Perhaps if you are a very observant person you may have noticed that people behave differently during the various seasons of the year. Many people suffer from at least a mild form of depression during the winter months. As the days get shorter and colder, the nights get longer and darker. We get less sun than during the spring and summer months. And this lack of sunshine has a physical affect on our body. They have actually now come up with a name for this ailment, it is called Seasonal Affective Disorder, (SAD for short).

This number of sufferers of this disorder vary around the world, since some regions have almost 24 hours of daylight, or 24 hours of darkness depending on their geographical location. So people in those parts of the world have higher incidences of SAD. The term was coined in 1984 by Dr. N. Rosenthal a doctor in the US. It has now been documented that SAD is indeed a medical issue involving changes in the body’s mood centers due to less sunlight at certain times of the year.

Sufferers find themselves feeling lonely and isolated, depression can often set in as well. While this may not be much consolation there are many people suffering this way at the same time every year. One way to help is to get better light bulbs for the home or work place. Light bulbs which mimic the sunlight will help these people through these times. Or a nice long vacation to a tropical island would also help, but keep in mind the amount of sunlight even there is reduced during some of the year.

One form of treatment has proven to be about 80% effective is using light therapy. One needs to keep in mind that the light therapy is not as simple as sitting in front of a light bulb. The light needs to be as close to the level of what a person would be exposed to on a bright sunny day. There have been several inventions created to simulate the exact amount of illumination. The patient would need to sit in front of this light for anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours depending on their condition.

While the light therapy works well for some patients there are still a significant number of people left suffering. For some of those patients they are given drugs to help with their depression.

While this is something you may or may not have been aware of please keep it in mind when you deal with others during these periods of time. They may not be themselves due to a SAD situation.

Source by Josef Mack