Jan 30 2006
Combating S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder)
My husband organizes his DVD collection alphabetically, my Mom classifies her DVD collection by genre/actor, my DVD collection is grouped into four categories (fall, winter, spring, summer), yes….I have Seasonal Affective Disorder, although, I’m not sure that I agree that my mid-season moodiness should be referred to as a “disorder”, however, admittedly around this time of year I start to get stir-crazy not feeling the warmth of the sun.Â
I love living in New England and experiencing the changing of the seasons, however, after the holidays and into the winter months I start spiraling downward and feel like I’m living on a frozen tundra with no escape. I don’t ski or snowboard, so I sometimes wonder why I’m living where I’m living? Why did my ancestors, who immigrated from Greece, not migrate more south than the Boston area? I did recently migrate myself more north to NH, go figure? I commute between Concord, NH and Plymouth, NH daily. I love driving through the hills and mountains of NH and must admit the picturesque drive to work still takes my beath away being a city girl living in the country for the first time in my life. Still I long for warm air and sun…
According to the recent news reports, the way they suggest to fight depression associated with S.A.D. is to go for a 30 minute walk. I don’t know how walking in the cold, through slush and snow, for 30 minutes is supposed to cure your need for sun and warmth? Â
Here are my more practical suggestions for fighting S.A.D.:
Book a vacation to Florida or the Caribbean if you can afford it.  This is the time of year when the vacation specials start to appear. Check out southwest.com for cheap flights to Florida and other sunny destinations and vacationoutlet.com should be running their cruise specials soon, although personally I’m a sand and beach type of girl, no cruising for me! Also, don’t forget to check out hotel reviews at tripadvisor.com (my travel bible), I don’t stay in a hotel without reading the reviews in tripadvisor first.
If you can’t afford a vacation, the following is sure fire ways to beat S.A.D. while at work, and they are all free. Transform your workspace into a tropical paradise by changing your desktop to a tropical photo, I found some great tropical pics at http://www.breathtaking-photos.com/viewimage.asp?catid=1, then change your screensaver to swaying palmtrees, moving water, and wave crashing sounds effects by downloading this free screesaver http://www.screensavers-online.com/tropical.htm, then launch Jimmy Buffet’s online radio station radiomargaritaville.com. Ahh….the only thing missing is a Malibu rum and pinapple juice…
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2 responses so far
[...] When I got into my car and the temperature was -3 degrees yesterday, I began feeling a little S.A.D. That feeling continued through today until my husband called to say our Superbowl tickets had arrived today!  [...]
I do not work for this company; let me first make that absolutely clear. I am, however, told that these little devices are worth their weight in gold. A collegue of mine who is a frequent flyer often suffers from jet lag, which is very similar to SAD, so decided to try these out and he says it works. Who knows, thought i’d leave a note though. if it helps someone then great.
http://www.litebook.com/