[HN Gopher] Winter Is Here: Slowing Down to Fight SAD
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Winter Is Here: Slowing Down to Fight SAD
Author : nickybearblog
Score : 37 points
Date : 2022-12-04 15:25 UTC (7 hours ago)
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| psychphysic wrote:
| It's worth noting (or maybe it isn't) that there there is scant
| evidence for SAD.
|
| The confirmation bias is strong here maybe in me and others, the
| solutions are all dripping in snake oil.
|
| It's really quite bizarre but amount of cold and darkness doesn't
| correlate well with low mood. Frankly I've not seen anyways
| provide an reasonable explanation for it.
| b3morales wrote:
| People self-report feeling "down" in various ways in the winter
| months. The experience is happening to them regardless of
| whether we know the causes or solutions. Perhaps there are in
| fact many different things that are manifesting in similar
| ways. Dismissing the experiential phenomenon doesn't get us any
| closer to figuring that out.
| psychphysic wrote:
| Yes this is the biggest misconception about depression.
|
| The idea that it is synonymous with feeling "down" and more
| or less depression is just how "down" you feel.
|
| Depression is much more than just that feeling. And not all
| unpleasant feelings are pathological.
|
| So the question becomes, why is it in modern times people no
| long feel able to say "I feel down" or "I don't like winter".
| Instead they need to wrap it in a medical term that appears
| unsupported by evidence.
| Yoric wrote:
| I don't know about confirmation bias but I've realized as a kid
| that November and February has always been bad for me. I
| _think_ that was way before I heard of SAD, although I could of
| course have internalized something I had heard and forgotten
| the details.
|
| Anyway, given that placebos work very well on mood, I'm happy
| to read about possible solutions (as long as they're not
| harmful) even if they would have no observable effect in a
| double-blind :)
| psychphysic wrote:
| It might not be confirmation bias. Only that there is a
| natural variability in human behaviour linked to seasons.
|
| Just like every other living organism from lichen to bears.
|
| But humans do not like to admit they are not masters of their
| domain (genuinely not a Seinfeld reference).
|
| The question, however, is the use of "disorder" and the
| evidence this far is lacking.
| go_elmo wrote:
| Days being ~8h long makes getting enough sun harder - not
| impossible!
|
| Trying to get 1h outside / day does it for me - usually using the
| commute for it, running or cycling to work.
|
| Dont forget, we were optimized for millions of years for spending
| our time outside. Dont run fully outside your specifications
| people ;)
| xboxnolifes wrote:
| Definitely is impossible for some parts of the world/schedules.
| 8 hours can be completely overlapped by a shift. One job I had
| I never saw sunlight during the week in winter.
| minhmeoke wrote:
| One fairly easy way to reduce Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
| is to expose yourself to 30 to 45 minutes of sunlight early in
| the morning by taking a walk outside within an hour after you
| wake up; this has multiple other health benefits:
|
| - https://selecthealth.org/blog/2020/07/7-health-benefits-of-s...
|
| Getting a lot of sunlight in the morning is also a good way to
| reduce jetlag by resetting your circadian rhythm to be in sync
| with your new time zone.
|
| If you live in a climate where you do not have access to
| sufficient sunlight, one possible alternative is to buy an LED
| corn bulb (don't use it too late at night, otherwise you won't be
| able to fall asleep):
|
| - https://blog.plover.com/tech/corn-bulbs.html
|
| - https://meaningness.com/sad-light-lumens
|
| - https://www.benkuhn.net/lux/
|
| You can buy these fairly inexpensively from retailers like
| AliExpress if you are ok with waiting a month for shipping from
| China: https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=corn+bulb
|
| If you live in North America, Japan, Korea, or Taiwan (120V AC),
| you want an E26 socket lamp, otherwise for 240V AC grids, you
| should consider E27 socket lamps.
| actinium226 wrote:
| Just wanna say thanks for posting this. I relate tremendously.
| The poem is also nice. I'd say I'm in act III. I know this
| happens to me in winter, and I've taken strategies to mitigate
| it, including a light therapy pad (this really helped) as well as
| medication. Even so, I do need to slow down and to live with
| that. But again, thanks for posting, it helps to know that it's
| not just me :)
| strontian wrote:
| 30 minute walks at dawn cured my moderate-severe SAD.
| deathtrader666 wrote:
| But what if there's no sun? Like winters in the UK?
| milkshakes wrote:
| > My perfectionism isn't just about doing things perfect. It's an
| exceptionalism approach: I can do better, and the normal rules
| and limitations that apply to humans do not apply to me.
|
| > The real issue is that if I can't hit some pre-conceived level
| of commitment and results that my perfectionism convinces me that
| I can hit, I don't put the effort it.
|
| > The instant gratification serves another purpose though. It
| prevents me from slowing down.
|
| Fighting this is key.
|
| Even completely euthymic, this is still a battle, perhaps THE
| battle I would pick.
| boulos wrote:
| > My perfectionism isn't just about doing things perfect.
