Seasonal Depression

My husband posts alot on this site for help with our spousal visa. But this is my first post

Sooooo very happy that I saw this thread! I've dealt with SAD during the long Ohio winters, and have dreaded the upcoming months moving over to the UK when there will be less and less sunlight. I've heard of lightboxes but I've never considered buying one until now.

Good advice everyone!

Seeing as we need sunlight, if it is a sunny day but too cold to be outside does sitting in a conservatory help? It feels great but does it actually help or must the sun be direct?

I have the alarm clock, thanks to AnneR's recommendation. 

I also agree with those who try to get outdoors a little each day.  I walk every day and in the winter I often find my mood is lifted by it.

I have the alarm clock, thanks to AnneR's recommendation. 

I also agree with those who try to get outdoors a little each day.  I walk every day and in the winter I often find my mood is lifted by it.

  Yay for SAD alarm clocks!!

I even go so far as to position myself in the sunniest spot in the room - every little bit helps!!

It's absolutely pitch dark right now and only just gone 6:30... the long slide is starting. Sigh.

I got one for my husband based on the recommendations here.  It is great!

Having lived in Europe further North than the UK and with much darker and colder winters, I find daily hardcore exercise does the trick (meaning at least 30 - 45 minutes a day that works up a serious sweat).  Seems to work two-fold.  One, you get all those feel good endorphins flowing that keep your mood up.  Two, it keeps you from putting on extra weight over the winter the way many folks do.  So you look good and feel good (and are more healthy).  Great winter combo in my experience!

Vitamin D supplements seem worth a try if you are unsure if the SAD lamps will work for you or fit into your lifestyle. I decided a £3 bottle was worth a try and it's helped so much. Before I felt so tired and would actually curl up and go to sleep in the afternoons. Now I still get a bit of an afternoon slump like everyone else but just a touch of willpower is all that's needed to get me doing something unlike before. I'm really glad I tried it. Now I take one 400 IU tablet a day, though sometimes I skip on the weekends (it's a vitamin stored in your fat so if you forget a day or two, you still have some reserves of it in you).

Can anyone tell me if the sun-light has any affect if I am sitting in a sun-room or conservatory rather than outside in the direct sun-light?

I think you have to be outside. But it may not matter as I've heard referenced several times (at least in the news) that in the winter, if you live north of Birmingham in the UK, you will be unable to get enough strong sunlight and you're at risk of vitamin D deficiency. This is apparently especially true if you have dark skin, as the UV light doesn't get through so well. Windows block a lot of UV light.

Hmm. I'm  not actually sure whether you'd have to be outside.  It would depend on what sort of glass you had in your conservatory I think (says the girl who tans through tinted windows--so SOMETHING must get through).  You'd have to check.  But, I think Akki14 is basically right in saying you can't get "enough" sun that way, but it might still help to lift your mood and make you de-stress.

I also take vitamin D supps, because my family has a history of deficiency (for us, it's a genetic condition that means we just don't make enough--even when living in SoCal!), and it does help and I'd have to second the exercise--as long as I run at least a few times a week, I feel much, much better.

I think you have to be outside. But it may not matter as I've heard referenced several times (at least in the news) that in the winter, if you live north of Birmingham in the UK, you will be unable to get enough strong sunlight and you're at risk of vitamin D deficiency. This is apparently especially true if you have dark skin, as the UV light doesn't get through so well. Windows block a lot of UV light.

Thanks. If that is the case it, it was an irrelevent question. I sort of thought that glass blocked UV but wasn't sure it that related to tanning and/or getting sunshine in the body. But that is interesting about one's skin colour. Never thought about that before.

And yes Jennie sunshine does lift my mood. Even it is only pouring through a window and not actually being in it. I don't think I suffer from SAD but I do miss the sunshine during the winter months.

if you live north of Birmingham in the UK, you will be unable to get enough strong sunlight and you're at risk of vitamin D deficiency.

This is what I've read too.  I take a vitamin D supplement even though I live south of Birmingham because it's still hard to get enough sun here.

sunshine does lift my mood. Even it is only pouring through a window and not actually being in it. I don't think I suffer from SAD but I do miss the sunshine during the winter months.

I don't think I exactly suffer from SAD either, but sunlight cheers me up, as does getting a little exercise outdoors.  And my light alarm does make it easier to get up in the morning.

Thanks all

I don't really use any vitamins. The occasional C but that's all. Certainly no D.

Should I? How does one know if they should be taking supplements?

You can ask your GP to run a blood test for Vitamin D to see if you are deficient.  Be warned, my GP, at least, seems to think all this brouhaha over D is at least partially media-hype, so I had to go and talk to him for about ten minutes before he would agree to order the test--and I have a documented deficiency.

It wouldn't hurt to pop a multi-vitamin a day or a calcium supp (those often contain vitamin D as well).

I generally look up natural sources of a vitamin. If I know I don't eat it often or enough, then I look at what the maximum recommended dose is to work out how hard it would be for me to overdose on it. Then I look at what amounts the tablets come in. Based on the above, I decided I don't eat that much oily fish regularly, the maximum daily dose is something insane like 10,000 IU so I bought the smallest IU doseage I could find (400 IU) from Holland and Barrett. You have to be careful going for the cod liver oil option because you can more easily overdose on vitamin A using cod liver oil. I eat a lot of carrots because I grow them at my allotment so that's why I chose a vitamin D only supplement rather than cod liver oil and I don't think I'm doing so badly I need a multivitamin.

It is helpful to talk to your GP about it, though.