The Seasonal Affective Disorder Toolkit

What is Seasonal Affective Disorder?

 

For some winter is simply a time when they are less active than they are in the summer.  Unfortunately for others winter is a time that they dread because of the debilitating symptoms that make up Seasonal Affective Disorder.

 

SAD is a combination of symptoms experienced on a seasonal basis.  It does not have one cause nor one set of symptoms. 

 

The majority of people that experience SAD begin to feel its affects around the autumn equinox and then it continues until after the spring equinox.  Their symptoms may include:

 

• Depression

• Anxiety

• Irritability

• Increased desire to sleep or disturbed sleep patterns

• Brain fog and fatigue

• Decreased libido

• Food cravings, particularly carbohydrates, or a complete loss of appetite

 

There are cases of what is considered "Summer SAD" but I do not cover this in any depth on this site.

 

First and foremost SAD is a physiological disorder and as such that is where treatment should start, however I strongly believe that attitude is half the fight.  In the following pages I will look into what I believe the causes are and how you can build up a toolkit to help make winter easier.  Once you have this in place you are able to enjoy your summers knowing that winter won't be so tough.

 

Throughout the site I have added links to other sites supporting my notes or giving further information.  I intend to continue to update this website with more information as I discover it. Check out the SAD News page for updates.