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Winter Is Here: Slowing Down to Fight SAD

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Re: Winter Is Here: Slowing Down to Fight SAD

#21

Post by raintrees »

For me, powering up my vitamin D3 consumption eliminated most of the symptoms of SAD. I now cruise around 4000 IUs per day or so. Based on my reading, taking too much results in a return of the symptoms, and I have not reached that level, and feel no need to go higher.

Everyone has their own, unique body, best to be cautious and aware, if one experiments. Keep a journal or check in with a close confidant. This is generally less expensive in time and money than seeing my general practitioner.

Also, I live in the PNW of the United States, so those are the amounts of sunshine I work with.

Re: Winter Is Here: Slowing Down to Fight SAD

#22

Post by Yoric »

psychphysic wrote: post #8

It's worth noting (or maybe it isn't) that there there is scant evidence for SAD. The confirmation bias is strong here maybe in me and others, the solutions are all dripping in snake oil. It's really quite bizarre but amount of cold and darkness doesn't correlate well with low mood. Frankly I've not seen anyways provide an reasonable explanation for it.

I don't know about confirmation bias but I've realized as a kid that November and February has always been bad for me. I think that was way before I heard of SAD, although I could of course have internalized something I had heard and forgotten the details.

Anyway, given that placebos work very well on mood, I'm happy to read about possible solutions (as long as they're not harmful) even if they would have no observable effect in a double-blind :)

Re: Winter Is Here: Slowing Down to Fight SAD

#23

Post by actinium226 »

Just wanna say thanks for posting this. I relate tremendously. The poem is also nice. I'd say I'm in act III. I know this happens to me in winter, and I've taken strategies to mitigate it, including a light therapy pad (this really helped) as well as medication. Even so, I do need to slow down and to live with that. But again, thanks for posting, it helps to know that it's not just me :)

Re: Winter Is Here: Slowing Down to Fight SAD

#24

Post by psychphysic »

Yoric wrote: post #22
psychphysic wrote: post #8

It's worth noting (or maybe it isn't) that there there is scant evidence for SAD. The confirmation bias is strong here maybe in me and others, the solutions are all dripping in snake oil. It's really quite bizarre but amount of cold and darkness doesn't correlate well with low mood. Frankly I've not seen anyways provide an reasonable explanation for it.

I don't know about confirmation bias but I've realized as a kid that November and February has always been bad for me. I think that was way before I heard of SAD, although I could of course have internalized something I had heard and forgotten the details. Anyway, given that placebos work very well on mood, I'm happy to read about possible solutions (as long as they're not harmful) even if they would have no observab…

It might not be confirmation bias. Only that there is a natural variability in human behaviour linked to seasons.

Just like every other living organism from lichen to bears.

But humans do not like to admit they are not masters of their domain (genuinely not a Seinfeld reference).

The question, however, is the use of "disorder" and the evidence this far is lacking.

Re: Winter Is Here: Slowing Down to Fight SAD

#25

Post by minhmeoke »

One fairly easy way to reduce Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is to expose yourself to 30 to 45 minutes of sunlight early in the morning by taking a walk outside within an hour after you wake up; this has multiple other health benefits:

- https://selecthealth.org/blog/2020/07/7-health-benefits-of-s...

Getting a lot of sunlight in the morning is also a good way to reduce jetlag by resetting your circadian rhythm to be in sync with your new time zone.

If you live in a climate where you do not have access to sufficient sunlight, one possible alternative is to buy an LED corn bulb (don't use it too late at night, otherwise you won't be able to fall asleep):

- https://blog.plover.com/tech/corn-bulbs.html

- https://meaningness.com/sad-light-lumens

- https://www.benkuhn.net/lux/

You can buy these fairly inexpensively from retailers like AliExpress if you are ok with waiting a month for shipping from China: https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=corn+bulb

If you live in North America, Japan, Korea, or Taiwan (120V AC), you want an E26 socket lamp, otherwise for 240V AC grids, you should consider E27 socket lamps.

Re: Winter Is Here: Slowing Down to Fight SAD

#26

Post by neuronsong »

raintrees wrote: post #21

For me, powering up my vitamin D3 consumption eliminated most of the symptoms of SAD. I now cruise around 4000 IUs per day or so. Based on my reading, taking too much results in a return of the symptoms, and I have not reached that level, and feel no need to go higher. Everyone has their own, unique body, best to be cautious and aware, if one experiments. Keep a journal or check in with a close confidant. This is gen…

This is exactly what I do as well. I am in midwest (UT and CO). 4000 IU per day keeps SAD away. Do the research to find out what works for you. I tried tanning but that was too much of a pain and really bad for the skin. Being outside worked as well. However, I am inside a ton. Vitamin D3 supplements fit the bill.

Re: Winter Is Here: Slowing Down to Fight SAD

#28

Post by b3morales »

psychphysic wrote: post #8

It's worth noting (or maybe it isn't) that there there is scant evidence for SAD. The confirmation bias is strong here maybe in me and others, the solutions are all dripping in snake oil. It's really quite bizarre but amount of cold and darkness doesn't correlate well with low mood. Frankly I've not seen anyways provide an reasonable explanation for it.

People self-report feeling "down" in various ways in the winter months. The experience is happening to them regardless of whether we know the causes or solutions. Perhaps there are in fact many different things that are manifesting in similar ways. Dismissing the experiential phenomenon doesn't get us any closer to figuring that out.

Re: Winter Is Here: Slowing Down to Fight SAD

#29

Post by poulsbohemian »

Something that I think gets overlooked in term of mental health this time of year is the ways in which the changing season affects economics. I fully admit - I have zero data to share here to back up my point, and I hope someone out there has studied this - but it seems to me that:

-- There's a lot of seasonal work that depends on good weather: ag, construction, even real estate. Work slows or is physically harder in the cold and poor weather conditions, creating hardships.

-- There's tremendous social pressure to spend money, not only on xmas gifts, but also on charitable giving. There are a lot of different kinds of emotions people go through either because they can't afford to give or to spend and/or because they go overboard.

-- Because of the above issues, many people are trying to stretch their dollars this time of year. IE: got paid out for work they did through summer and fall, but now at a time everyone wants their dollars, they are trying to stretch them until the next round of work starts up after the new year (or even in the spring...)

-- With all of the various holidays this time of year, there are a lot of family and social demands on people. You might have to see that family member you don't like - twice even between Thanksgiving and the December holidays. Creates a lot of emotional turmoil and/ or time commitments that people don't have or don't prefer to have.

-- If you've been hard at work all year, there is a natural exhaustion that seems to come this time of year regardless.

I guess what I'm saying is... yeah, get those SAD lights, take your vitamin D, but also be aware that for many people there's a lot more going on than just not enough sunlight.

Re: Winter Is Here: Slowing Down to Fight SAD

#30

Post by xboxnolifes »

go_elmo wrote: post #11

Days being ~8h long makes getting enough sun harder - not impossible! Trying to get 1h outside / day does it for me - usually using the commute for it, running or cycling to work. Dont forget, we were optimized for millions of years for spending our time outside. Dont run fully outside your specifications people ;)

Definitely is impossible for some parts of the world/schedules. 8 hours can be completely overlapped by a shift. One job I had I never saw sunlight during the week in winter.
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