So S.A.D it's so Dark and Cold

By Laura Oppenheimer in Miscellaneous on Feb 6, 2007 6:30PM

If you are anything like Chicagoist, these last few weeks have not been the best. We've been going to bed every night at 10:30 p.m. but haven't been able to stay asleep; we crave carbs and sweet food; and we can't seem to get ourselves pumped about the things we know we usually enjoy. And it isn't just this year; Chicagoist finds itself feeling sort of crappy every winter. Even chipper-as-can-be Katie Couric is feeling the pain.

Call it cabin fever, or call it the winter blues, but we are self-diagnosing ourself with the Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.). Think you might also have S.A.D. disorder? One in five Americans experiences some sort of winter depression, and the symptoms read like a check-list of what our friends have recently been complaining about.

We take it back. We don't love the Winter after all. So what can you do if you have SAD? Light Therapy is the name of the game and it works for up to 85% of sufferers. As we researched this a bit, we discovered that light therapy is a fancy term for getting more sunlight (one of the causes of S.A.D. is thought to be a lack of sun exposure during the Winter months). We are lusting for one of these light boxes that we could hide in our cubicle so we could blissfully absorb light all winter long. Other treatment options include getting the hell out of Chicago (kidding), antidepressants and counseling.

Our methods are a little less intense than those listed above. We like to beat back S.A.D. is by enjoying a hot toddy, taking a daily multi vitamin, heading to the gym (we imagine running outside while we pound away at the treadmill) and curling up with a good book (once again, with the hot toddy).

Do you have S.A.D.? How are you beating back the winter blues?

"oh shit. it really is winter" by marinaro500.