Seasonal Affective Disorder – Around this time of year, the nights start to get darker and at the end of October the clocks go back, meaning that because of the shorter days we see less daylight – this can lead to people suffering with Seasonal Affective Disorder.
The theory goes that fewer daylight hours can cause us to have low mood and even suffer depression as a result – this is commonly known as Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD for short (a pretty unhelpful name in itself!).
There is a commonly held belief that SAD is caused by changes in our brain due to reduced daylight. This sounds plausible doesn’t it – after all serotonin levels are thought to be depleted in SAD sufferers during the winter and melatonin production is linked to exposure to sunlight.
There are numerous (unscientific) SAD-related articles available online to anyone who looks – serving any confirmation bias well. Plus, there’s also a slew of pseudoscience-orientated videos supposedly explaining how SAD works – many rely on the old and discredited brain chemistry model, and most are trying to sell you a light box device to ‘cure’ SAD or some sort of supplement.
The flip-side is that there is loads of research (e.g. Megan Traffanstedt and Dr. LoBello, in collaboration with Dr. Sheila Mehta) which suggests that SAD doesn’t actually exist. Other studies in Norway (The Tromsø Study) support this research, as data shows that there is not a higher rate of SAD in Norway, despite the severely shortened daylight during Norway’s winter.
We’re not saying that people’s feelings aren’t real – they absolutely are. But low mood and depression are not caused by reduced sunlight – otherwise we would all start to feel depressed in October and we don’t.
Let’s look into it a bit further – Mandy suffered from SAD for a number of years. She recalls how it impacted on her life:
“When I was suffering from SAD my mood would usually start to dip around September and I would start to dread the rapidly approaching longer nights. Although we tend to focus on how early it gets dark I think the biggest struggle for me was getting up in the dark mornings.
When my alarm would go off I would often actually feel like crying at the thought of getting up because I would feel so tired, it would take an enormous amount of effort just to get out of bed and to be honest, if it wasn’t for the fact that I had to see to my boys I think there would have been days when I would have just stayed in bed. I didn’t just feel tired and down during the winter months, I also used to feel quite muddled and really struggled to concentrate.
I remember one winter I had gone back to college and I would be driving there in the dark (but gradually lightening) morning and really struggling to keep my eyes open, feeling as though someone had drugged me. I was driving to and from college in the dark and inside all day and I truly believed that was the reason for all my problems.
My whole lifestyle changed in the darker months as I would spend more and more time sleeping, I wouldn’t go out much other than for essential tasks. I used to wish I could just hibernate and to a certain extent I did.”
Mandy believed that the lack of sunlight was causing her to be depressed and have less energy – so she went out less, saw her friends rarely, didn’t enjoy all that life has to offer, had fewer self-esteem-boosting experiences and, as she admitted, practically hibernated. She, unknowingly, allowed her mindset, attitude and self-esteem (or lack of) to cause and maintain her depression – it wasn’t due to brain chemistry or lack of sunlight.
Mandy’s testimonial video can be found here. She went on to say:
“I started The Thrive Programme in January so it was perfect for showing how the weather / dark nights were not the reason for my symptoms, I noticed a change within two to three weeks, certainly by week three I was full of energy and excited about life in a way that I hadn’t been for years, in fact I hadn’t felt excitement like it since I was a child. When you have struggled with something for years and you suddenly realise that you don’t have to suffer any more, that you have the power to change it, it is such an amazing feeling and I was buzzing.
Post-Thrive Programme my life and outlook on life has completely changed. The weather / dark nights no longer affect my mood. I still feel sleepy when my alarm goes off and it is pitch dark but as soon as I come to, I think about two things: 1. If I was that deeply asleep then it means I’ve had a really good rest. 2. I think about all the things I’m going to do in the day ahead and I’m keen to get started.
One of the things that I realised was that I had been changing my lifestyle in the darker months and I now believe that this was the main contributor to my mood changing. My behaviour and habits changed, the way I viewed the winter months and believed that I couldn’t do certain things was what was in fact causing the problem. Nowadays I do the same things all year around I just have to change my clothes accordingly. I go out running with my running group all year but at this time of year we need to wear head torches and hi viz/reflective gear and a few more layers.”
You can see how the minute Mandy took the power back – from allowing the seasons to control her emotions, to realising it was how she thought about the darker days that determined her mood – she quite rightly didn’t allow the weather to affect her mood any more. Now imagine feeling this powerful and in control in every area of your life…this is what The Thrive Programme teaches you. All of our coaches are trained to help you get the most out of the programme – you can find your nearest one here.
