A Source of en-LIGHT-enment

Summer Sad and Heat: Interesting Commentary

This is from a blog I've read off and on for years.  I find it interesting that people can have such a diversity of reactions to summer.  I guess it's not all that surprising.  I definitely don't have summer SAD.  I think the most common theme I"ve seen in people hating summer comes along with the heat and humidity.

Also, I think I  have "summer depression" (i.e. Seasonal Affective Disorder which hits in the summer). Apart from the "haw haw, too sunny for you" attitudes in some comments, I was struck by how some people described my reactions to summer so well -- I hate the heat, particularly the humidity (I can't sleep when it's hot; I feel lethargic, suffocated, apathetic, nearly sick. I'm a night owl and always have been and always perk up around 10-11 PM, but that's especially true in the summer, when there are night breezes and stars and clouds. I love fall and spring -- winter's okay, although February usually kicks my ass. The grey drizzly wet cloudy weather so many people in Seattle complain about (Jesus, move to Phoenix, ) I find invigorating, even energizing.

...

So yeah, the idea of sitting in front of a light box? I don't think so. (I grew up in a  light box. I hated it. I love overcast skies, clouds, rain, thunderstorms, water, breezes, coolness. The local weather forecasters on the evening news and a bunch of people I know here have all been unceasingly whingeing about how the weather "sucks" now after a few days of near-miserable heat. GOD. MOVE TO MIAMI. These idiots all remind me of the jerks on Ray Bradbury's Venus longing for their goddamned Sun Domes.)

Summer SAD in LA: That's My Polar Opposite

Saskia Smith is a 30-year old in LA.  Like me, she suffers from SAD.  However here's our biggest difference.  She's starting to feel down, just as I'm about to hit my high point for the year.  She lives in LA land of eternal sunshine and warm temperatures.  Just the kind of weather I'd kill for in mid-December.  I'm in Seattle, and we're just hitting 15 hours, 32 minutes of daylight here.  This is perfect as far as I'm concerned. 

Saskia is originally from Seattle and didn't start to feel affected until she moved to LA 3 years ago with her husband.  She is starting a website devoted to SAD, a forum, links and more.  Good luck to her in her new project!http://www.seasonalsad.com/

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-sadsummer28may28,1,6223923.story?coll=la-headlines-health

Are There Really So Few Resources for Summer SAD?

I've noticed a bit of a spike in my blog hits in the last few weeks.  Somehow I am listed as one of the top resources for Summer SAD via Google.  I find this hard to believe, because this blog definitely has not had a foucs on Summer SAD!  There has been a bit of a dialogue going on one of my posts for a bit now, but I'm going to try to devote a portion of this blog to Summer SAD as there doesn't seem to be a central resource that I can locate for this out there!  If anyone has info they'd like linked to, or wants to pass this around, I'd love to see the resources grow.

In the mean time, here's an excerpt from a post from a Summer SAD sufferer:

Tonight I didn't realize until 10:45pm that I hadn't eaten dinner yet. Granted, I've eaten dinner later than that before, but that's usually because of work or some other obligation, or my taking too long to cook dinner. This time it's because my appetite disappeared some time yesterday, so I completely forgot that I hadn't eaten anything.

This loss of appetite seems to happen to me every summer and in response to stressful situations. (It also happens when I'm sick. Right now all three - summer, stress, and sick - apply.)

It isn't too bad yet - I can still make myself eat something, although not much more than a piece of fruit or a cup of yogurt in the place of a meal. I remember last year one time when I lost my appetite, and eating half a piece of dried mango was all I could handle in a day.

The rest of this is at: http://impropaganda.blogspot.com/2006/06/summer-sad.html

Need Some Darkness? Try Light Blocking Glasses

Changing time zones or sleeping when your body is getting external clues that it should be awake is hard. 

Our body clock responds to a variety of 'cues' in our environment, the strongest of which is light. A pulse of sufficiently bright light at the appropriate time will move (or 'phase shift') our body clock forward ('phase advance') or back ('phase delay'). Phase shifting requires both a 'seek light' phase, and an 'avoid light' phase.

I know that I have a hard time staying asleep if I take a nap during the day since my body clock has become more regulated.  I'll often shove my head under an extra pillow to block the light.  That works fine when it isn't the middle of summer and I'm not overheating.  I end up sleeping four or five hours some nights which I can't do for more than about a day, so I nap. 

Most people would want to block light if they are trying to fall asleep earlier by triggering the melatonin release that is natural for your body at night. While these glasses might not be  made for sleeping, it might be helpful if you're headed east a couple time zones for a business meeting or something and need to fall asleep before 3 am local time for an 8 am presentation where you've got to be on your toes!

Summer SAD/SAD: Ask the Doctor

With summer just starting, some individuals may be wondering if they suffer from summer SAD, a summer counterpart to winter induced depression.  There seems to be little research on the subject so far, and it is estimated to be only 1/10as frequent as winter SAD  which affects up to 5% of the population.  Columbia University has an ongoing series called "Ask the Doctor".  Some of these questions are from individuals who have summer SAD.  Especially useful may be questions 2327, 1797, 1120.

Links: http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/nyspi/sad/index.html and http://chaos.cpmc.columbia.edu/nyspi/askthedr/for_Pt/question4.asp?Departments=sad

Summer SAD?

Another thing I've heard of but don't know as much about is called Summer SAD.  It tends to be that you get more depressed and have more seasonal depression in the summer with relief coming in the fall and winter.  Theories about the cause are currently focusing on heat and humidity as the source of irritation, and not so much on the amount or length of light available. Unfortunately, I can't find much more than mentions of it in most articles on the web. 

Light Therapy might help and I always think its a great idea to try it.  Logically, don't look directly into the sun or any other really really bright source of light because you may damage your eyes.  (Light boxes made especially for light therapy will not hurt your eyes).  There is a bit of a discussion going on about this at Fitness-Buddies.com

Summer SAD May Be Affected by Ethnicity/Regional Adaptiveness

Summer SAD is a summer-based depression similar to winter SAD, but aggravated by heat, as opposed to daylight. Symptoms recede in the fall. The American Psychiatric Association was part of a study that looked at prevalence of seasonal depression across latitudes and ethnicities. Many of the findings were not what researchers expected. A group of African-American college students living in the DC area experienced similar rates of SAD as other individuals living at similar latitudes in the US, with 1-4% being diagnosed with SAD and approximately 20% having some symptoms. They were compared with a group of students from Africa enrolled at the same colleges. Expectation was that the African individuals would experience a lower incidence of summer SAD from being more accustomed to heat and a higher incidence of winter SAD due to the shorter winter daylight hours. Rates of Winter SAD were similar between the two groups and the African individuals actually reported a greater incidence of summer SAD. The hypothesis were based on the fact that more of the population experiences winter SAD at northern latitudes, but yet the adaptations of the Finns and Lapps actually have some of the smallest percentages of the population affected by SAD. Regional native adaptation seems to play some part in this which is why there was quite a bit of surprise over the findings between Africans and African-Americans in the DC area. http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/39/14/31?maxtoshow=&HITS=20&hits=20&RESULTFORMAT=&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=0&tocsectionid=Clinical