{"id":403,"date":"2015-02-18T01:52:19","date_gmt":"2015-02-18T09:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/2008\/10\/20\/seasonal-affective-disorder-and-bipolar-disorder\/"},"modified":"2018-05-15T09:56:50","modified_gmt":"2018-05-15T16:56:50","slug":"seasonal-affective-disorder-and-bipolar-disorder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/seasonal-affective-disorder-and-bipolar-disorder\/","title":{"rendered":"Seasonal Affective Disorder and Bipolar Disorder"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Oh yes, the dark weather has started here in Portland, Oregon.\u00a0 It’s easy to experience seasonal affective disorder symptoms when it gets dark at 4:00 PM. I have found that prevention is the best treatment for SAD.\u00a0 The first step is to determine your\u00a0worst time of the day. When do you feel the most down?\u00a0 It’s around 4-6 PM for me.<\/p>\n

Here are some tips for how I manage and prevent seasonal affective disorder :<\/p>\n

1.<\/span><\/strong> I get natural light in my eyes if there is sun in the morning. Look up at the sky and let the light get into your retina so it can tell your brain to switch on your serotonin.\u00a0 You want to look at blue sky whenever possible- this is the blue light that helps depression. Light boxes can cause mania in people with bipolar disorder. I recommend a full spectrum alarm clock if you want to use a light box treatment.<\/p>\n

2.<\/span><\/strong><\/span> I have coffee with a friend during the dark times. A quick visit with someone when it gets dark early takes your mind off the gloom outside.\u00a0\u00a0 I’ve found that going to a movie helps as well.\u00a0 Yes, the theater is dark, but seeing a comedy is often a great antidote to the outside darkness.<\/p>\n

3.<\/strong><\/span> Exercise during your worst hours.\u00a0 If 4- 6 PM is my tough time, it makes sense to battle the problem directly and make sure I’m as active as possible during these times.\u00a0 If you work on a schedule and can’t exactly jump up and exercise for an hour at 4:00, at least stand up,\u00a0 stretch and mentally remind yourself that you feel down because of the weather, not because there is anything wrong with your life. Take a walk right after work is possible.\u00a0 Gyms have very bright lights and that helps.\u00a0 It’s hard to remember to do these activities when you feel down- scheduling in advance works the best.<\/p>\n

4.<\/strong> <\/span>Try not to complain too much about the weather.\u00a0 Portland, Oregon here on the west coast of the United States is funny.\u00a0 The weather is terrible many months of the year. It has always<\/strong><\/em> been this way and yet we still complain.\u00a0 It was the same when I lived in Seattle, Washington. We would have gloomy weather and rain all the way into the spring.\u00a0 I’m not sure why I used to get so upset and complain so much. I’m the one who chooses to live in these areas!<\/p>\n

5. <\/strong><\/span>Hang out with positive people. This helps all around.<\/p>\n

You can manage seasonal affective disorder!<\/p>\n

Julie<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Oh yes, the dark weather has started here in Portland, Oregon. It’s easy to experience seasonal affective disorder symptoms when it gets dark at 4:00 PM. I have found that prevention is the best treatment for SAD. The first step is to determine your worst time of the day. When do you feel the most down? It’s around 4-6 PM for me.<\/p>\n

Here are some tips for how I manage and prevent seasonal affective disorder :<\/p>\n

1. I get natural light in my eyes if there is sun in the morning. Look up at the sky and let the light get into your retina so it can tell your brain to switch on your serotonin. You want to look at blue sky whenever possible- this is the blue light that helps depression. [ Read More ]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11218,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403\/revisions\/11218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}