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The winter blues or Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) effects much of the population. It can range from lack of energy, trouble sleeping to suicidal thoughts and severe depression. I have a mild case of it. Think of it…when the clocks go back in the fall do you find yourself wanting to sleep more, skip workouts and gorge yourself on everything? Well, here’s an explanation. Seretonin is the happy/content/sleepy chemical in your brain. To little and your stressed out and too much and you’re basically in a coma. In the winter, most people seretonin levels increase greatly and thus overpower the “awake and energetic” neurotransmitters such as dopamine and noradrenaline. You sleep more, eat more and do less. It’s like you’re hibernating. This is caused by shorter days and THE LACK OF SUNLIGHT. Sunlight (or full spectrum light) causes a decrease in seretonin levels and an increase in dopamine and noradrenaline levels. This is why you wake up when you turn the lights on in the morning. Your body uses the sunrise and sunset to set your internal clock. This internal clock is something called the circadian rhythm. This is the 25 hour (not 24 like most people think) cycle your body functions around each day. Sunrise says, “Wake up, no more seretonin. Sunset says, time for bed…crank up the seretonin.” Now, in a worst case scenario (as I discovered) in today’s world of 27hour days, if you work screwed up shifts for too long, you’re body doesn’t know what’s going on and it loses perspective. Hormone regulation gets all screwed up and cortisol levels rise. Your neurotransmitters go completely out of whack and you feel crazy. There are some things that can help this.
1) Try to get up as the sun rises. This resets your body for the day.
2) If you can’t get up at sun rises, get a full spectrum light and set it on a timer to come on above your bed 30 minutes before you have to get up. It’s easier than you think. I bought a 400Watt halogen shop light and mounted it to the wall above my bed and hooked it up to a $15 timer you get at Canadian Tire (a big Canadian hardware store chain for you Yanks).
3) Get outside during the day if you can. Go for a drive at lunch or even a ten minute walk in the light. Try to “see” as much light as you can.
4) Buy some essential fatty acid gel caps and take a few every day.
5) Go to bed a little earlier than normal. If it gets dark at 5pm; go to bed at 10pm so you can get up with the sun.
6) Buy some L-tyrosine if you feel sluggish and some tryptophan or 5HTP if you feel stressed. Also increase your intake of b vitamins.
7) Remember that winter will end and you won’t feel bad forever.
8) Remember that depression is a disease like cancer and not a character flaw. You have nothing to be ashamed of.
9) Finally, see a doctor. I take Effexor SR and it works well by increasing seretonin, noradrenaline and dopamine levels. Everyone responds differently so you might need a SSRI (Selective Seretonin Reuptake Inhibiter) such as Paxil or something to increase dopamine such as Wellbutrin.
10) I always have some ephedrine on hand when I feel really down and I always take it with caffeine. I also have a bottle of gravol to help me sleep (2 does the trick with a glass of milk). Nytol (dipenhydrinate sp?) an antihistamine also works well. Avoid prescription tranquillizers.
11) Don’t drink or take drugs to feel better except the one’s I’ve mentioned. In the end you’ll only feel worse.
12) Take a vacation to somewhere sunny…florida, wherever.
1) Try to get up as the sun rises. This resets your body for the day.
2) If you can’t get up at sun rises, get a full spectrum light and set it on a timer to come on above your bed 30 minutes before you have to get up. It’s easier than you think. I bought a 400Watt halogen shop light and mounted it to the wall above my bed and hooked it up to a $15 timer you get at Canadian Tire (a big Canadian hardware store chain for you Yanks).
3) Get outside during the day if you can. Go for a drive at lunch or even a ten minute walk in the light. Try to “see” as much light as you can.
4) Buy some essential fatty acid gel caps and take a few every day.
5) Go to bed a little earlier than normal. If it gets dark at 5pm; go to bed at 10pm so you can get up with the sun.
6) Buy some L-tyrosine if you feel sluggish and some tryptophan or 5HTP if you feel stressed. Also increase your intake of b vitamins.
7) Remember that winter will end and you won’t feel bad forever.
8) Remember that depression is a disease like cancer and not a character flaw. You have nothing to be ashamed of.
9) Finally, see a doctor. I take Effexor SR and it works well by increasing seretonin, noradrenaline and dopamine levels. Everyone responds differently so you might need a SSRI (Selective Seretonin Reuptake Inhibiter) such as Paxil or something to increase dopamine such as Wellbutrin.
10) I always have some ephedrine on hand when I feel really down and I always take it with caffeine. I also have a bottle of gravol to help me sleep (2 does the trick with a glass of milk). Nytol (dipenhydrinate sp?) an antihistamine also works well. Avoid prescription tranquillizers.
11) Don’t drink or take drugs to feel better except the one’s I’ve mentioned. In the end you’ll only feel worse.
12) Take a vacation to somewhere sunny…florida, wherever.
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