S.A.D
(Seasonal Adjustment Disorder). A solution on the cheap?
What is it?
S.A.D, also known as the “winter blues” is a condition a lot of people experience to one extent or another. There’s loads of info out there on the condition-google it if you’ve never heard of it.
I suffer from SAD, and it really beats me around in the winter months. I’ve always “hibernated” in winter - my school reports have always confirmed that. However, it has more effects than that on me.
- Lowered concentration and motivation level
- Feeling down/depressed/anxious for no reason
- Unable to focus on anything
- Snappy, irrational mood swings
- clumsiness
- extreme tiredness and difficulty in rousing myself
- moments of “waking sleep”, literally switched off but awake
It makes my winter months (September - February) something I dread. I feel constantly less than A1 until the increased daylight kicks in and boosts me back up, at which point it’s like a switch was thrown, and I’m bouncing off the walls.
I’ve looked at medication, I’ve been to doctors, I’ve raised it in my annual health check, I’ve googled it. The most promising thing i’ve seen is the “light boxes” and light therapy. Makes sense - Light levels drop in Winter. So do my levels. Increase the light exposure, you can fool your body and internal clock into equalising itself a bit.
However, it’s bloody expensive. Light boxes and the specialist kit are beyond the reach of what I’m willing to pay. So, I got to thinking about it, as I do.
I’m a cheap-ass at heart..so what to do? I looked at intelligent lighting dimmer switches, that could dim and raise the lighting in my bedroom at preset times-namely before I wake, to simulate a sunrise and give my bodyclock a stable trigger to anchor to. I tried one, but it shorted out after 10 minutes and I lost the will to do it again after losing £25 on that attempt.
Some time after, I was browsing round our local Sunday market - you know the type…99% junk, 1% useful, well hidden. I found 3 “24 hour programmable plug-in timer modules” for £1. I bought them on a whim - a nagging thought told me I’d find a use for them.
One is currently used to light the CFL lamp by the Guinea Pig cage at mums in the evenings, when the darkness comes on and turn it off after midnight when they’re asleep. One sits on our oil filled radiator, and hasn’t been used in ages.
The last one was left in a drawer. Then I remembered I have a “bendy neck” desk lamp in the garage..and a blue “knitting” light bulb in the house (about 60p from HomeBase), designed to simulate the daylight wavelengths for colour matching purposes.
Hmm..then the proverbial lightbulb above my head came on. Daylight simulation bulb, spare lamp unit, and a timer switch…the basics of a simple automatic light box!
I fitted the 60W lamp to the light, angled it accordingly to throw a light zone around my pillow without hitting me face-on with the glare, and plugged the light into the timer, set to cut in at 6.30am.
Then I tried it. Went to bed, and woke up at 7am when the alarm went off. I felt somewhat more perky all day..and it stayed that way for a few days. Then I dismantled it to see if it’d stay that way without the lamp. Unfortunatly it didn’t seem to..but I can always set it up again.
Why did I write this? Why not - someone out there might find this page useful..:)
