Seasonal affective disorder (or SAD) is a type of depression caused by changes in season. It’s a feeling that occurs during a particular season, nearly every year. It is mainly a mood disorder. This disorder mainly affects those people who have normal mental health throughout the year, showing no major mental illness or disorders. Those people experience depression without any particular reason in a sudden period of time. In most cases, winter is the season in which most people experience Seasonal affective disorder. 

The patient doesn’t understand when and why he suddenly feels depression, and once this period is over, everything goes back to normal. Although this disorder affects anyone, researches show that women are more likely to develop this depression. 

Studies show that shorter winter daylight hours are also a factor in this disorder. So, people living far from the equator can become more victims than others. SAD has been less observed in older people; the risk of this disease is higher in people between the ages of fifteen and fifty-five. 

It’s a hereditary disease, as many people suffer from seasonal depression only because someone in their family already has this disease. Not only in winter, but you may also experience it on summer days. In addition to Seasonal affective disorder, it is also called winter depression, seasonal depression, or summertime sadness. 

Causes of Seasonal Affective Disorder

The main reason for SAD is unknown, but experts say that lack of sunlight causes this disorder. The sunlight has an effect on your body’s natural pattern of sleeping and waking up. With its disturbance, you feel depressed. It also affects the production of serotonin in your body. Serotonin's function is to send signals between nerves, with any changes in its production can affect your mood.

Symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder

Some of its symptoms include

• Sad or down even 24 hours, nearly every day

• Suddenly losing interest in activities that you often enjoyed

• Feels low energy and sluggish

• Short time insomnia, sometimes stressful

• Carbohydrate cravings cause overeating and weight gain

• Feels difficulty in concentrating 

• Consider yourself hopeless, worthless or guilty

• Feels lifeless, or not to live