Are You Sad?

Not 'sad', but SAD.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is just the winter blues. I never really believed that something like a sudden weather change should effect people but obviously I am wrong. When suffering from SAD, most people get short tempered, have no motivation, very low energy levels and mild depression. Jeezy creezy. One in twenty people suffer from the 'illness' and women are three times more likely to feel the effects of SAD during the next few months.

The internet has given me some tips to beat the winter blues!

Exercise!
Ofcourse, exercise is the cure for everything these days. Personally, I'm doung pretty well without it. The walk to the train station is enough for me. Alas, all the doctors and such think otherwise. It has been proven that exercise can combat depression better than antidepressants. Mind boggling stuff, isn't it? All them endorphins you get when you exercise make you happy!

Healthy Eating.
These tips are just a big list of things I don't do and never will, if the next one is rubbish, I give up! So, 5 a day and all that, I see. Aha, I see what I've been doing wrong; "The one thing you must not do is give in to comfort cravings, so step away from the carbohydrates and trans fats!" But there will never be a day when I'm sat in my bed, feeling miserable and sorry for myself, and think to myself, "Ah, I know what I need right now, an apple."... Yeah, right. Oily fish? Hell no, I've never ate a fish in my life, that'll only make me feel worse. Fruit? Maybe, a a push. Vegetables? No, just no. Nuts and seeds? Um... moving on.

Avoid Illness.
I have a pretty crappy immune system as it is. When I'm feeling lousy, I'm probably more likely to catch a cold. "Echinacea is brilliant at keeping out cold and flu, so take a course of this for a couple of weeks and you should stay bright as a button." I don't even know what that is... but now that I do, I'll keep that in mind.

Beat SAD.
This one isn't very clear, it just explains what SAD is... Doesn't take a genius. Basically, it's because of it being so dark all of the time! Lack of light increases the hormone melatonin and this makes us all sleep and decreases 'serotonin' which apparently makes us happy.
sad.org.uk has told me that symptoms of SAD are lethargy, irritability, depression, cravings for unhealthy foos, sleep problems and loss of libido... I think I'm suffering from constant SAD, this sounds like me every day of the year. It's then told me I can get my doctor to give me some antidepressants or some weird thing called a 'lightbox'... I bet it's like the ones in the graphics department. A lightbox will "replace summertime levels of sunlight and alleviate your syptoms"... What a load of nonsence.

Avoid Alcohol.
What do you think I am, an idiot? We all no that alcohol is a depressant, so surely it goes without saying? Although, everyone does do their fair share of drinking around Christmas and New Years. Avoiding the drinks is probably easier said than done.

Get Some Sleep.
This is the first of all the points that I can actually do! Apparently a regular sleep pattern is very important. Seven or eight hours of sleep a night (something I certainly do not do) and trying to go to bed and get out of bed at the same times should help shrug off the SAD. "If you feel down during the day, allow yourself a 30-minute power nap. If anyone asks, blame it on the SAD!" Would you look at that, everyone can be funny on the internet. No, really, I tried taking a nap the other day and it did make me feel a bit better.

There's loads of other ones, meditating and herbal stuff... Load of rubbish if you ask me. One of them actually says "talk to someone"! Why wouldn't you? I guess not everyone is like me and talks to people 24/7.

I still have a funny feeling that SAD doesn't exist and people are just looking for excuses to stay in bed. Until you have a doctor tell you that you've suffering from SAD, then I don't believe you! Now, get back to work and make me some coffee.