As the weather changes from a welcome chill in the air to wet and nasty to cold and icy, many people discover that they are spending more time inside. During short days, they get relatively little sun exposure.
Does Gray Winter Weather Make You SAD?
In the winter, many people feel sad, even if they don’t normally suffer from depression. In fact, the winter blues are technically known as Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD for short. Symptoms of SAD include depression, lethargy, low energy, irritability, oversleeping and craving carbohydrates. The typical pattern is for these symptoms to start showing up in late fall or early winter. They normally disappear in late spring or early summer.
Too Little Daylight:
The leading hypothesis is that seasonal affective disorder is a reaction to a shortened period of daylight. It seems to be more common in northern areas where days get really short in the winter, with estimates ranging from 9.7 percent prevalence in New Hampshire to 1.4 percent in Florida (Psychiatry, Jan., 2005).
Short of taking a winter-long vacation in Hawaii or some other sunny warm locale, there is no way to supply missing daylight. Psychiatrists have been debating the value of light therapy for years. Some think that it is impossible to replicate the benefits of sun exposure. Others have prescribed light boxes to provide artificial sunshine.
Can Light Therapy Counteract SAD?
One analysis of randomized controlled trials published in the American Journal of Psychiatry (April, 2005) found that bright light therapy could help reduce symptoms of depression about as well as antidepressant medications.
A double-blind controlled study conducted in Canada during the winter compared the antidepressant fluoxetine (Prozac) to light therapy. The authors found that the light treatment worked faster, was as effective as the antidepressant and produced fewer side effects than fluoxetine (American Journal of Psychiatry, May, 2006).
Do You Need a Light Box?
If you can’t start your day with an hour-long walk outside, you might consider a light box to provide up to 10,000 lux of light. Usually a half hour of treatment is adequate for about 50 percent of those who suffer from SAD. Some light box brands available include NatureBright, Carex Day-Light and Northern Light.
Supplement Use for Managing SAD:
Rhodiola Could Be Helpful:
Q. Some of your readers have asked about fatigue. I use Rhodiola rosea in the winter months, as I live in British Columbia where we have a long and dark winter. For me, long nights are a natural energy zapper. By the third month, I am longing for the sun to return. Rhodiola is an adaptogen and really helps.
I am very careful of what I consume, considering pros and cons before I ingest any pills. For many years, I have also taken vitamin D in the winter (but not in the summer months).
A. Rhodiola rosea is a plant that grows in arctic regions. Research suggests that it may improve exercise performance (British Journal of Nutrition, Aug. 29, 2023). Although scientists have published hundreds of studies of this plant or its constituents such as rosavin or salidroside, we could find very few clinical trials in human beings. One analysis of several trials found that Rhodiola may improve mood, especially when paired with physical activity (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, March 28, 2023).
Vitamin D Might Make a Difference:
Another potential contributor to SAD is a lack of vitamin D. During the winter, blood levels of this nutrient drop, especially in northern latitudes. Although high-quality research is scarce, one meta-analysis concluded that vitamin D supplementation at 800 IUs per day or more is comparable to antidepressant medications (Nutrients, April 11, 2014).
A systematic review of randomized controlled trials points out that several of these are not free of bias (Nutrients, Feb. 14, 2023). As a result, the authors are only cautiously in favor of vitamin D for treating depression, including seasonal affective disorder. On the other hand, we think that this supplement does not pose much risk and might be worth trying.
Learn More:
There is more information about depression, including SAD, in our Guide to Dealing with Depression. It includes a discussion of nondrug treatments as well as a comparison of many antidepressant medications.
Other non-drug strategies that may be useful against SAD include regular exercise or fish oil. A long time ago, grandmothers in northern countries used to dose children with cod liver oil. No one subjected to this treatment enjoyed it, but the combination of vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids in the fish oil seems to have had beneficial effects (Expert Opinion on Investigational Drugs, Dec., 2013).
