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Summer seasonal affective disorder.
MSNBC's "The Body Odd" article: SAD in the summer? Sunshine depression rare, but real.
When I still lived in Southern Ontario, there were a lot more people who were cranky in the summer, but when it's pushing 40 degrees because it's already 30 and there's nearly 100% humidity... well.
I like seeing the sunshine, I do. But in smaller doses. I like wearing sunglasses. I like it when there's sunshine when I'm on my way to work (7am), and when I'm on my way home (4pm).
But damn you, Calgarians. I hate the heat. I hate all of you silly people running around declaring how wonderful it is when the temperature is pushing 30 celsius. I know Calgary winters can be brutal (and I don't care what my dad says; it was definitely colder in Southern Ontario with the fucking windchill), but I am sick to death of having people look at me like I'm insane because I hate the heat and I hate summer. I hate that this city is still practically in broad daylight at 11:00pm--I can't sleep, because the temperature hasn't dropped enough even by then to cool down my apartment. I don't sleep enough. I don't eat enough because it is too hot to even think about food, let alone cooking it. I hate that when I step outside from the air conditioned mall to head home by foot or by bus and I feel sweaty, pressed-on, smothered, dirty, cranky. Did I mention the part where I really hate how I instantly feel like I need to wash my hands? And yes I'm a grumpy old woman because it's just 1 July and already I'm sick to death of seeing everyone's ass-cheeks peeking out of their too-short shorts. That's not sexy.
I don't tan; I burn. I get eaten alive by mosquitoes. Fuck you; 21 celsius is perfectly acceptable and wonderful and is far more reasonable than 27. Yes, I absolutely hate summer. I get depressed in the summer. I don't sleep. I don't eat and I lose weight rapidly. I feel weak and tired and on edge and I could just set things on fire. I snap at my family, I snap at my co-workers, I want to murder half of our patients.
As soon as the temperature drops consistently back down to the high teens/low twenties? I'm back to normal.
And while I'm at it? Yeah, I don't enjoy Christmas, either.
SAD in the summer? Sunshine depression rare, but real
Many of us can hardly wait for summer to arrive, but a small number of people are much happier when it's over. You've no doubt heard of Seasonal Affective Disorder, the wintertime mood disorder -- but some get SAD in the summer.
As hot weather approaches, those with summer SAD sleep less, eat less, and lose weight. They're extremely irritable and agitated. (It's the reverse for people with winter SAD, who sleep more, gain weight and crave high-carb foods, and tend to slow down and socially hibernate from late fall to early spring.)
Summer-onset depression is thought to affect less than 1 percent of the population, making it much rarer than the winter variety experienced by an estimated 5 percent of people.
In its most severe form, people with summer seasonal depression may be more at risk for suicide than cold-weather SAD, says Dr. Norman Rosenthal, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University Medical School, who has studied both types and first helped discover their existence. "Suicide is more of a concern when people are depressed and agitated rather than depressed and lethargic," he explains.
When summer depression was first recognized in 1986, Rosenthal said that mental health professionals suspected the cause was the heat and humidity. That, he said, lent itself to the idea that a cold shower, air conditioning, swimming in cold lakes or heading North would relieve symptoms. Although these treatments for hot-weather depression are useful for some, they lack the staying power that light-box therapy has on winter SAD.
'The light is cutting though me like a knife'
A person with summer SAD can stay inside, crank up the AC, and darken the room but then go outside into the heat and it's as if they've never been treated, explains Rosenthal, the author of "Winter Blues."
Another idea is that it might be the light itself that's aggravating sufferers, whether it's the intensity of sunlight or the angle it's coming at people. One of Rosenthal's summer depression patients describes it as "feeling like the light is cutting though me like a knife."
Still another possibility is that there may be two kinds of warm-weather depression, says Dr. Alfred Lewy, a professor of psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. He suggests there might be one group of people who have an unpleasant reaction to the heat and humidity -- a discomfort with the climate. But even in Portland where summers aren't that hot or humid, he's seen patients struggle with summer depression.
Lewy suspects the cause in a second group might be that the body's natural clock, it's circadian rhythms, are misaligning in summer. Instead of cueing to dawn, the longer daylight is causing some vulnerable people to cue to dusk. Cueing to dusk shortens the typical body clock and delays a person's sleep-wake cycle. This mismatch, theorizes Lewy, may be triggering depression.
He successfully treated a person with summer depression with a combination of getting early morning sunlight (30 to 60 minutes daily), which shifts the body clock forward, and low-dose melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate sleep-wake cycles. Severe symptoms may also benefit from antidepressants.
