Seasonal Affective Disorder Analysis

There is a flourishing interest in the use of physical activity or exercise in the treatment of depression because

North Dakota is far from the equator, creating long cold winters. Besides making people cold, the decreasing temperatures also have a significant effect on mental illness. Seasonal affective disorder, also known as (SAD) is a psychological condition identified in the 1980s. Seasonal affective disorder effects 4-6 percent of people in the united states. (SAD) affects women 4 times as much as men.

I have diagnosed myself with seasonal depression, which I can assure you is a very real disease. The technical name for this disorder is Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD, which is defined as a mood disorder characterized by depression that occurs at the same time every year. Causes may be genetic, as I am sure that my dad also has seasonal depression. So many winters of my life have been spent shivering while walking around school, playing in the snow until I thought my hands would fall off, and fearing going back outside to feel the gust of cold wind take over my body. The condition gets worse during daylight savings when the sun sets at 5pm, and the cold night takes over. Thus, when applying to colleges, the coldest school I applied to was in Washington D.C. I refused to

While the research of Blumenthal et al. (2007) focused on exercise being effective in reducing self-reported depressive symptoms, Diaz and Motta (2008) and Motta, Kuligowski, and Marino (2010) looked at the positive effects of exercise on depression, anxiety and PTSD. The theory of exercise’s positive effect on mental health has heavily been focused on

A growing epidemic in America is depression. Physicians are able to prescribe drugs to help with the symptoms of depression, but other therapeutic methods have been studied and show great results in recovery. Therapeutic Physical Fitness has shown to reduce depression and anxiety. Ihas been confirmed through experiments that physical exercise can be as effective as antidepressant drugs and some cases suggest that it better prevents symptom recurrence.

Since 1990s, many scientists agree that exercise has positive impacts on people’s physical health and mental health (SIME WE, 1987). From Morgan and O’Connor’s research, people can reduce stress and state anxiety by doing physical activities; also gain emotional pleasure from the process (Morgan and O’Connor, 1988). Later in 1997, Landers states that physical activities can reduce people depression after weeks of regular and routine exercise. In addition, people can benefit from more

In the book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and The Brain by Dr. John J. Ratey, MD (2008), Ratey discuses how exercise can help treat many mood disorders and how it can help strengthen our brains. This book is divided into ten chapters all with five to ten subsections in them. The chapters include: Welcome to the revolution: A Case Study on Exercise and the brain, Learning, Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Attention Deficit, Addiction, Hormonal Changers, Aging, and the Regimen.

Seasonal depression occurs only at a certain time of the year, usually winter, because the number of daylight hours is lower. Another form of depression is psychotic depression, which is when depression and hallucinations are experienced at the same time. They all have different symptoms and should be approached differently to receive the correct treatment.

However, these winter blues can change their daily lives for the worse. The medical field calls this Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD for short. According to the Mayo Clinic Staff, SAD usually begins and ends the same time every year. Most commonly, it is during the late Fall and Winter months, but can also be seen in Spring and Summer. While almost anyone could be affected by this, it is most common in women, those who lose significant sunlight during winter, and those aged 15-55 (¨Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)- Topic¨). Seasonal Depression has a magnitude of symptoms and they can change due to which season is causing the problem. Overall, there has been reported problems of insomnia, low energy, irritability, and appetite changes (¨Seasonal Affective Disorder

It may be from brain changes that could’ve been caused by trauma at a young age. “Drug or alcohol abuse, illness, long-term pain, anxiety, sleep problems, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder may also be linked to depression.” (webmd) “ SAD seems to be triggered by more limited exposure to daylight; typically it comes on during the fall or winter months and subsides in the spring. Symptoms are similar to general depression and include lethargy, loss of interest in once-pleasurable activities, irritability, inability to concentrate, and a change in sleeping patterns, appetite, or both.”

This report aims to determine the efficacy and benefits of exercise in the management of depression, which is classified by the World Health Organisation as a mood disorder. In order to place exercise therapy into context, conventional methods for treating clinical depression are discussed. A personal meta-analysis is then undertaken, summarising the findings of studies that have explored the clinical significance of physical exercise as an intervention in treating depression. The advantages and disadvantages of such an intervention are described, and

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) takes place during the winter weather, this is due to the lessening of the sunlight during those months. The symptoms include lack of energy, eating more than you would usually, sleeping more and gaining weight. People are diagnosed after they have had these symptoms present during the winter for more than 2 years. This type of disorder can be treated with artificial light treatment. During light therapy, you sit or work near a device called a light therapy box. The box gives off bright light that mimics natural outdoor light.

The sunlight disrupt the body and lead to feeling depressed. A drop of serotonin a brain chemical That affects the mood which is called neurotransmitter. About 6 to 4 percent of people will have winter depression. And 20 percent would have sad. Children can get SAD, but it usually doesn’t start until the age of 20 years of age. SAD occurs once a year, and light therapy box can be offered for relief.

Too many rainy days and not enough sun can lead to depression, stress, and anxiety. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) causes people to go into a type of depression that has to do with the weather of different seasons. SAD is more common during the winter months because of the short days and cold weather. The symptoms of SAD are fatigue, depression, anxiety, loneliness,

They found that an exercise training programme could be an alternative treatment for MDD. Although antidepressants had a more rapid response than exercise, after 16 weeks of exercise the effectiveness in reducing depression was equal to the anti-depressants. A study also found that a single bout of exercise could result in substantial improvements in mood, which shows that it’s not just duration and frequency. However, it may be that the improvement in mood is only temporary (Dimeo et al., 2001). Lawler and Hopker (2001) stated that effectiveness of exercise on depression couldn’t be determined due to lack of quality research based on clinical populations. They also wrote that the explanations of the results may have been that depressed patients who did regular exercise could have got positive feedback from other people and a sense of self worth, which may act as a diversion from negative thoughts. Physical activity was found to be linked with less coexisting depression, which remains the same after controlling for gender, age, and race. The results of the study showed that physical activity is helpful with medical problems, life stressors and quality of sleep (Harris et al., 2006).