If you’re like many people, the winter months are rough. Less light and cold weather makes you feel tired, sad, even depressed. You might find that it’s more difficult to get up in the morning, that you have a harder time enjoying the things that you usually do, and that you don’t feel as productive at work.
This is known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and it affects millions of Americans every winter. In mild cases, it is merely unpleasant. In the most serious cases it can lead to serious health problems including insomnia, weight loss, fatigue, and even suicidal thoughts.
Seasonal affective disorder has only come to light as a legitimate medical condition in recent years. It’s rooted in a nutritional deficiency and is easy to correct, if you know what’s happening. I have been treating patients for the winter blues for years. The treatments are safe, natural, and effective. They are also inexpensive and easy to do.
Avoid Prescriptions—Banish Winter Blues the Safe Way
Because the winter blues have a fancy, new name—seasonal affective disorder—it’s become more common for doctors to recommend a prescription antidepressant as treatment. In the most severe cases, that may be appropriate, but for most people, there’s a better way to address the problem.
SAD is triggered by a combination of two things. The first is a lack of exposure to natural light. Your body responds to sunlight in a number of ways. It uses sunlight as a cue to establish your natural sleep cycle. Sunlight also affects hormone production. Without regular exposure to sunlight, it’s easy for you to become fatigued, sluggish, and irritable.
So, the first step in combating SAD is to get outside into the sun more often.
One complaint I often hear from patients with SAD is that it’s dark when they drive to work in the morning, and then the sun is on its way down when they get done for the day. This leaves them with few opportunities to go out in the sun. I recommend that they take advantage of work breaks and lunch breaks whenever possible, and that they always try to spend some time outside on weekend days… provided it’s sunny, of course.
Stay well,
Mark Rosenberg, M.D.
Natural Health News