|
| In case this wasn't meant to be a tongue-in-cheek statement:
| perfectly.
| kibwen wrote:
| I assume HN has automatically turned the "SAD" in the title to
| "Sad", which is incorrect, as it's an acronym for Seasonal
| Affective Disorder.
| nickybearblog wrote:
| Yeah, looks like it. Is there a way around that for the future?
| DoreenMichele wrote:
| Do you have an _edit_ button? You may be able to correct it.
| nickybearblog wrote:
| Apparently yes. Sorry, it's 4pm my time and spent most of
| my day with my best friends and their two year old, who is
| adorable, but _loud_. Brain fog is real.
| pvaldes wrote:
| Yep. Avoid unnecessary acronyms in titles will solve the
| problem. Specially with the less known ones. Is just a few
| characters more.
| blamazon wrote:
| My personal recommendation is to just expand such acronyms,
| for folks who don't recognize it.
| whalesalad wrote:
| Important to remember that virtually all mammals slow down /
| hibernate in the winter. Don't beat yourself up too hard.
| paulbaumgart wrote:
| I came across this a while back, and it seems like it might be
| worth a try:
|
| "LED lighting is improving rapidly. You can install very bright
| lights for treating seasonal affective disorder (SAD) easily and
| inexpensively. Common sense says that will be more effective than
| commercial SAD lights that are much less bright. My experience
| confirms this."
|
| https://meaningness.com/sad-light-led-lux
| quijoteuniv wrote:
| I have big LED panels in the basement, some behind curtains.
| This is my favourite room in the long dark winter. That and
| vitamin D helps. But is necessary to slow down a bit anyway
| pvaldes wrote:
| To be honest, I was reading the title with Trumps voice in my
| mind.
| luxuryballs wrote:
| CTRL+F "vitamin"... don't forget your vitamin D supplements
| folks!
| nickybearblog wrote:
| YMMV but I've had limited benefits from taking vitamin D over
| winter personally, at least from a mental health perspective.
| Slowing down and trying to reduce the self-induced mental
| pressure addresses the cause for me.
| xedrac wrote:
| > trying to reduce the self-induced mental pressure
|
| That's like trying to stop breathing for me. Getting out and
| exercising when I least feel like it is the only thing that
| has helped me. But clearing that hurdle isn't always easy.
| mikro2nd wrote:
| Summer is HERE. Dancing in the sunshine, me!
| nickybearblog wrote:
| Can't blame you there! I'd settle for spring personally, hoping
| to avoid any 40 degrees Celsius weather next year.
| raintrees wrote:
| For me, powering up my vitamin D3 consumption eliminated most of
| the symptoms of SAD. I now cruise around 4000 IUs per day or so.
| Based on my reading, taking too much results in a return of the
| symptoms, and I have not reached that level, and feel no need to
| go higher.
|
| Everyone has their own, unique body, best to be cautious and
| aware, if one experiments. Keep a journal or check in with a
| close confidant. This is generally less expensive in time and
| money than seeing my general practitioner.
|
| Also, I live in the PNW of the United States, so those are the
| amounts of sunshine I work with.
| neuronsong wrote:
| This is exactly what I do as well. I am in midwest (UT and CO).
| 4000 IU per day keeps SAD away. Do the research to find out
| what works for you. I tried tanning but that was too much of a
| pain and really bad for the skin. Being outside worked as well.
| However, I am inside a ton. Vitamin D3 supplements fit the
| bill.
| poulsbohemian wrote:
| Something that I think gets overlooked in term of mental health
| this time of year is the ways in which the changing season
| affects economics. I fully admit - I have zero data to share here
| to back up my point, and I hope someone out there has studied
| this - but it seems to me that:
|
| -- There's a lot of seasonal work that depends on good weather:
| ag, construction, even real estate. Work slows or is physically
| harder in the cold and poor weather conditions, creating
| hardships.
|
| -- There's tremendous social pressure to spend money, not only on
| xmas gifts, but also on charitable giving. There are a lot of
| different kinds of emotions people go through either because they
| can't afford to give or to spend and/or because they go
| overboard.
|
| -- Because of the above issues, many people are trying to stretch
| their dollars this time of year. IE: got paid out for work they
| did through summer and fall, but now at a time everyone wants
| their dollars, they are trying to stretch them until the next
| round of work starts up after the new year (or even in the
| spring...)
|
| -- With all of the various holidays this time of year, there are
| a lot of family and social demands on people. You might have to
| see that family member you don't like - twice even between
| Thanksgiving and the December holidays. Creates a lot of
| emotional turmoil and/ or time commitments that people don't have
| or don't prefer to have.
|
| -- If you've been hard at work all year, there is a natural
| exhaustion that seems to come this time of year regardless.
|
| I guess what I'm saying is... yeah, get those SAD lights, take
| your vitamin D, but also be aware that for many people there's a
| lot more going on than just not enough sunlight.
| daniel-cussen wrote:
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(page generated 2022-12-04 23:01 UTC)