Let the Sunshine In
This time of year it seems like we go to work in the dark and come home in the dark. Indeed, for those of us in northern states, it is sometimes difficult to get any sunshine. Luckily, today the sun was out for a little while and I raised the blinds to take advantage of any stray ray. Of course, that made it difficult to see my computer monitor, but it may have helped me avoid getting SAD, seasonally affected disorder.
After 10 years with ADVANCE, I have the seniority to qualify for a window cubicle. This seems to help make winter less of a challenge for me.
Earlier, as nuclear medicine technologist, working in Michigan, access to the sun was even more difficult, as there were no windows anywhere in the radiology and imaging suites. No wonder I sometimes felt gloomy and out of sorts in the winter months.
Last January, the University of Rochester released a study of SAD by Stephen Lurie, MD, PHD, for the American Academy of Family Physicians.
He noted that SAD is sometimes missed in physician's offices and that it can exacerbate some mental problems, such as ADHD or alcoholism.
The physical manifestations of SAD were shown when researchers in Vienna Austria conducted a SPECT study of SAD using iodine-123 Beta CIT. In the study, published in the March 2000 issue of Biologic Psychiatry, they showed that SAD symptoms correlated with reduced brain serotonin transporter availability in the thalamus-hypothalamus.
For some SAD sufferers, using indoor light therapy designed to replicate natural light seemed to help, Dr. Luri said.
Indeed, researchers at Harvard Medical School used Tc-99m HMPAO SPECT imaging to study the affect of light therapy on SAD. In an article published in Biological Psychiatry in 1997, they reported relative increases in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in all brain regions of SAD patients who responded to light therapy, but no change or decreases in rCBF in non-responders.
Do you find working in a windowless environment is more difficult during the winter months when there is reduced daylight? If so, what do you do to help overcome this problem?