Seasonal Affective Disorder: 6 tips on fixing It

Seasonal Depression, or SAD Seasonal Affective Disorder affects 5% of the population and for that population lasts 40% of the year (!!) This report from NPR talks about it.

Location — and especially latitude — plays an important role. SAD is more common in people living far from the equator, which is why its rates are higher in the northern part of the U.S. and Canada and lower in the south. Women tend to have 3 X the incidence of Seasonal Affective Disorder,

So 6 things to do.

1. The standard starting point is a bright light treatment. You want to expose yourself to bright light ideally before 8:00 a.m. or earlier.  The light box should be 10,000 lux (a measurement of the intensity of light), which experts  compare to being “outside in July in the middle of the day.”  I bought one a few years ago on the advice of Andrew Huberman who advocates this early morning light to help with sleep at night  Details below. You should sit in front of the light — about a foot away from it or more, depending on its exact size and brightness — for about 30 minutes (even if they eventually drop down to 15), at the same time each morning, seven days a week. Improvement can be “dramatic” but it may take weeks to reach full effect. This is the light I bought 2.Verilux happy light v22

2.  The American Medical Association recommends sleep hygiene,  The basics of sleep hygiene are going to bed and getting up more or less the same time.  Trying to get at least 7 hours of sleep.  Avoiding screens for a few hours before bed, analog books or magazines better.  All ambient lighting turned low starting a few hours before bed.  Limit caffeine after noon.  Careful with alcohol since it can lead to poor quality sleep.  I have lots of resources here.  A 3 hour Huberman podcast condensed into 12 minutes here.

3. Stress management I have lots of resources on ways to activate vagus nerve and your Para Sympathetic Activity here

4. Physical activity  Boost your mood through exercise here.

5. Spending time outside. Self explanatory!

6.  Vitamin D supplementation. We’ve discussed this on the blog here.