Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)

Hi all, part of the reason I'm thinking of emigrating is that I suffer badly from seasonal affective disorder. The NHS sums it up pretty well for me (except for the weight gain bit):-

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Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that comes and goes in a seasonal pattern.

SAD is sometimes known as "winter depression" because the symptoms are more apparent and tend to be more severe during the winter.The symptoms often begin in the autumn as the days start getting shorter. They're typically most severe during December, January and February.

SAD often improves and disappears in the spring and summer, although it may return each autumn and winter in a repetitive pattern.Symptoms of SAD

Symptoms of SAD can include:

• a persistent low mood
• a loss of pleasure or interest in normal everyday activities
  
• irritability
  
• feelings of despair, guilt and worthlessness
  
• feeling lethargic (lacking in energy) and sleepy during the day
  
• sleeping for longer than normal and finding it hard to get up in the morning
  
• craving carbohydrates and gaining weight
  

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Does anyone have any experience of this, and did moving to a better climate help significantly? I'm not imagining it would be a magic bullet for all aspects of depression, but maybe it could be part of the solution.

Yes and yes. Certainly stopped me wanting to hibernate half the year!

Hi all, part of the reason I'm thinking of emigrating is that I suffer badly from seasonal affective disorder. The NHS sums it up pretty well for me (except for the weight gain bit):-

 

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Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that comes and goes in a seasonal pattern.

SAD is sometimes known as "winter depression" because the symptoms are more apparent and tend to be more severe during the winter.The symptoms often begin in the autumn as the days start getting shorter. They're typically most severe during December, January and February.

SAD often improves and disappears in the spring and summer, although it may return each autumn and winter in a repetitive pattern.Symptoms of SAD

Symptoms of SAD can include:

 

 

• a persistent low mood

• a loss of pleasure or interest in normal everyday activities

• irritability

• feelings of despair, guilt and worthlessness

• feeling lethargic (lacking in energy) and sleepy during the day

• sleeping for longer than normal and finding it hard to get up in the morning

• craving carbohydrates and gaining weight

 

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Does anyone have any experience of this, and did moving to a better climate help significantly? I'm not imagining it would be a magic bullet for all aspects of depression, but maybe it could be part of the solution.

some people in the UK use light boxes for SAD - might be worth looking into if you haven't already.

I work in MH and haven't come across anyone being diagnosed with SAD yet

I was diagnosed with Depression and SAD in the UK. I was on anti depressants when we emigrated. Since moving to Australia I ceased medication within 3 months and as a side increased my levels of exercise and shed 5 stones ( all this gorgeous weather really helps, stroppy dresses and shorts aren't very forgiving !) I do sometimes still get a bit miserable when we have rain for a few days but the mood and the weather doesn't last long and as soon as the sun is out I'm out there too. :cool:

Depression is very complex and cognitive factors have a large role to play too even in people with SAD. Those clinically diagnosed with SAD (as opposed to the millions who self diagnose because they are happier in the summer due to behavioural and cognitive factors) do benefit from light therapy but I would not say Australia is the best option except perhaps the more tropical areas. Personally one of the things that made me miserable in Perth & maybe contributed to depression was the short days, even in summer it was getting dark at 7pm. When you're commuting and not getting home until then you end up with little outdoor life all year round (& yes I know the Perth way is to get up at 5am but as a full time working mum that didn't work for me)

Treating SAD doesn't require sunshine, it requires day light so you need to be looking to live as close to the equator as is practical. Darwin or Norh Queensland would be better choices than Perth or Melbourne. And Spain would be a better choice than Tasmania. I am talking purely in terms of consistent all year round daylight.

Hi all, part of the reason I'm thinking of emigrating is that I suffer badly from seasonal affective disorder. The NHS sums it up pretty well for me (except for the weight gain bit):-

 

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Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that comes and goes in a seasonal pattern.

SAD is sometimes known as "winter depression" because the symptoms are more apparent and tend to be more severe during the winter.The symptoms often begin in the autumn as the days start getting shorter. They're typically most severe during December, January and February.

SAD often improves and disappears in the spring and summer, although it may return each autumn and winter in a repetitive pattern.Symptoms of SAD

Symptoms of SAD can include:

 

 

• a persistent low mood

• a loss of pleasure or interest in normal everyday activities

• irritability

• feelings of despair, guilt and worthlessness

• feeling lethargic (lacking in energy) and sleepy during the day

• sleeping for longer than normal and finding it hard to get up in the morning

• craving carbohydrates and gaining weight

 

---------------------------

 

Does anyone have any experience of this, and did moving to a better climate help significantly? I'm not imagining it would be a magic bullet for all aspects of depression, but maybe it could be part of the solution.

Yrs genuinely don't like winter ( wherever iam ) ..

The last few days in the u.k have been a godsend .

Iam a great advocate of hibernation in winter

Yrs genuinely don't like winter ( wherever iam ) ..

The last few days in the u.k have been a godsend .

Iam a great advocate of hibernation in winter

My wife loves winter .....bonkers

My wife loves winter .....bonkers[/quote I love the winter too. Hate the heat.

I

Thanks all for the advice. I do use a daylight lamp and anti-depressants, which help to control it, but they don't make it go away. I love the outdoors, nature, gardening etc... except for almost half the year I don't even feel like going outside most of the time. By the spring my garden that was beautiful in summer is all unkempt and neglected looking.

