Be patient with your SAD friends this winter

Some days are good.

Some days are bad.

This is true for most illnesses and disorders, but it feels especially true for Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

SAD is a mood disorder which causes depressive symptoms during the half of the year with decreased daylight hours. Specific symptoms include loss of interest in enjoyable activities, changes in appetite or sleep, and even thoughts of death or suicide.

In northern states it can affect up to 10% of the population.

I was diagnosed with SAD last winter after my depressive symptoms did not go away despite regular exercise, a productive schedule, a vibrant social life, good diet, and a relatively normal sleep schedule.

I 'thugged it out' for as long as I could tolerate it, but as symptoms got worse instead of better I knew I had to talk to my doctor about it. He diagnosed me with SAD and put me on a prescription of the antidepressant Wellbutrin.

Despite the knowledge of how to combat SAD and my Wellbutrin prescription, the symptoms often become debilitating.

Dr. Paul Desan at the Yale School of Medicine said, "People may not appreciate how severely someone who has SAD is affected. For some people, their life just shuts down for half the year.”

I wouldn't say my life shuts down, but it gets close sometimes. There are days where I will sleep for more hours in the day than I am awake.

There are days where I struggle to put myself into social situations, and then feel anxious that my lack of energy is giving a horrible impression to those around me.

There are days where I feel exasperated because people don't understand what it means to have SAD, and don't accommodate for my current energy level. Sometimes it's met with a 'yeah my seasonal depression has been bad lately too.'

Increased stress, worsened sleep schedules, and other feelings of depression may increase for a significant amount of people during winter, but it feels wholly invalidating to have a mood disorder that hinders every aspect of my life to the winter blues.

I wish I lived in a world where more people were knowledgeable on Seasonal Affective Disorder. I wish they knew that symptoms actually start long before winter for some, including myself, as the fall sets in and the summertime sun starts to leave.

I wish "my SAD is very bad today" was a universally accepted excuse for why I was not able to do something.

I wish I knew that everyone I encountered had the knowledge, patience and empathy necessary to make someone with SAD comfortable, so that I did not feel the anxiety of coming across as a lazy, boring, flake of a person.

This winter I encourage people to get educated on SAD, and if someone in your life has the disorder, please be patient with them. It might make the days where their brain and body alike both run slower a little bit more bearable.