Recent I was featured in this article in Yahoo Life about how SAD or seasonal affective disorder will be at its absolute worse this year due to COVID-19 and the political climate. Typically we spend the summer months in a battery recharge mode attending outdoor concerts, events, parties and socializing. But, the summer of 2020 was quite a different story with our recharging activities being halted. The pandemic has already had alarming high rates of increased anxiety and depression and now we will be pairing this with SAD or seasonal affective disorder.

Many people have experienced or just heard of seasonal affective disorder, but may not realize the profound impact it might have on emotional wellbeing.  SAD or Seasonal affective disorder is a constellation of emotional symptoms that occur during seasonal changes.  Typically the season that is most prominently recognized as a SAD season is fall to winter.  This is likely due to the change in light patterns. The amount of sunlight we experience that would help fuel our battery continues to shrink until the end of December. We are also faced with less direct sunlight and more dreary grey days.

You may be experiencing low energy, problems sleeping, fatigue, depression, sadness, irritability and more.  SAD may indicate a disruption in brain health particularly serotonin related issues which can be relatively easily corrected through SAD lamps and supplementation (ask Dr. Teralyn for recommendations).  It could also indicate a vitamin D or other nutrient cofactor deficiency.  Brain health is an important piece to SAD recovery and can be helped in a number of different ways.  Nutrition, brain health and exercise are Dr. Teralyn’s top ways to fight SAD.  She continues to discuss ways to combat SAD in the remainder of the article. 

Continue to the full Yahoo Life News Report:  https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/seasonal-affective-disorder-might-absolute-140000026.html

Learn more about Dr. Teralyn and the work she does with Brain Health.