SAD light
 

Well my SAD light came yesterday, this morning from 0325-0400 I used it while getting ready to head out on a business trip.

It left my vision a bit fuzzy and I guess it made me feel a bit more awake and alert. We'll see how it goes!

My other 'therapy' will include daily exercise and at least 20-30 mins of walking or running outside while it's light out, along with supplements including B12, D, magnesium, ashwagandha, turmeric and 5HTP.

Operation Beat The Winter Blues officially underway.

More to come.

You're pretty dang serious about this! :) That's quite a list. I'm much more the "add one thing, see if it helps" type.

I hope you find relief.

Lol.... Well I'm impatient and prone to overdoing things.

Zero or a million....

;)

The Disease of More. :lmao:

I understand that, truly I do. That is me - plan 1874647229 steps ahead, overdo everything, over-worry, over-analyze. But I have a new mantra of not taking something to feel better, so I'd be at one-pill-at-a-time.

((xox))

I'll be watching to see how it goes.

I really want one of those lights, though.

I'm also on a strict "Buy only things that are needed." So, I won't buy it, but I want it.

I want a happy lamp!! I've been reading reviews for several weeks now - totally going to invest if I feel it gets bad enough to need one.

A lot of reviews make it sound as if they are a god-send to those of us suffering from SAD (when I first heard of SAD I literally thought it was satire - a depressive disorder called SAD lol)

I have been using one in the morning. It's right over my bed and I just flip it on when I wake up.

I really over-thought getting one. One, because I've had winter depression and I'm embarrassed by it. Two, because it was a "medical" device. It is just a bright lamp, literally. It emits no UV light.

Really, once you get over One there's no reason not to go buy one even if you are just curious.

I'm journaling and doing therapy too to help prevent depression. But I'm doing the light also because it is super easy.

If you think you want one, I recommend just getting one. But do other stuff too.

FreeOwl, don't expect instant and/or miraculous results, lol! I found that starting my lights in August is optimal for me - ahead of depression start. Also for me, the effects are somewhat subtle. I mostly am aware of the effects when I think back to how I used to feel.

thanks Saskia!

I don't expect any magic bullets.... I anticipate that the light will be just one of my 'tools' and my objective is to feel more OK through whatever this is than I did last year.

Also have begun as of last Monday a course of daily fruit and vegetable juicing. I continue to see my counselor, go to meetings, talk to my Lady about how I'm feelin g.... Going to the doctor for some bloodwork to check on adrenal, hormones and thyroid function..

I think just practicing mindfulness and trying to stay present and grateful is also a big part of it.

Like recovery, for me growth and progress are the goal. I don't expect perfection.

:)

You've got your head on straight, FreeOwl :-). I had to do a variety of things to manage my depressions. They used to be oh so crippling but now I can fairly easily push through the milder ones.

I used a light for the first time last winter and it did help somewhat. I am very excited to see how not drinking affects my SAD. I am almost through October and feeling great. I would start to spiral downwards in early September previously. The idea of not drinking mass quantities of a depressant never really clicked in my head previously. I just drank more because I was depressed.

Day two on my SAD light.

It's a little disrupted by the fact I had to get up at 3am yesterday, travel and work all day, changed time zones, slept like crap last night.....

But the light really did feel like it helped energize me this morning.

Maybe over time the effect will be noticeable in my broader symptoms and issues, but what I can already say is that in the morning, after I use it for 30 minutes I feel more alert than I normally do just dragging myself to life in the dark.

I just got one at Goodwill! I was so excited to find it-it was $20 and I've seen the same floor lamp $100-150 online. I'm trying ashwaganda for the first time and am going to space out my magnesium to twice a day--one in the am instead of both at night. I have restless leg syndrome so was taking a lot at night but I guess it helps with anxiety too and doesn't make you sleepy. Same with Ashwaganda. My mission is treating my anxiety, however am prone to depression as well. I'm also in a therapy group for depression and anxiety that teaches skills for coping. Isn't it funny how some of us have to be forced to do things we enjoy? that is the whole key to me with depression doing things I enjoy. It is so easy when you start to fall to lose interest in everything--you have to go back and try to remember what you love to do. :You_Rock_

I'll be following this thread! I've considered trying one, too. Really I don't have huge issues with SAD but I think it affects many/most of us to some degree.

Day three, up at 4am due to another early flight.

15 minutes of the light. I woke very tired but after the light time I felt very awake and ready to go comparatively.

I don't know if I can attribute it to the light but I have felt a little less blah these past few days. Part of that is probably just down to being on the road and busy with work and meetings.

It definitely seems to make a difference to my morning mental clarity though.

Thanks for the updates, FreeOwl. I don't know if you have an issue with this, but I noticed going to bed at a reasonable hour makes a BIG difference. I really struggle to do so, but always feel better when I do.

Yeah I go to bed most nights by 9:30 or 10.

:)

Niiiiiiiice.....

Saskia makes a great point. The light will not make you" happy." It just helps to prevent me from going down a depression spiral. It helps to give me a more solid mental and emotional footing in the heart of a deep, cold and dark winter.

In essence, avoiding depression does ultimately make me "happy."
Shine on!