Winter Blues
Q: I’m dreading the winter blues with the dark and cold mornings. Is there anything I can do?
A: Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), also known as winter blues, is a mood disorder in which people experience depressive symptoms in the winter year after year.
Extending light exposure on winter days for thirty minutes a day under a full-spectrum fluorescent lamp, or under very bright artificial light, or in a ‘light box’, should begin to improve symptoms within three to four weeks.
Carefully timed supplementation of the hormone melatonin can help but often does not solve the problem.
Hypericum perforatum (St. John’s Wort) extract or 5-HTP improves SAD and is more effective in combination with light therapy. Restricted to prescription only through herbal consultation. Dosages of 300mg three times daily were found to improve SAD.
Vitamin D is known for its effects on helping the regulation of mood. A double-blind study found that mood improved in healthy people without SAD who received 400 or 800 IU per day of vitamin D for five days in late winter.
Try to exercise one hour three times a week in bright light to further improve mood.
For further information on Seasonal Affective Disorder or Depression contact ICIM Medics, St. John’s Grove, Johnstown, Naas, Co. Kildare Tel. 045 844 819 www.icim.ie
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