Sad and Depressed in the Darkness of Winter?

All You Need to Know about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) - Holiday Depression

In the northern hemisphere, the days get shorter and the darkness seems to win towards the holiday season around November-December. Many people start to feel depressed in this season, even if they "normally" don't feel that bad.

In this article I will talk about possible causes of SAD - seasonal affective disorder  - and what we can do to help!

What is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)?

For many people the darkness of the days extends to their emotions, and they feel gloomy, down and generally miserable.

They may be experiencing depressed mood, worries, anxiety, sleep problems, weight gain, anxiety,  joint pain, irritability, irritable bowel disease (IBS), stress, fatigue or headaches.  

This is known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), winter depression, or “Holiday Depression”.

What are the most important causes contributing to Seasonal Affective disorder (SAD)?

1. Lack of Sunlight
2. Typical Holiday Treats
3. Lack of Nutrients
4. Increased Stress From the Holiday Season
5. Too Little Physical Exercise
6. Regrets and Worries - Memories of Trauma and Bad Times

What Can we Do about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)?

1. Light Therapy (e.g. SAD Lamps)
2. Reduce Sugary and Junk Food (as much as possible)
3. Take targeted supplements for your body and brain type 
4. Learn Stress Coping Strategies and Relax – Your Holidays do not need to be perfect
5. Move More While Doing your Daily Chores and Tasks
6. Be kind to yourself – Exterminate the ANT’s from your Brain… 

Let's Examine Each of these Causes - and Natural Ways to Help.

Cause # 1: Lack of Sunlight

If you live in the northern hemisphere, sunlight is scarcest in the winter season. This is the season that many people experience seasonal affective disorder, appropriately abbreviated SAD.

They start feeling sad, depressed, and just outright tired

If fatigue were the only issue triggered by season changes, things would be easier to solve (with a little coffee maybe!). It is a bit more complicated, though.

Our body produces melatonin in response to darkness. You may have heard of melatonin as the “sleep hormone”.  Light, especially bright daylight, inhibits melatonin production in your brain.

Your melatonin secretion is synchronized with the production of serotonin, which also is part of many physiological processes such as temperature, blood-pressure regulation as well as neuropsychological functions such as appetite, memory and mood.

When melatonin is secreted, serotonin production is inhibited and vice versa. And with increasing age, melatonin secretion generally diminishes.

Lack of serotonin can cause chronic fatigue and mood issues like depression as well as weight gain. It’s like you would want to hibernate in a cave…

Intervention # 1: Light Therapy (e.g. SAD Lamp)

Light Therapy is a proven and effective way to help SAD.

Sunlight increases serotonin levels and helps the body to produce vitamin D. Besides having anti-osteoporotic, immunomodulatory, anti-cancer, anti-psoriatic, anti-oxidant properties, vitamin D is also a mood-modulator.

Why is that?

Exposure to UV rays increases vitamin D synthesis in the skin. That is why people who go to tanning salons have noticed mood improvements, which keeps them coming back….

On the other hand, it is well-known that over-exposure to UVA or UVB, whether from burning in the sun or over-using tanning beds, increases wrinkles and promotes skin cancer…

Light operates on the body in two ways: through skin impact or by entering your eyes. UV light has effects primarily on the skin (and the eyes, where it can contribute to cataracts), while your brain reacts to any bright light, UV or not.  The energizing effect of light therapy stems probably from the increased production of serotonin.

The simplest way to get enough bright light is to spend an hour a day or more outdoors, where the light levels range from 1,000 to 50,000 lux or more, compared to room lighting, which is about 50-200 lux.

If your schedule or the weather does not permit this, an alternative is to purchase a light therapy lamp. For optimum effects, the light source either has to be very bright - 5,000 lux or more - or it has to be in a particular spectrum - around 460 nanometers, which is in the blue range. According to new research, blue range light will provide benefits even if at a dimmer level. Most companies producing light bulbs make full spectrum lights that can to some extent replace sunlight.

Yet, there are side effects of bright artificial light. It interferes with sleep (especially when you are exposed to it before sleep time). It can even trigger a manic episode in some people suffering from bipolar disorder (also known as manic depression.

And those with a specific sensory issue called IRLEN syndrome may have issues with certain frequencies of light.

Cause # 2: Typical Holiday Treats

Holiday Treats are typically high in carbs and simple sugars. Think cake, cookies, chocolates and candy canes...

Many people notice that after a high-sugar meal (or a meal high in simple carbs like bread, pasta or white rice), they get tired and sluggish.

Why is that?

After a high-sugar meal our blood sugar rises rapidly, leading to a rapid insulin release to bring it down. Often the insulin secretion is more than needed, and that can lead to an episode of low sugar (Hypoglycemia), where you feel tired, weak, and maybe even jittery and sweaty when your body reacts to it with a release of the sugar-rising adrenalin or glucagon or both.  You feel that as a leaden fatigue, especially often experienced as “afternoon slump” after a quick sugar-or starch-laden lunch.

