SAD, Winter Snow Have You Down?

Did you know there's a form of depression that affects people, especially teenagers to young adults that starts late in the fall when daylight hours get shorter and goes away in the spring as daylight gets longer?  It's called Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD.  Girls are 3x more likely to have SADS than guys, too.  You can blame it on "cabin fever" or the "winter blues" but what it could be something very different and treated with some light therapy and medication. If you don't treat SAD, here's the downside, usually SAD comes back every year and can get worse!

The most common symptoms of SAD are; feeling miserable, low energy, tiredness, poor spirits and general depression. Some experience problems with sleeping, appetite changes and other symptoms. So, here's the good news, if you might suffer from SAD, get to your Doctor's office, tell your parents or a counselor in school because it's easy to help. There are some neat therapies (believe it or not going to a tanning salon could help) and light medication that can help you feel yourself again.

Even if you don't suffer from SAD, knowing and recognizing the symptoms can help you show compassion and help a friend or family member who does! Do you have something you want to talk about like SAD? You can email me or post a response right here and we'll talk about it. Hopefully, we can all help each other and start enjoying the SNOW and LIFE again.