Health Notes, October 26th 2008, by Sarah Stacey

How not to be SAD
At least one in 50 people in the UK suffers from full-blown Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), or winter depression, which usually starts as the days grow shorter and the amount of light reaching our brains dwindles.  SAD can be diagnosed if the condition has a clearcut seasonal pattern and recurs for three or more consecutive winters.  Many more – a staggering eight in ten according to NHS Direct – suffer from a less serious version known as winter blues, or sub-syndromal SAD.  For most people, the situation resolves with the advent of spring but meantime it can seriously impact your life.

According to the Seasonal Affective Disorder Association, sufferers of SAD will experience some of the following symptoms.  Winter blues sufferers are likely to have them less intensely.

• Sleep problems: usually a desire to oversleep and difficulty staying awake, but some people experience sleep disturbance and/or very early waking
• Lethargy and fatigue
• Craving for carbohydrates and sweet foods, often leading to weight gain
• Anxiety, tension and inability to cope with stress
• Loss of libido
• Irritability and being antisocial; mood swings

As autumn starts, the symptoms are usually relatively mild but as the winter sets in, they tend to get worse. Although the cause is not fully understood, reduced exposure to light seems to be the prime initiator, affecting the sleep wake cycle through an increase in the hormone melatonin, and mood via serotonin.  Researchers at the American National Institute of Mental Health have shown that light therapy – 30 minutes of daily exposure to a bright light device, giving out 10,000 lux or roughly 20 times the brightness of an ordinary light bulb – can reverse the symptoms of SAD within two weeks. 

Jo Fairley and I both suffered from some degree of SAD when we lived in London and both of us benefited greatly from using light boxes.  We live in the country now (Jo in Hastings, me in west Dorset) and find the problem is greatly reduced.  Jo believes it’s partly down to getting outside everyday  in every available bit of sunlight, and also because we’re not surrounded by tall buildings blocking vast tracts of light.  In London, 30 minutes by a light box before I went to work definitely boosted my mood and seemed to fend off viruses.  Now I sit under a skylight in my office and am out with my horses twice a day and feel pretty good.  Jo meanwhile swears by her Litebook Elite, a nifty little gizmo – ‘smaller than a frisbee’ - that sits to the side of her computer.  (Light therapy needs to reach your eyes but, like the sun, you should avoid looking directly into it.)

People who find it difficult to organise the recommended 30 to 60 minutes (it varies with individual cases) in front of a light box might like to try a Dawn Simulator, which simulates the appearance of a natural sunrise.  As Dr Servan-Schreiber says, this is ‘the signal to which your emotional brain has been wired to awaken during millions of years of evolution.’

•  Litebook Elite, from www.amazon.co.uk, price £146.80, if you click here

•  Dawn simulators from Lumie;  call 01954-780500/www.lumie.com

Choccy treats
These delicious chocolate sweetmeats, devised by nutritionist Yinka Thomas, are guaranteed to enhance your mood whatever the weather brings. And the best thing – they’re good for you!  Raw, or very dark, chocolate is high in magnesium and antioxidants.  And you really can’t eat more than two at a time – we tried!

For 10 chocolate truffles (more if you make smaller ones):

100g raw or 70% cocoa solids dark chocolate
1 level dessertspoons virgin coconut oil
2 level tablespoons Xylitol
2 level tablespoons organic cocoa powder
3 heaped tablespoons crunchy oat bran, crushed
2 level tablespoons ground almonds
Melt the raw chocolate and coconut oil in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Remove from heat and stir in 1 tbsp Xylitol with a wooden spoon. Add 1 tbsp cocoa, the crushed Oatbran and ground almonds.  Refrigerate for about an hour.  Remove from fridge, stir with wooden spoon: if still too soft to form into balls, chill for another 10 minutes.  Mix the remaining Xylitol and cocoa in a dish.  With a teaspoon mould the mixture into balls and roll in the cocoa mix.  Store in the fridge but remove at least 20 minutes before eating.

Yummy mummies’ breast-feeding cushions
Mummy colleagues loved the super-stylish Thrupenny Bits breastfeeding cushion from Babybubu filled with hypoallergenic buckwheat husks. Tie it around your back and sit down so the weight of the baby rests on your lap – and you avoid backache. The washable covers (blue floral, chic black and white, or pink pattern) are really stylish and,  unlike other feeding cushions, it’s portable (sling over buggy handlebars or your shoulder). £60 with buckwheat filling or £55 with polybead filling.  From www.babybubu.co.uk, just click here.