Poole Hypnotherapy

How to combat Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

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What is Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)?

SAD or Seasonal affective disorder is considered a type of depression that is experienced in relation to the change in seasons.

It is a type of depression most commonly associated with a lack of sunlight during the winter months. However, in some people they can feel depressed in the summer months and feel better in winter.

It is suggested that SAD is caused or triggered by the lack of sunlight received by the eyes, which causes the hypothalamus, the part of our brains that is responsible for our bodily chemistry, to change its chemical balance.

Melatonin is the hormone that is produced that makes us feel sleepy.

Serotonin is the hormone responsible for our mood, appetite control and sleep. When the level of serotonin drops it is believed that it can cause symptoms of depression.

Circadian Rhythm (Internal Body clock)

We know that light regulates our sleep patterns. When we receive less light, it may naturally encourage us to sleep more. This in turn may trigger the symptoms of SAD.

Some of the symptoms of SAD include the following;

  • Low mood that persists
  • A lack of interest in normal daily activities or an absence of pleasure in such activities.
  • Irritability
  • Despair, guilt and worthlessness are common feelings
  • Lethargy and wanting to sleep during the day
  • Sleeping for longer periods than is usual.
  • Craving carbohydrates and often gaining weight.

Treatments for SAD

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends that SAD should be treated in the same way as other types of depression.

There are a variety of ways in which SAD can be treated;

Light Therapy

For some people SAD can be successfully treated with the use of Light therapy, which can help some peoples’ mood improve quite noticeably. Light therapy involves the use of a Lamp specifically designed for the treatment of SAD, called a light box. Some people with SAD find that light therapy can help improve their mood considerably. It becomes effective when you sit close to the light box for anything up to an hour at a time.

These specially designed light boxes can either be used as a desk lamp or can be mounted on the wall. The lamps use special bulbs that emit natural full spectrum daylight, and use a very high Lux, which is the measurement of light. This means the bulbs are very bright, much brighter than a normal bulb, and are designed to simulate the brightness off the sun, that is often missing, during the darker nights of winter.

It is thought the light may improve SAD by encouraging your brain to reduce the production of melatonin (a hormone that makes you sleepy) and increase the production of serotonin (a hormone that affects your mood).

Counselling and talking therapies

Counselling is a talking therapy and involves sitting down and talking with someone trained to listen to your issues and concerns.

The aim of this type of psychotherapy is to create an environment where you can discuss and explore your feelings, in relation to yourself and others, and look at past experiences with the aim to highlight whether anything from your past is effecting how you interact in your life today.

Hypnotherapy allows the subconscious mind to process the emotional content of your life and with a qualified practitioner can successfully aid the emotional healing and issues that are the underlying causes of stress on the body and mind. It is also an extremely relaxing state and can help balance the chemical processes that can affect depression.

Other useful things you can try

  • Try to get as much natural sunlight as possible. Maybe go for a walk or spend some time outside.
  • Ensure that your work environment is as bright as possible, with fresh air.
  • Ensure that you are getting plenty of Sleep.
  • Sit as close to the window while indoors.
  • Try to get regular exercise and if possible outdoors in the natural daylight.
  • Where possible eat a healthy and balanced diet.
  • Take a trip somewhere.
  • Do things that make you happy or change your mood, such as listening to music or try some Art therapy.
  • It can also be helpful to talk to your family and friends about SAD, so they understand how your mood changes during the winter. This can help them to support you more effectively.
  • Where possible, avoid stressful situations.

How Hypnotherapy can help beat the Brexit Blues

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For many people in the UK ‘Brexit’ is proving to be an extremely stressful process. It has caused many households to be at odds with each other, forcing families to sit on opposing sides of the Brexit argument. For some this added stress can prove too much and can start to affect the health of those struggling with the concerns surrounding the uncertainty that Brexit is causing.

Why do issues like Brexit affect our overall health?

First let’s explore why an issue like Brexit can go on to cause mental health issues. As a Solution Focused Hypnotherapist, we look at the causes of anxiety. Anxiety is triggered by thinking about issues surrounding our lives in a negative way, so we create anxiety by negatively forecasting the future. The problem with issues such as Brexit, is no-one really knows what will happen if the UK finally leaves the EU. The media provides the negative forecasting for us, and many of us get caught up in the worrying implications presented to us, such as impact on Jobs, income, medical supplies etc. The reason this is important is that these worries or anxieties build up, on top of our everyday issues.

In my practice I say that the stresses of the day go into our own personal stress bucket. The analogy of the stress bucket is important, because as human beings we do have a method for emptying our stress bucket daily, and this is known as REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement). On average we need around 1.6 to 2 hours of good REM sleep a night. REM is the part of our sleep pattern that processes and discharges emotional stressors, that we experience during the day, but haven’t let go, such as an argument or things we have seen, or tasks we haven’t completed. It can take an enormous amount of energy to process these anxieties that have built up in our stress bucket, sometimes over a long period of time. The more we worry about something, the more we pile this worry into our stress bucket, and therefore the more energy we need to use to process what’s in our bucket during our REM sleep. If the amount of energy we are using during our sleep pattern is too much, we are naturally brought out of sleep, to conserve energy, and therefore this is why we find ourselves awake at 2-3am, heavy with worry, during difficult times in our lives. This means we haven’t emptied our stress bucket from the previous night and we have more to process the following night, and so we become trapped in a vicious circle which drains our precious resources.

How can Hypnotherapy help?

Hypnotherapy can be a very useful tool to help those who are suffering with anxiety or depression, because it can break the cycle of sleep deficiency. It does this because during the trance process, it mimics REM sleep. So, during a typical hypnotherapy session we allow our bodies to go into a deep state of relaxation, and during the process it allows our minds to continue to empty our stress bucket. This means we have rested but also allowed the mind to process worry and find solutions to them. The more we do this the better able we are to get a full nights sleep, feeling rested and reinvigorated, which has a profoundly positive impact on our overall health.

As a Solution focused hypnotherapist, I also use the first half of every session to assist those seeking help to focus on solutions to issues that are bothering them. We try to encourage people to re-think issues in a more positive way using the inner resources we all possess. This has the impact of diffusing and naturally emptying many of the stresses that have been, often un-knowingly, piling into their stress bucket. The more positively you think, the less worries that end up accumulating. This consequently means you use less energy while you sleep, and you can go on to achieve the good night’s sleep your body needs. I call trance a mini break for the mind. It provides time away from the troubles and negativity that can affect our busy lives.