Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) Tips: Help for SAD

Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

• Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) Tips: Help for SAD
• A Family Full of Addicts - Facebook Live
• Ways to Cope with Anxiety During COVID-19
• From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs
• Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans
• Positivity Quotes for Life with Mental Illness

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) Tips: Help for SAD

Autumn is deepening, and for many that means the return of seasonal affective disorder (SAD). SAD is a mood disorder that can be triggered by the lower light of autumn and winter. It can cause depression symptoms like low or persistently sad mood, fatigue, loss of interest in doing anything, weight changes, and a change in sleeping patterns.

You don’t have to resign yourself to another winter of depression. Use these tips to boost your mood and overall mental health:

• Use a light box daily. Light boxes can maintain your natural circadian rhythm and affect hormone activity to keep your mood, energy, appetite, and sleep at your typical levels. While considered safe for many, they’re not recommended for people with certain medical and mental health conditions. Check with your doctor before starting a lightbox routine.
• Begin or increase a meditation practice. Meditation has been shown in studies to help with depression (NICCH, 2016).
• Create a list of healthy meals and stock up on easy, nutritious staples like rice, beans, and frozen vegetables and fruit. SAD can make it hard to deal with meals and eating, and being prepared can help.
• Develop a list of activities like yoga, puzzles, and reading to make it easier to do things when SAD zaps your motivation.

Seasonal affective disorder creates changes in your brain and body. These tips for dealing with SAD can help put you in charge of your biology so you can minimize SAD this year.

Source:

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NICCH). (2016, April). Meditation: In depth. National Institutes of Health (NIH). Retrieved from https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation-in-depth

Related Articles Dealing with Seasonal Affective Disorder, Depression

• Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) Symptoms — Who’s at Risk?
• Seasonal Depression Remedies to Try This Year
• How to Beat the Winter Blues
• Ways to Prepare for Winter Depression
• SAD Light: Seasonal Depression Light Therapy for SAD
• How Light Therapy Can Help Your SAD (video)
• Diet and Depression: Is Your Diet Causing Depression?
• List of Best Foods for Fighting Depression

Your Thoughts

Today's Question: If you have experienced seasonal affective disorder (SAD), what are your go-to tips to help your symptoms? We invite you to participate by sharing your thoughts, knowledge, and experiences on the HealthyPlace Facebook page.

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A Family Full of Addicts - Facebook Live

"Drug use has destroyed our lives." Sean, his wife, and their extended family members - they're all addicts. Now he's worried about what that may mean for his two children.

In this Facebook Live video, we talk to Sean about how the cycle of addiction from generation-to-generation has affected his family. Then, we bring on therapist Jason Lynch, MS, LMHCA, LCACA, ADS, CCTP to speak more on that topic.

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From HealthyPlace YouTube Channel

Ways to Cope with Anxiety During COVID-19

With a resurgence of COVID-19, anxiety is a real problem for many people. HealthyPlace anxiety blogger, Rizzo Bermio-Gonzales, shares some ways to cope with anxiety during COVID-19 that may help you. Take a look and then check out the Treating Anxiety blog for more helpful insights into anxiety and panic.

Subscribe to the HealthyPlace YouTube channel

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From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

On all our blogs, your comments and observations are welcomed. This month is National Suicide Prevention Month. See what our bloggers are talking about.

• The Link Between Depression and Imposter Syndrome
• Self-Care for Anxiety? But That Causes More Anxiety
• Helping a Self-Harming Friend Open Up
• A Virtual Walk to Fight Schizoaffective Disorder
• My First Days After Inpatient Psychiatric Care
• Codependency and Self-Worth
• Creating a Comfortable Work Environment with Bipolar
• Self-Harm and Isolation: Surviving the Pandemic on Your Own
• Reshaping Recovery to Combat Mental Health Stigma
• Feeling Helpless Because of Bipolar
• Learning to Love My Inner Child in Eating Disorder Recovery
• 'ADHD Superpowers': The Benefits of ADHD
• How Pandemic Fatigue Makes Mental Health Recovery Harder
• The Pros and Cons of a BPD Diagnosis
• Talking to Kids About Mental Illness

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

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Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans

Here are the top 3 mental health articles HealthyPlace Facebook fans are recommending you read:

1. Do Less, Not More, To Build Self-Esteem
2. Coping with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
3. My Favorite App for Virtual Support? Wisdo

If you're not already, I hope you'll join us/like us on Facebook too. There are a lot of wonderful, supportive people there.

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Positivity Quotes for Life with Mental Illness

Positive life quotes remind us that no matter how difficult it is, that “Healing is absolutely possible. Don't underestimate the power of positivity.

Read more positivity quotes here.

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That's it for now. If you know of anyone who can benefit from this newsletter or the HealthyPlace.com site, I hope you'll pass this onto them. You can also share the newsletter on any social network you belong to by clicking the links below. For updates throughout the week, follow HealthyPlace on Twitter or become a fan of HealthyPlace on Facebook. Also, check out HealthyPlace on Instagram and YouTube.

back to: HealthyPlace.com Mental-Health Newsletter Index