Self-help for people with Season Affective Disorder

For people with Seasonal Affective Disorder, autumn and winter can be a challenging time. However, by introducing some simple lifestyle changes, sufferers may notice a significant improvement in their symptoms.

• Try to get as much natural sunlight as possible. Even a brief lunchtime walk can be beneficial.
• Make your work and home environments as light and airy as possible.
• Sit near to windows when you are indoors.
• Take plenty of regular exercise, particularly outdoors and in daylight, if possible.
• Eat a healthy, balanced diet.
• If possible, avoid stressful situations and take steps to manage stress.
• Talk to your family and friends about SAD so that they understand why your mood changes during the winter. This will enable them to help and support you more effectively.

The benefits of exercise in people with depression

Regular exercise is known to have significant benefits for people with mental health problems such as depression. Exercise can help you to recover from depression and it can also prevent depression from occurring in the first place.

If you have never exercised before, or you are returning to exercise after a long time off, visit your GP for a health check-up and advice about how much activity you should do.

Read more: (NHS Choices) Exercise for depression


Recommended reading:

• Activity guidelines for adults (19-64 years old)
• Activity guidelines for older adults (65 and over)

10 ways to beat the winter blues

When the sun is shining, people tend to feel happier and more energetic. Conversely, when it is dark and gloomy, people tend to lack energy and feel less sociable. The amount of sunlight that you get can affect your mood, appetite, energy levels and sex drive. If this sounds familiar, you may have a milder form of SAD called winter blues (people with SAD have more severe depressive symptoms).

10 tips to help combat the winter blues

Keep active
Research has shown that a daily one-hour walk, in the middle of the day, could be as helpful as light treatment for coping with the winter blues.

Get outside
Go outdoors in natural daylight as much as possible, especially at midday and on brighter days. Inside your home, choose pale colours that reflect light from outside, and sit near windows whenever you can.

Keep warm
If your symptoms are so bad that you can't live a normal life, seek help from your GP. Being cold makes you more depressed. It has also been shown that staying warm can reduce the winter blues by half. Keep warm with hot drinks and hot food. Wear warm clothes and shoes and aim to keep your home between 18C and 21C (or 64F and 70F degrees).

Eat healthily
A healthy diet will boost your mood, give you more energy and stop you putting on weight over winter. Balance your craving for carbohydrates, such as pasta and potatoes, with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables and vitamin D supplements. Good food sources of vitamin D include oily fish and eggs.

See the light
Light therapy can be effective in up to 85% of diagnosed cases. One way to get light therapy at home in winter is to sit in front of a light box for up to two hours a day. Light boxes give out very bright light that is at least 10 times stronger than ordinary home and office lighting. They are not available on the NHS and cost around £100 or more.

Take up a new hobby
Keeping your mind active with a new interest seems to ward off symptoms of SAD. It could be anything, such as playing bridge, singing, knitting, joining a gym, keeping a journal or writing a blog. The important thing is that you have something to look forward to and concentrate on.

See your friends and family
It has been shown that socialising is good for your mental health and helps ward off the winter blues. Make an effort to keep in touch with people you care about and accept any invitations you get to social events, even if you only go for a little while. It will really help to lift your spirits.

Talk it through
Talking treatments such as counselling, psychotherapy or cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) can help you cope with symptoms. See your GP for information on what is available locally on the NHS and privately.

Join a support group
Think about joining a support group. Sharing your experience with others who know what it's like to have SAD is very therapeutic and can make your symptoms more bearable. SADA is the UK's only registered charity dedicated to seasonal affective disorder. It costs £12 (£7 for concessions) to join and you'll receive an information pack, regular newsletters, discounts on products such as light boxes and contacts for telephone support.

Seek help
If your symptoms are so bad that you can't live a normal life, see your GP for medical help.

Source NHS Choices: Beating the winter blues

Stress busters and mood lifters

As the winter nights close in, fight back with these stress busters and mood lifters. Stay happy all winter long!

• Keep magnesium levels up. Magnesium is a natural tranquilliser (Brazil nuts, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds) or get Bach's rescue remedy from Boots
• Make lists: things seems worse in our heads, use a calendar...
• Have a guilt free bath (oils and candles). You happy = everyone happy
• Learn to breathe
• Go for a walk and do other regular exercise like yoga/Pilates
• Get a massage or acupuncture
• Learn to meditate and use visualisation techniques
• Listen to music or a relaxation CD
• Self-talk... Say positive statements... Well done!
• Plan for your future but LIVE in the moment. 99.9% of the time we worry about things that might go wrong. So fee the fear and do it anyway!

Learn self-hypnosis and discomfort control

Henry Scott Holland's prayer

It might be a sad subject but I think this is such a beautiful poem. To think someone can write something so beautiful and make a sad occasion very special. I wanted to share it with you.

Death is nothing at all
Death is nothing at all,
I have only slipped into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by my old familiar name,
Speak to me in the easy way which you always used
Put no difference in your tone,
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was,
Let it be spoken without effect, without the trace of shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It it the same as it ever was, there is unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near,
Just around the corner.
All is well 

Henry Scott Holland
1847-1918
Canon of St Paul's Cathedral

SAD: there's no need to be

by Marygrace Anderson

It's that time again. The weather is changing and the nights are getting darker, so be prepared. There is a lot of things you can do to prepare mentally. Lights, music, and action. Really SAD lights are great or making sure you have desk lamps on will boost your spirits, uplifting/happy/dance music will get you going and motivated. Finally get moving and out... exercise or go for a walk. You will feel so much better. Dark does not have to be bad or sad. Dark makes me think of being in a wonderful trance state where I can relax and give myself positive affirmations. Try it - it works.