I'm a bit of a weather and climate nerd, so I looked into sunshine hours for Cape Town where I only remember suffering SAD slightly in the winter if there was a cold front that brought quite a few overcast and rainy days in a row, compared with some Australian cities.

Cape Town is sunnier for the year (3094 hours) than Melbourne (2363), Sydney (2636), Cairns (2718), Adelaide (2765), Brisbane (2968), Townsville (3080) or Darwin (3092) but not as sunny as Perth (3230).

Perhaps more importantly though might be the number of hours in the least sunny month, in which Cape Town (175, June) is sunnier than Melbourne (120, June), Adelaide (138, June), Darwin (162, Feb) or Cairns (174, Feb) but less sunny than Sydney (177, June), Perth (181, June), Brisbane (198, June) or Townsville (204, Feb)

At the end of the day they're all pretty similar compared with Bath, UK with 1493 hours for the year and just 38 h in Dec though!

And Spain would be a better choice than Tasmania. I am talking purely in terms of consistent all year round daylight.

Southern Spain marginally so. Barcelona = same latitude as Tasmania.

Thanks all for the advice. I do use a daylight lamp and anti-depressants, which help to control it, but they don't make it go away.

 

Have you had your Vitamin D3 levels tested? May be low...and needing a supplement, especially in the winter months.

S.A.D I recall as being exceptionally high in the Nordic world. Or is it better diagnosis? The sun certainly helps with well being. That doesn't mean hot, by any means, just not cold, grey and no sunlight. I'd fully agree with the need for sun to assist mental health in a lot of people. I'm unsure as to how freezing cold temperatures but blue skies may impact. Some may have a better idea than me, but do recall [people from such winter climates far preferring that sort of weather, than the London dank and greyness which led they claimed to feelings of discontent.

What I found really uplifting about Australian weather is the way, in the middle of Winter, you can get a bottler of a day- bright sun, blue skies and 20C heat. Absolutely marvellous and I still appreciate these days every Winter. We always get quite a few even down here in Melbourne

What I found really uplifting about Australian weather is the way, in the middle of Winter, you can get a bottler of a day- bright sun, blue skies and 20C heat. Absolutely marvellous and I still appreciate these days every Winter. We always get quite a few even down here in Melbourne

Thats the difference I reckon even in winter quite a few hours of really good bright sunlight. Even if you work in an office all day, even 20 minutes in your lunch hour us enough. Knowing sunshine is just around the corner whatever the time of year. I drove back from work tonight at 7pm and it was still light, just started to turn around 7.45 it was light this morning at 4.45, that's a lot of wall to wall sunshine.

Gosh if there was one thing I really could not get used to in Australia it was the lack of light! Dark by 7.30pm in summer and dark by time I was leaving work in winter too, not dark as early as in a UK winter but still dark by time I left office.

I did though love the milder winters and that is the reason I overall prefer the Australian climate. In winter it was cold when I was going to work but it would soon warm up to a comfortable level. My OH never wore a coat in Australia, I did in July and August only although in my last winter I found I didn't need to.

Gosh if there was one thing I really could not get used to in Sydney it was the lack of light! Dark by 7.30pm in summer and dark by time I was leaving work in winter too, not dark as early as in a UK winter but still dark by time I left office.

 

I did though love the milder winters and that is the reason I overall prefer the Australian climate. In winter it was cold when I was going to work but it would soon warm up to a comfortable level. My OH never wore a coat in Australia, I did in July and August only although in my last winter I found I didn't need to.

Fixed your comment for you. Plenty of light here in Adelaide in summer. Days not quite as long as in the UK but still light at 8:45pm at the moment.

OP my OH used to suffer from SAD in the UK but doesn't have a problem here in Adelaide. It's not so much to do with the number of sunshine hours in winter but rather the quailty, or strength, of the daylight during the day. The sun is much higher in the sky here in winter than the UK so it's much brighter, even if it's cloudy. This makes a huge difference to how my OH feels.

Gosh if there was one thing I really could not get used to in Australia it was the lack of light! Dark by 7.30pm in summer ......

I think your memory is failing you, as it's not dark in Sydney by 7.30pm in summer.

It's summer now, sunset tonight is around 8pm but it's not dark till 8.30pm. It will stay that way till early February. :-)

http://sunrisesunset.willyweather.com.au/nsw/sydney/sydney.html

Lucky are the states that have daylight savings then!! Not like here in Perth!!

Lucky are the states that have daylight savings then!! Not like here in Perth!!

Still light enough here at 9 pm to go for a walk away from street lighting.

I remember when we lived in Tassie ( North West coast) we saw these lovely flickering lights sometimes at night- purples, blues, greens- thought it might be the Southern lights but didn't realise you could see them from Tassie. It was gorgeous, a real spectacle.

Does anyone have any experience of this, and did moving to a better climate help significantly?

I suffered from it really badly this past 2016 winter in Sydney.

Gosh it was a really cold winter. Well obviously nowhere near as bad as a UK winter. But still cold nevertheless.

Never had it before. Seems my Vitamin D levels are deficient. Doctor reckons that why I got so depressed this year. Now supplementing with Vitamin D and taking St Johns Wort, and feel 1000 times better. So maybe get your Vitamin D levels checked. And supplement if low. Cheaper than emigrating :wink: