is involved in sleep, depression, memory, and other neurological processes.

Perhaps a duller summer would mean that there is a bit more serotonin around in the system which depresses mental processes just enough so that, come winter, the extra serotonin has more of an effect on them, but I would have thought that's a harder phenomenon to pin down than the direct serotonin/sleepiness link.

Interesting though...

CB

[Bobby]

I always prefer winter, it's those long sunny hot summer heatwaves that really gets me down. Give me a cold, wet, windy winter's day any time.

[crimsone]

I'm often depressed (having depression, that's no big suprise)... I have huge issues with my sleep pattern too (if it can be called such), and so often go through periods where I don't see much daylight... maybe I suffer with SAD all year around. lol

Edited September 18, 2007 by crimsone

[Gray-Wolf]

Strangely enough the same paper (indi) had an article on vitamin D today and its links to 'good health'. According to the article the first cases of Rickets were recorded in Glasgow last year in Asian children (their skin tone restricts their uptake in vit. D from sunlight, as does the African/afrocaribbean skin tone) They reckon that not only S.A.D. results from lack of sunlight and the vitamin D production but that studies show a direct link to the onset of both heart disease and cancers! So , it ain't the deep fried mars bars that does for the Jockistanis but the lack of sun!!!!

[M'Lady]

I don't know; I'm not sure that lack of sun has a negative effect on my already fragile emotional state, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to my occasional dark times...

But I do know people who suffer from SAD... so much so they use those sun light lamp thingies. Or, in the case of my exceptionally wealthy aunt who has no real reason to be unhappy, disappear to sunnier climates for months on end.

[Gray-Wolf]

I don't know; I'm not sure that lack of sun has a negative effect on my already fragile emotional state, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to my occasional dark times...

But I do know people who suffer from SAD... so much so they use those sun light lamp thingies. Or, in the case of my exceptionally wealthy aunt who has no real reason to be unhappy, disappear to sunnier climates for months on end.

They reckon 1 in 20 folk suffer Lady P. (though winter can be miserable enough....post crimbo) This june S.A.D. lamp sale were up 3 fold and by Aug the sales were up 4 fold (according to the indi.!).

EDIT: that doesn't scan quite right. A lot more than 1 in 20 suffer Lady P. surely????

Edited September 18, 2007 by Gray-Wolf

[M'Lady]

They reckon 1 in 20 folk suffer Lady P. (though winter can be miserable enough....post crimbo) This june S.A.D. lamp sale were up 3 fold and by Aug the sales were up 4 fold (according to the indi.!).

EDIT: that doesn't scan quite right. A lot more than 1 in 20 suffer Lady P. surely????

No-one suffers me, darling... everyone lurves me.

When I said "I don't know" I meant I don't know if I would suffer from SAD this year... we shall have to wait and see.

[Essan]

Well I certainly don't expect to suffer SAD this winter

But if I did start suffering in winter I think it'd be time to accept catastrophic global warming has arrived and I'd best move post haste to Antarctica!

btw in the Highlands you can go for months without seeing the sun in winter - in fact, Essan bothy doesn't see the sun from November until the end of February, even if there are no clouds in the sky ...... It's great when the sun finally peeps back over the hills

[Gray-Wolf]

Well I certainly don't expect to suffer SAD this winter

But if I did start suffering in winter I think it'd be time to accept catastrophic global warming has arrived and I'd best move post haste to Antarctica!

btw in the Highlands you can go for months without seeing the sun in winter - in fact, Essan bothy doesn't see the sun from November until the end of February, even if there are no clouds in the sky ...... It's great when the sun finally peeps back over the hills

There are places in Todmorden like that!!! No wonder they start to take such an un-natural interest in their kinfolk........now that is sad!

[Geordiesnow]

The only thing thats make me SAD in winter is that Cold events on the charts dissapear or i hear people on here saying 'downgrade on the cold spell'.

[Gray-Wolf]

The only thing thats make me SAD in winter is that Cold events on the charts dissapear or i hear people on here saying 'downgrade on the cold spell'.

From my time in Sunderland I KNOW that wearsiders/tynesiders are a breed apart so your view doesn't count!!!

[I remember Atlantic 252]

ill feel miserable if we get weeks on end of zonal conveyor belt lows and gales and rain and 11oC all winter, i wanna see a winter this time round

[disco-barry]

Nah i'm always a n0b, I love the winter just because it 'could' snow

[stormforce 10]

mild zonal mush. now that makes me very sad in winter.

[Bottesford]

Certainly a common problem and I'm sure one that has increased in prevalence in modern times. Vast numbers of people work during daylight hours which can often mean not seeing daylight throughout the entire working week. I knew someone who had his office in the basement thus no natural light. Starting work at around 8:30am and finishing at 5pm means he'd receive only 15 mins of daylight per day during the working week (sunrise is about 8:15am here in December). Even worse if you work further north!

When I went to Iceland in June one of the tour guides we met talked about the problems with depression during both high summer & mid winter. 24 hour daylight meant it was tricky to sleep but much worse was the next to no daylight at all during winter. With the Sun only peaking above the horizon for 2-3 hours you don't get long - especially if it's the normal Icelandic winter weather- rain & cloud.

Certainly, for me, I find darkness at 4pm very depressing indeed - especially with another 1.5 hours left at work! A sunny, crisp winter would be just what we need to avert SAD this year. Last winter was awful with no sunshine for what felt like weeks on end.

[Paranoid]

I actually seem to feel more cheerful in the winter. I don't like waking up at 5am and have sun streaming through the curtains, and i enjoy waking up to fog or frost in the mornings, and as unlikely as it may be, snow.

[saint]

i wont be sad

saint

[Geordiesnow]

From my time in Sunderland I KNOW that wearsiders/tynesiders are a breed apart so your view doesn't count!!!

Nah the Wearsiders are with the rest of the UK, its the geordies who are a breed apart and probably stupid like me on a occasion only going in blazor(and pants shoes etc of corse) to school in Heavy snow 2 years ago.