SAD

grapefruitpip.
Same here re Christmas.

The day with grandchildren is great, but I find the rest the hype quite depressing.

I do try to be upbeat, but just end up feeling that this time of year is a bit like groundhog day.

We (imho) in the northern hemisphere have drawn the short straw.
I picture sitting on a nice beach with some lovely prawns on the barbecue, watching Santa in his surf shorts handing out the children's presents.

Yes that’s right Gabriella - people who suffer from SAD have come onto a thread about SAD. It’s how GN tends to work - people start threads about things that affect them and others with similar experiences share their stories on said threads. HTH.

If you love all the seasons why do you feel the need to contribute and mock people who suffer from this genuine condition?

No that's sad.

Some really great and sensible tips here, thanks to other posters.

I love all seasons as there is so much variety.
A great many SAD people on GN.

More light in your home is probably really the only thing that helps.

Perhaps you could take up a new hobby to combat the long dark evenings?

I am the other away around, I adore the autumn and winter up to Christmas and hate the spring, which I try to get through as best I can. I find it helps not to think too much about the season we find depressing.

This is one of the reasons I struggle with Christmas....but perhaps better not to start WW3 by opening that up for discussion.

Understand how you are all feeling.
Another SAD suffer here.

I am my own worst enemy, Yesterday spent over three hours in the garden and my anxiety was managable.

Today have been indoors and my anxiety is on overload.

Months of September and October are completely spoiled for me, as I am on count down to the clocks changing.

November and December, I will be counting down the days until shortest day and then it will be back to watching the street light across the road and checking the time it comes on!
Madness I know!!

Due to meds I can no longer take St John's Wort.
But tomorrow I will be picking up my Vit D tablets from chemist.

How I wish we humans went into Hibernation from now until the beginning of spring.

I'm sure the southern equator countries could keep things ticking over.

Ps I am now lucky enough to have a small conservatory, which I believe actually saved my sanity last year, as I was able to sit and read etc without having to turn on artificial light.
Our sitting room becomes quite dark in the afternoon during the winter months.

I take Vitamin D all year round (Drs orders) and I'm wondering about increasing the dose during the winter. I'm definitely going to look into getting a light box this year.

I dread winter and hate it with an absolute passion. I've found my SAD lamp seems to help and try to get out for a walk during my lunch break (not easy to do where I work unfortunately). My commute in winter becomes a living nightmare along an unlit busy A road through moorland, which becomes far worse when it snows, so I live for the longer days.

I dread the coming months we live in Sweden and for many months its dark at 3 pm and doesnt get light until 9 am, and we are lucky we dont live in the North of the country where the sun doesnt get over the horison for months! I just try to think of spring not the coming Winter the only way to survive here!!

yes get yourself a SAD lamp.make sure you get out and about in the day keep busy...evenings are so short...morning i am the same .whats the point of getting up. but up i get /shower/wake my self up/ do chores/put your fav music on. dance while vacuming(EXERCISE). stop for 11am coffee and snack../ lunch/.....afternnoons. well i volunteer for charity shop 1-5pm.then its the evening... tea. then catch up on letters/christmas cards you could write out. or watch tv if you have one(i dont)....catch up on your mobile do this in evening not glued to it during the day. bed time. make the most of the days. go for a woodland walk .plenty of rambles everywhere..

I don't mind darker evenings as long as i don't have to venture very far. Nothing nicer than curing up in the afternoon when its grey and wet outside, heating, lamps and fire on (electric with glow red bulbs)and a good book, knitting or tv program. I don't have to feel guilty that i'm not working in the garden, as in finer weather i feel that i have to be doing something outside even when i feel shattered.

I also have a lamp on the landing at the top of the stairs which is on from about 4pm and sometimes all night if I am feeling anxious, but the best thing is to make the most of the daylight. Try to meet someone for coffee or lunch as often as possible, and/or go to afternoon cinema, or a daily walk unless it is pouring with rain - even catch a bus somewhere just to get out.
Winter is also a good time for old fashioned home made soups and stews, I find them very comforting. Also if you don’t have a real fire, get a good electric flame effect one, if you can afford it. (I got a small one for £70 from a catalogue which is very realistic but it makes a humming noise). I also have a salt lamp that gives a cosy glow, for when I am not using the daylight lamp.

Gosh, how I loathe the darkening months - roll on 21st December I say, that's when I turn a psychological corner and the lengthening days transform my view of everything in life!

I have a daylight lamp - a proper one, not just white light. I find it fantastic for lifting the spirits and it is a great light to work by - sewing, reading etc

I feel anxious that my MH will go down further. That is my anxiety.

I just have to try to overcome this somehow.

Well at the risk of some terrible pun - we must try to make light of it! Seriously as we do live in these northern places - turn the lights on, get a www.sad.co.uk/SAD-Solutions-BLUElight-SAD-Light/6139sdmp.htm?colour=Blue+Light&sku=54705&productid=14438&gclid=Cj0KCQjwrrXtBRCKARIsAMbU6bGx3hqqyc9Lb4w_GejAZmBQp_TbcwRWBVhEreTN7Hrhtl-fU-nXshkaAt1hEALw_wcB or similar, get daylight, take vitamin d. And be as busy a possible. They do say 'all things pass'. What about a sunny break (Canaries?) in January...

Dark by five pm still dark at seven am never bothered me until DH passed away.Now dread them & would, if it were possible, hibernate.

I also suffer from SAD and dread the winter! I was thinking of getting a light box so it’s interesting to read that it has helped others

I've started SAD earlier than usual this autumn, so my son bought me a large pack of vitamin D with instructions to take them every day. So I am hoping they help.

As soon as I wake in the mornings feeling really sad I know I have to start taking Vitamin D tablets for the next few winter months. That certainly helped last year and other years I’ve used a light box.

I really hate having to drive anywhere in the dark. My dh can't drive at the moment so if he has hospital appointments I have to drive him and I really dread the nights pulling in and getting dark by 5.30pm. I don't have to get up early to go out in dark mornings thankfully. I am in process of buying a couple of sets of under layers though to make sure my stiff shoulder and back keeps warm.

PS When you say you feel very anxious - is that about going out (that you feel less safe in the dark) or is it all the time (even when you're indoors) ?

SAD light (I got mine from Lumie) and Vitamin D from Autumn to Spring. I find I'm better if I "go with the flow" - i.e. go to bed earlier and get up later (during mid winter I often sleep for 9-10 hours) and see it as a time of semi-hibernation, rather than fighting to maintain the same level of activity as in Spring and Summer. Make sure you get some daylight every day (as others have said). In the middle of winter, I often walk down to the postbox (if I've nothing-else on) to give myself some daylight, and when it's icy I've been known to just potter in my garden in the middle of winter swaddled in coat, gloves, scarf, hat, etc !

I actually like the darker evenings (don't care about mornings as I don't surface till 9-ish!) Have always preferred autumn to spring.

Try and look at it more positively, the leaves turn pretty colours, for instance, streets not jammed with half dressed teens. Other than the hell of Halloween and Bonfire Night, it's nice to settle in in front of rubbish telly!