Sunday, January 29, 2012

Seasonal Affective Disorder - SAD

I think I might have this -- Seasonal Affective Disorder otherwise known as SAD.

First of all I was thrilled to walk out to my kitchen this morning and see the beautiful blue sky and the sun! It's been dreary and cloudy here for days...if not weeks. But that's pretty typical for this neck of the woods at this time of year. We usually have more snow, but this year we've gotten very little--something I won't complain about.

Here are a couple photos to show the difference between last winter and this winter. It's the same tree from pretty much the same point of view:

Our backyard Winter 2011

Our backyard Winter 2012

What a difference! Yes, it's a bit muddy this year because it's been more wet than snowy...but I'll take wet over snowy anytime. Well, except on Christmas Day. That's the only day I want to see snow. But I digress...

Now getting back to SAD, seasonal affective disorder is a type of depression that is triggered by the seasons of the year. The most common type of SAD is called winter-onset depression. Symptoms usually begin in late fall or early winter and go away by summer.

I noticed a few years ago that I always wanted to just stay home and curl up under a blanket and keep warm and cozy until spring. But being a mom of three with my own business and a husband with his own business, well, I didn't have the opportunity to stay put.

Last winter I didn't notice much of a SAD feeling. I actually felt pretty good considering I had just lost my mom to Alzheimer's disease. But I believe that in reality I was in shock and denial. While my mom had Alzheimer's she died rather suddenly in early December. But that' another story for another day.

So to combat the extra 20 pounds I've been hauling around for years I started going to the gym everyday. On top of trying to lose weight and get healthy I hoped to eliminate my chances of getting SAD. While I've lost a few pounds so far I've noticed that I feel tired...not all the time, but more tired than I ever expected. It's confusing me. If I'm exercising every day why am I tired??? Shouldn't I have more energy?? I don't have an appointment to get my yearly check up until March. At that point if I'm still feeling this way I will talk to her about it.

So for now I attribute my tiredness to SAD. I'll keep exercising plus I've upped my daily dose of vitamin D-3 from 1000IUs to 2000IUs. My husband says I should take even more, but we'll see how I feel with this small increase first.

As well as those two things I'll pray that we continue to get more sun! A beautiful sunny day with blue skies always lifts my spirits no matter how cold it may be outside!

More sharing on the way...until then,

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