Have you noticed that you’ve been starting to feel down as the weather gets colder? Do you feel yourself having less and less energy as the days get shorter? Are you having more and more of those days where you just feel like you can’t get anything done, no matter how hard you try? If so, don’t try and shake this off as the typical ‘winter blues’ – you may suffer from seasonal affective disorder.
Seasonal affective disorder, or seasonal depression, is a type of depression that comes with the changing of the seasons. Most people affected by seasonal affective disorder start showing symptoms in the fall or winter, but it can less commonly occur in the spring and summer. However, since SAD mostly occurs in the winter, that’s what I will focus on in this article.
Contrary to the name, seasonal depression doesn’t mean that you only feel depressed in the winter – it can occur alongside major depression or bipolar disorder, wherein your depression symptoms worsen during the winter months. However, typically neurotypical individuals can also be affected by SAD – and that doesn’t make it any less valid. Seasonal depression can affect your life in many ways, including your social life, school performance, and physical health.
If you’d like to know more about seasonal affective disorder, here is a helpful site that outlines some of the symptoms, causes and complications of SAD. It is important to take seasonal depression just as seriously as major depression, and to seek help if you think you may need it. The winter is long – especially here in Canada – and you need to take care of yourself.