Mental Health
You Can Get SAD During Summer Too
I thought Seasonal Affective Disorder happens during the winter when daylight time is shorter. Apparently SAD can happen during the summer too, as this article pointed out, because there are two types of SAD.
The difference is that the summer version of SAD reads a bit like hypomania - you can get agitated and have insomnia and loss of appetite and have higher energy levels. That doesn’t sound like “depression like” symptoms characterizing the winter variant of SAD. For those with bipolar disorder, having summer SAD could trigger full blown manias rather than hypomanias, which can be problematic.
Non drug but unproven strategies for treatment of summer SAD may include wearing dark glasses or keeping rooms dark. These are different from treatment of winter SAD where patients are advised to get a dose of light.
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2 comments for “You Can Get SAD During Summer Too”
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I have always thought something was wrong with me in the summer. I get super tired, where I can barely stay awake, my eating goes out the window and am irritated a lot. I suffer from hot flashes and I’m only 31. It’s been like this since I was a kid. I remember thinking I hated the time change. So my husband and I put in a pool and that seems to help to be able to escape from the heat and exercise.
Hi Lynn, I’m glad that the pool is helping. I do better with longer days (summers) than I do winters. Good thing I currently live in a warm state (CA).