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Seasonal Affective Disorder.  For those that might not know what this is, it’s when the lack of sun light or day light hours can bring on feelings depression.  It used to be called “the winter blahs” and passed off as just feeling bummed out because you can’t go out a lot during the snowy season.  Not any more though.  It’s now being recognized as an real disorder, and it happens to a lot of us up here in Canada after the summer days are gone and we flip the clocks back during daylight savings.  The month of December is, in fact, the worst for those that suffer with SAD.  Even though you’d think that it’s a time to be happy, it can actually make things much worse.  Everyone else is happy and celebrating, and you feel like crap because you can’t share in the joy… and you don’t know why.  In fact the feeling of depression can get so bad that it can drive those with it to suicide.

The medical reason for the winter blues is in the amount of sun that is taken in through our eyes.  The pineal gland makes melatonin during the night and makes us sleepy.  The sun light  triggers it to stop.  In the winter months the sun isn’t around as much and so we’re not receiving the light that we should to trigger the stop of melatonin. Thus, the winter lows kick in.

I do not suffer from SAD.  In fact, I love the winter time and can wait for the cold days to come.  I do, however, have close family members that suffer with it to a great degree.  They’ve confided in me the feelings they have and how hard it is to just go on during this time.  It can be scary and I can only hope that they do not do any thing rash.

There are some treatments for those with SAD.  One is to go on a trip down South during the winter months.  Many Canadians totally do this, but not everyone can afford it.

You can get light therapy lamps as an alternative.  These special lamps are a pure white which help with the suppression of melatonin and improve ones mood.

There are also dawn simulation lamps/alarms.  These will brighten the room you sleep in and help in the halting of melatonin in a more natural fashion.  You can also get medication to help with the depression and up your vitamin D levels.  I don’t know how well these things work, but I think I’m going to start looking to them more and try to help my family members.

I hope that none of you suffer with SAD during the winter months.

This past weekend we visited my Dad and Step Mom for an early Christmas.  We all gather together at the century home in the country play games, have wonderful meals, talk and have a lot of fun.  It’s the kind of family gathering that I really enjoy because, I love the classic country Christmas setting.  My Dad’s house is filled with antiques so it really does feel like I stepped back to the past.  It’s fantastic!  I love that I’m able to have this since most people live in the city/suburbs.  We sit and talk, eat, play games and have a wonderful time.

I especially love (being of Dutch decent) all the dutch treats that get made.  Traditional goodies like Oliebollen, which is a doughnut with raisins and dusted with icing sugar.  Apple flappen, which is a deep-fried  apple ring dusted with icing sugar and my favorite, Krokets.  That is deep-fried stewed beef that is battered, spiced and delicious.

Do you have a favorite place to visit during the holidays or do you prefer to stay at home?