There are the winter blues and then there are the winter greys — you know, the days where you just don’t care about much other than trying to stay warm. The skies feel dark and foreboding and your mood seems to match them a little too well?
Christmas is over, New Years’ resolutions have gone up into the clouds that form the heavy cold atmosphere, and Valentine’s Day — well, we won’t go there.
While waiting for a doctor last winter I read an article in a parenting magazine that gave parents tips about helping their kids talk about “The Grey Guy” — a personification of a dark cloud sort of a mood that can affect us at any age.
When the grey guys come around, it’s so important that we don’t hand them the keys to anything. Part of emotional maturity is not allowing our moods to drive our days. We need to learn to cruise through our days driving with our wills instead of getting knocked off the road by feelings — either our own or other people’s crashing and clashing moods.
Feeling a little down is very common in the middle of winter. Sometimes this can be due to a condition with the acronym SAD: Seasonal Affective Disorder.
SAD has also been referred to as “winter depression,” as it is most common during the winter season.
It is believed that SAD is triggered by a reduced exposure to sunlight during the short winter daylight times.
A lack of sunlight can affect a part of the brain, the hypothalamus, which in turn affects the brain’s production of serotonin and melatonin. Serotonin is a hormone that affects mood, appetite and sleep. Melatonin is a hormone that causes a person to feel sleepy.
With less exposure to sunlight, the brain produces less serotonin and more melatonin. Also, since our bodies use sunlight to regulate when we wake up and feel sleepy, our sleep cycles can be affected.
Symptoms of SAD include: a persistent low mood, irritability, feeling lethargic or sleepy during the day, craving carbohydrates and the accompanying weight gain, a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed, difficulty concentrating, and feelings of despair, worthlessness or guilt.
Ways to cope with SAD are regular exercise, stress management, and getting as much natural sunlight as possible. Light therapy is also an option in which a person sits near a light box that mimics sunlight. These are available without a doctor’s prescription from a number of sources both online and in-store. In more serious cases, an anti-depressant may be prescribed.
Rest assured that if you feel a little blue or even grey these days, you are not alone and brighter days are ahead.
