HOUSTON – If you’ve been feeling unusually unmotivated lately and you’re not sure why, it might be something in the air. Don’t worry, you’re not crazy and you’re certainly not alone.
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Millions of people are estimated to have seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. People with SAD typically in the fall seasons and ease in the spring or summer. Texas experts like Dr. Jay Barnett say daylight savings also plays a part.
“When the time falls back, we know that there is less sunlight and then it began to get darker earlier,” he explained. “So we see a lot of these mood changes that goes from, you know, having these feelings of kind of happiness and the lightness that you see when we have more daylight. But those things begin to shift when the climate change and also its mood going into the holidays.”
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As the name suggests, seasonal depression is more environmentally-based as opposed to clinically diagnosed depression. And it’s happening more commonly in Texas than what was once thought.
“Seasonal depression is just something that can just simply happen because there’s such a change environmental, there’s such a change of and just in the climate around you,” Dr. Barnett said. “We used to think that this was typically for individuals who live in the East Coast or cities that had less sunlight.”
Houston native, Rey, is someone who has struggled with seasonal depression for years. In addition to the environmental changes to adapt to, the holidays (in general) are a difficult time for him after a major fallout with his family nearly 10 years ago.
“I didn’t even think or didn’t even know if something like this happened to people in general, to be perfectly honest with you,” he said. “I didn’t have any emotions like this -- growing up or feelings of immense negativity towards the holidays like this.”
“I had a a very positive upbringing in my childhood,” Rey added. “But after the fallout with my immediate family, that’s when I knew that things were just going to be different. I didn’t quite know how or to what extent that entailed, but it all unfolded over time.”
While Rey does not have clinical depression, SAD still demonstrates how in conjunction with the environmental changes, Dr. Barnett noted how this can all make for an emotionally draining combination.
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Simultaneously, SAD is not something one can be diagnosed with; it just happens, but there are ways people can recognize the signs.
“The symptoms are ‘I tend to be eating more;’ ‘I don’t have the energy to engage;’ ‘I don’t have the social sort of energy My battery’s dying a lot quicker than what it normally is in the summer and in the spring months;’ because when there’s more sunlight, studies have shown there are more individuals who are more prone to be more active, we’re outside more, and then also, there’s a huge level of drop in vitamin D deficiency because of the lack of sunlight,” he explained. “So when you begin to retreat and you’re sitting in a dark room and not having a lot of vitamin D, and then if you are deficient in your vitamins, that can exacerbate any seasonal depression to where you just begin to feel sad and doesn’t mean that something has happened, but you just sad because of the actual season that we’re in.”
For that reason, Rey, who is often known by his friends to be a happy-go-lucky individual, it catches them off guard when he is down in the dumps.
“I try to be that one person who flips the the mood around, so to speak, and give them a good laugh,” he noted. “I always say ‘If you didn’t at least have a good chuckle at some point in your day, it’s OK, tomorrow there’s always another opportunity’, so people are a bit taken back because they’re like, ‘You’re always the most positive person I know.’”
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So what is the antidote to all this anxiety? Action. And that can look like anything but for people like Rey, it involves affirmations.
“The weather does play a significant role on your mood, especially when you’re going through the storm, so to speak,” he explained. “It took a while for me to, you know, be able to find that courage, to be able to just, ‘Hey, the weather is dark and cold, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I have to mirror the same mood that the weather may be exhibiting.”
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From a health expert’s perspective, Dr. Barnett says just capturing as much sunlight and spending time outside when possible, can work wonders. The important thing is to just remain active and busy.
“Find a system and find a routine that fits your lifestyle, whether you work overnight, whether you work during the day, find some way to kind of get some sunlight and whether that’s through a sun lamp or whether that’s through natural light or find a way to increase your vitamin D levels to balance out your hormonal levels when you’re going through this process,” he said. “I really encourage everyone to take care of themselves during the holidays.”
The saying goes, “It’s the most wonderful time of year,” but that might not always be the case for everyone, so Dr. Barnett and Rey, respectively, wanted people to just spread kindness and positivity, because you just don’t know what people are going through.
“Be happy and be nice to everyone,” Dr. Barnett concluded. “When I say be happy, I’m not just talking about just smiling, but understand that the holidays is not a holly jolly season for everyone. I think we also have that misconception because this season of depression is not just relegated to individuals that are responding to the lack of sunlight, but there are some individuals that don’t like the holiday season because of childhood or they are mourning a loss of someone...so if we can all just kind of understand that the human experience is determined by how we show up for ourselves, which will impact how we show up with others.”
Lastly, if you’re just not feeling it, don’t keep it to yourself. Again, you’re not crazy and you’re certainly not alone, so don’t feel like you can’t talk about it with someone.
“Don’t feel ashamed,” Rey explained. “Seek the help that you need before the symptoms get worse or the actual depression does lead into more of a critical circumstance...so do seek the guidance, do seek help. It is okay to talk about your feelings.”
