Seasonal affective disorder causing anxiety?!
Question: Do any of you sufferers of Seasonal Aff. Disorder, struggle with anxiety? Is SAD known to cause anxiety?
Answers: Do any of you sufferers of Seasonal Aff. Disorder, struggle with anxiety? Is SAD known to cause anxiety?
SAD is actually Seasonal Anxiety Disorder, just as GAD is Generalized Anxiety Disorder, so yes, SAD is known to anxiety!
I do not suffer from this, however, I know that a great deal of people in the Northern Hemisphere suffer this due to the harsher winters and the limited amount of daylight.
Come move to Australia - we have lots of daylight and our winters are very mild!
I'm definately suffering from seasonal affect this winter. I was just discussing it with my husband. I've been really down and unmotivated this past week. I'll be so happy when the warm weather hits and the sun is still up when I get off work.
Hang in there
My first impulse would be to say NO...and yet I would say there is no real "yes or no" here...meaning it can be a wide variable. Regardless of the issue (both SAD or anxiety) I would start treating them similarly...increase activity level, distract self with more things that feel good instead of things that do not ie: (movies, books, new foods, massage, new hobby or renewing old one, volunteering), improving overall diet..fresher foods, more water -
Many herbs to help if the situation is needing a boost, and Vitamin D is essential for SAD...can't hurt with anxiety either...so if you can't get some decent sun time daily...15 min daily...try some cod liver oil, daily..Carlsons is a good brand...just don't buy the least expensive as you get what you pay for.
One of the symptoms of SAD is in fact anxiety so yes. My wife suffers from this and we've installed 'natural light' bulbs in a few places, they emit the full spectrum of light, more like sunlight. We also bought an Apollo Go-Health light therapy device that seems to help. It emits a bluish light that's full spectrum, she just turns it on when getting ready for work in the morning. The only thing that works sometimes, though, is to go where it's sunny and just sit for awhile, even if that means a long trip.