Intervention # 2: Reduce Sugary and Junk Food (as much as possible)

Now that sounds easier said than done. Really, should I not eat any candy and cookies and cake anymore? Well, in an ideal world, yes.

But what is realistic and achievable?

So, from a nutrition point of view we need to eat foods for high nutritional value - foods that give the best 'miles per gallon'. These foods are - unprocessed, organic, nutrient-rich whole foods such as apples, pears and berries and all vegetables, and also whole grains (oats, brown rice, whole grain bread), beans and lentils. If just half of your diet consists of these whole foods, you are on the right track for natural energy. Avoid processed foods and refined carbohydrates such as white bread, biscuits, cakes and white rice as much as possible.

A good summary of what's good to eat for vibrant health, more energy and better mood can be found in this book (free download provided)

To improve mood we need to look at foods that increase levels of serotonin, the brain's 'happy' neurotransmitter. A protein called tryptophan is converted in the body to serotonin, so we need to increase our intake of foods rich in tryptophan.

This can be found in foods such as fish, turkey, chicken, cottage cheese, avocados and bananas. Eating foods rich in omega-3-essential fatty acids (found in small oily cold-water fish such as herring, sardines, mackerel and anchovies, and also in seeds) can help depression through improving the cell membrane and mitochondrial functions in  brain and body.

If the thought of eating lots of vegetables, fruits and whole foods seems difficult in the winter, think of making lots of warming soups, casseroles, hot berry desserts. Also, use what's in season - all those root vegetables, carrots, cabbage, celeriac root, turnips, parsnips  leeks and onions. Try combining a selection with some vegetable stock or bone broth (HERE is My favorite and easy recipe) and brown lentils to make a wholesome soup or casserole (add fresh/dried herbs for extra flavouring); and follow it with a delicious apple and berry crumble. Comfort food can be nutritious and can help you get out of the winter blues!

My Favorite Holiday Recipes

Click on one of the images below to be taken to the recipe (with download)

Cause # 3: Lack of Nutrients

You may think: We live in a world of abundance, so how can we lack nutrients? 

The sad truth: Our food, especially regular and processed food, has only a small percentage of the nutrients it used to have 50 or 100 years ago.

Why is that?

Intensive agriculture and the use of chemical fertilizers (which only contain a few minerals, not all of the nutrients a healthy plant - and human - needs, as well as the use of herbicides and pesticides have not only caused a massive decrease in nutrients in the soil.

Those chemicals also killed most of the beneficial micro-organisms that make good soil a rich, living environment where plants can grow and absorb all the nutrients they can so we can eat them.

In addition to this assault, our changed gut microbiome (gut bacteria) as well as certain common medications (like proton pump inhibitors, the anti-baby-pill and many more) - make it harder or near impossible for us to absorb the few nutrients left in the foods we eat.

The result: A deficiency in nutrients.

Especially common are deficiencies in trace nutrients like trace minerals, phytochemicals, antioxidants and essential fatty acids.

And this leads to disease. Not the sudden diseases that modern medicine is great at curing, but slow, chronic diseases that develop in the "underground" for years or decades and then cause symptoms that are very hard to correct.

Read about my view of how disease comes about in my short video: "The barrel model of disease". It's funny, too!

Intervention # 3: Take Targeted Supplements For Your Body And Brain Type

Now that sounds easier said than done. Which ones are worth taking and which ones aren't?

I always say that nutritional supplements have to be selected as part of a nutrition orchestra, which evaluates nutritional needs and actual food intake.

I do that as part of my famous Turn-Around-Assessment. Click on the button below to learn what exactly it is and what it can do for you!

Click HERE To Check Out Our Turn-Around-Assessment!

What do I Mean by Nutrition Orchestra?

Well, you eat certain foods. You may be  taking medications. You may be also taking certain nutritional supplements. You have stress in your life. You live in a certain environment.

These all come together to nourish your body and make you the person you are and influence your physique, body, appetite, mood, thoughts and feelings.

I compare this with an orchestra. All players in a beautiful symphony have to be present and playing well together to make it sound beautiful.

It's the same with food and supplements.

If you are only taking one substance by supplement, you may only be having the drummer in your symphony. Now that doesn't sound good, right?

What can you do to help yourself?

I recommend getting a good and thorough assessment by an experienced health and nutrition practitioner. From there she/he can devise a clear step-by step strategy plan on how best to improve your health and well-being, considering your preferences and all that's going on with you. Now, does that come cheap? Certainly not. 

But it may prove priceless to improve your health and well-being! If your motor in your car breaks, you don't think twice paying thousands to have it fixed. You need your car.

But don't you need your body and health even more?