Do you secretly -- or perhaps not-so-secretly -- loathe the summer months? What helps you get through them?
When I still lived in Southern Ontario, there were a lot more people who were cranky in the summer, but when it's pushing 40 degrees because it's already 30 and there's nearly 100% humidity... well.
I like seeing the sunshine, I do. But in smaller doses. I like wearing sunglasses. I like it when there's sunshine when I'm on my way to work (7am), and when I'm on my way home (4pm).
But damn you, Calgarians. I hate the heat. I hate all of you silly people running around declaring how wonderful it is when the temperature is pushing 30 celsius. I know Calgary winters can be brutal (and I don't care what my dad says; it was definitely colder in Southern Ontario with the fucking windchill), but I am sick to death of having people look at me like I'm insane because I hate the heat and I hate summer. I hate that this city is still practically in broad daylight at 11:00pm--I can't sleep, because the temperature hasn't dropped enough even by then to cool down my apartment. I don't sleep enough. I don't eat enough because it is too hot to even think about food, let alone cooking it. I hate that when I step outside from the air conditioned mall to head home by foot or by bus and I feel sweaty, pressed-on, smothered, dirty, cranky. Did I mention the part where I really hate how I instantly feel like I need to wash my hands? And yes I'm a grumpy old woman because it's just 1 July and already I'm sick to death of seeing everyone's ass-cheeks peeking out of their too-short shorts. That's not sexy.
I don't tan; I burn. I get eaten alive by mosquitoes. Fuck you; 21 celsius is perfectly acceptable and wonderful and is far more reasonable than 27. Yes, I absolutely hate summer. I get depressed in the summer. I don't sleep. I don't eat and I lose weight rapidly. I feel weak and tired and on edge and I could just set things on fire. I snap at my family, I snap at my co-workers, I want to murder half of our patients.
As soon as the temperature drops consistently back down to the high teens/low twenties? I'm back to normal.
And while I'm at it? Yeah, I don't enjoy Christmas, either.
SAD in the summer? Sunshine depression rare, but real
Many of us can hardly wait for summer to arrive, but a small number of people are much happier when it's over. You've no doubt heard of Seasonal Affective Disorder, the wintertime mood disorder -- but some get SAD in the summer.
As hot weather approaches, those with summer SAD sleep less, eat less, and lose weight. They're extremely irritable and agitated. (It's the reverse for people with winter SAD, who sleep more, gain weight and crave high-carb foods, and tend to slow down and socially hibernate from late fall to early spring.)
Summer-onset depression is thought to affect less than 1 percent of the population, making it much rarer than the winter variety experienced by an estimated 5 percent of people.
In its most severe form, people with summer seasonal depression may be more at risk for suicide than cold-weather SAD, says Dr. Norman Rosenthal, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University Medical School, who has studied both types and first helped discover their existence. "Suicide is more of a concern when people are depressed and agitated rather than depressed and lethargic," he explains.
When summer depression was first recognized in 1986, Rosenthal said that mental health professionals suspected the cause was the heat and humidity. That, he said, lent itself to the idea that a cold shower, air conditioning, swimming in cold lakes or heading North would relieve symptoms. Although these treatments for hot-weather depression are useful for some, they lack the staying power that light-box therapy has on winter SAD.
'The light is cutting though me like a knife'
A person with summer SAD can stay inside, crank up the AC, and darken the room but then go outside into the heat and it's as if they've never been treated, explains Rosenthal, the author of "Winter Blues."
Another idea is that it might be the light itself that's aggravating sufferers, whether it's the intensity of sunlight or the angle it's coming at people. One of Rosenthal's summer depression patients describes it as "feeling like the light is cutting though me like a knife."
Still another possibility is that there may be two kinds of warm-weather depression, says Dr. Alfred Lewy, a professor of psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. He suggests there might be one group of people who have an unpleasant reaction to the heat and humidity -- a discomfort with the climate. But even in Portland where summers aren't that hot or humid, he's seen patients struggle with summer depression.
Lewy suspects the cause in a second group might be that the body's natural clock, it's circadian rhythms, are misaligning in summer. Instead of cueing to dawn, the longer daylight is causing some vulnerable people to cue to dusk. Cueing to dusk shortens the typical body clock and delays a person's sleep-wake cycle. This mismatch, theorizes Lewy, may be triggering depression.
He successfully treated a person with summer depression with a combination of getting early morning sunlight (30 to 60 minutes daily), which shifts the body clock forward, and low-dose melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate sleep-wake cycles. Severe symptoms may also benefit from antidepressants.
Do you secretly -- or perhaps not-so-secretly -- loathe the summer months? What helps you get through them?