"Although seasonal affective disorder (Sad) was only formally recognised by psychiatrists in the 1980s, the link between the seasons, mood and vitality has long been observed. The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine a Chinese text from roughly 300BC described how the seasons affect all living things. It advised that in winter, one should retire early and get up with the sunrise, keeping desires and mental activity quiet and subdued, as if keeping a happy secret."
"However, where to draw the line between normal winter sluggishness and clinical depression is not straightforward. Sad is recognised as a subtype of major depression or bipolar disorder, defined by its predictable seasonal pattern: symptoms typically begin in autumn or winter and lift in spring. Alongside typical signs of depression, people often sleep longer, feel lethargic and want to eat more, particularly carbohydrates."
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) involves predictable mood declines in autumn and winter with improvement in spring, linked to reduced daylight and circadian disruption. Symptoms include prolonged sleep, lethargy, increased appetite and carbohydrate cravings, overlapping with major depression or bipolar disorder as a seasonal subtype. Historical medical traditions advised quieter, sleep-aligned winter routines, reflecting biological seasonality. Large-scale datasets enable detection of widespread seasonal mood patterns across hundreds of thousands of people, supporting the view that seasonal mood changes are endogenous physiological processes. Distinguishing normal winter sluggishness from clinical seasonal depression remains clinically challenging, with light exposure identified as a central regulator.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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