Overcoming winter S.A.D.ness

"In the depth of winter, I learned that within me lay an invincible summer."

Albert Camus

Winter Barn

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/winter-barn-lianne-schneider.html 

Seasonal Affective Disorder used to be laughed at as the hypochondria of...attention seekers, the lazy, or maybe just the "winter blues" - a harmless enough low feeling that will go away on its own soon enough. Even when I was younger and very active in the winter with snowmobiling, skating, winter parties at the sugar shanty, I still experienced this kind of "dread" as November approached. I'd say over and over, "I hate November." As the years went by, the dread got worse, the low feeling became real depression during the winter months. At first, I chalked it up to personal losses that had occurred in November or early December - my Dad's death, my husband's, my grandfather's. But each year, it got worse and I began to equate winter with the season of my life - that I was entering the "winter" of my life journey and while death didn't exactly terrify me, I wasn't in that big a hurry for it! Moving back up north after years in the south seemed to make things much worse - as my physical mobility became more limited, winters stretched long and drearier. The sudden change to Standard time in October (now November) would hit me like a ton of bricks as the daylight hours were instantly one hour shorter. I'd tell everyone I was going into hibernation and I'd come out again when the time changed in March! And off I'd go into what I called "my cave."

S.A.D. is actually very real for millions of people and for some, downright dangerous. According to the Mayo Clinic, those with severe depression from untreated S.A.D. should not ignore the symptoms. They can get worse and lead to problems if it's not treated. These can include:

• Suicidal thoughts or behavior
• Social withdrawal
• School or work problems
• Substance abuse

Treatment can help prevent complications, especially if seasonal affective disorder is diagnosed and treated before symptoms get bad.

So...what to do. See a doctor if symptoms persist - you may benefit from antidepressant medications but even if you don't choose this course, a health care professional will be aware of your condition and that's important. But there are lifestyle changes you can try as well - get special real daylight bulbs for your lamps and avoid fluorescent lights if possible. There are also actual light therapy boxes you can use several times a day to increase your exposure to daylight. Go outside - even if you aren't very mobile, bundle up and sit on the porch, the patio, a park bench and soak up the sun for a half hour. Get what exercise you can - you don't have to ski or snowmobile or shovel snow with a bad heart to get a little exercise to raise your serotonin levels. Get CREATIVE - that's finally what saved me. In winter time, I pour myself into my art and writing in between treks up and downstairs for exercise. I think about winter poetically instead of with dread. In fact...I wrote a long poem called, "Even Winter Has Its Joy" and you can hear me read it on this short YouTube video:

I hope you enjoyed that...would love to get your feedback though I apologize for the quality of the artwork - I've worked harder on that in recent years! The poem is from my last book, "Ecclesiastes for Sixty: Seasons in Solitude."