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Seasonal Affective Disorder: Tips for Brighter Days · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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  Speaker 1: You've joined the Waking crew here on FM ninety five
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  Speaker 1: one and AM fourteen sixty wix N. It is now
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  Speaker 1: time for more talk line Today, I have an additional
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  Speaker 1: guest for you for my first day back from vacation,
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  Speaker 1: and we're diving into a topic that I think a
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  Speaker 1: lot of people feel this time of year but don't
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  Speaker 1: always talk about, and that's seasonal effective disorder or kind
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  Speaker 1: of right on the nose is SAD. Joining me today
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  Speaker 1: is Gillian Emodio. Gillian is a licensed mental health professional
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  Speaker 1: and psychology professor and the founder of Moms for Mental Health,
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  Speaker 1: a popular online support community where she's written extensively about
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  Speaker 1: seasonal depression, works with clients managing it every day, and
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  Speaker 1: has even authored a book focused on bringing more joy
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  Speaker 1: into daily life. You may actually have seen or her.
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  Speaker 1: Jillian's work featured in places like Psychology Today, The New
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  Speaker 1: York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Time, Forbes,
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  Speaker 1: Parent Magazine, just to name a few. She's a frequent
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  Speaker 1: expert voice on TV, radio, podcasts, and online, and I'm
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  Speaker 1: thrilled to have her with us. Jillian, thank you so
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  Speaker 1: much for joining me this morning.
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  Speaker 2: How are you, of course, of course I'm good. Happy
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  Speaker 2: to be here, thanks for having me wonderful.
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  Speaker 1: Let's just start with the basics, Jillian, because I think
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people hear the term seasonal effective disorder,
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  Speaker 1: but they aren't exactly sure what it means. What is said,
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  Speaker 1: and how is it different from just feeling a little
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  Speaker 1: bit down or stressed out during the winter.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so seasonal effective disorder is really that kind of
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  Speaker 2: cyclical depression, like the symptoms that arise typically around the winter. Now,
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  Speaker 2: interestingly enough, not all people do experience seasonal effective disorder
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  Speaker 2: in the winter. Some will experience it at different times
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  Speaker 2: of year, but mainly speaking, this happens in the winter months.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, people who might otherwise go throughout the
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  Speaker 2: rest of the year without feeling sym terms of sadness
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  Speaker 2: or depression, war shifts in mood, they all of a
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  Speaker 2: sudden start to feel this low and this heaviness and
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  Speaker 2: this sadness, and maybe they're experiencing things like fatigue or
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  Speaker 2: loss of interest and activities they once liked to do.
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  Speaker 2: And it's different than being just a little bit sad
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  Speaker 2: or a little bit unhappy, because it's hard to pull
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  Speaker 2: yourself out of, you know, just like depression is different
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  Speaker 2: than being just a little bit sad. We all get sad,
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  Speaker 2: but can we function through it? Is it impacting our
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  Speaker 2: daily life? Is it impacting our quality of life? And
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  Speaker 2: when this happened cyclically, especially in the winter, that's what
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  Speaker 2: we're looking at, that femalfective disorder.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, we're coming up on January now, the
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  Speaker 1: days are shorter, the weather's colder. Why is it that
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  Speaker 1: this time of year tends to hit people's mental health
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  Speaker 1: especially hard?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I mean so technically it's alsis is
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  Speaker 2: behind us. Okay, we're supposed to be getting these longer days,
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  Speaker 2: but it really doesn't feel like that yet. You know,
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  Speaker 2: we still have the long, cold winter days, still getting
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  Speaker 2: really dark early. A lot of the times it's very gray,
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  Speaker 2: more difficult to get outside. Those who have, you know,
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  Speaker 2: like breathing struggle, trouble struggles, whether it be asthma or
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  Speaker 2: like reactive airways, it's hard to be outside without getting
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  Speaker 2: that chest tightness or coughing. So a lot of people
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  Speaker 2: are kind of stuck indoors now. The reason it typically
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  Speaker 2: kind of hits mid January or after the holidays is
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  Speaker 2: because before that we have the holiday season to keep
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  Speaker 2: us engaged, keep us active, keep us busy. But after
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  Speaker 2: the holidays are gone, it's this long stretch of winter
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  Speaker 2: where a lot of people say, what now, what do
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  Speaker 2: I do now? You know?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah? And for listeners who might be wondering if what
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  Speaker 1: they're feeling is more than just holiday stress, what would
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  Speaker 1: be some of the common signs of seasonal depression that
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  Speaker 1: they should pay attention to?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? Is this outside the norm for you? Are you
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  Speaker 2: feeling different than you usually do? Are you having trouble
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  Speaker 2: getting out of bed in the morning? Are you having
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  Speaker 2: trouble doing self care tasks, getting up, taking a shower,
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  Speaker 2: and eating meals? Are you withdrawing some friends and family?
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  Speaker 2: Have you stopped doing activities you'd like to do? Have
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  Speaker 2: you stopped going to your boweling league or your trivia
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  Speaker 2: nights or your dinners with friends? Are you crying? Are
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  Speaker 2: you weepy? Are you irritable? Are you more tired than usual?
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  Speaker 2: Are you struggling to get things done like work or
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  Speaker 2: leisure activities?
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  Speaker 1: And you know, you know, you do? You know moms
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  Speaker 1: for mental health, So this is really something that you
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  Speaker 1: know quite a bit about, on top of already knowing
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  Speaker 1: quite a bit about, you know, for moms especially how
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  Speaker 1: does seasonal depression show up differently when you're the one
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  Speaker 1: responsible for keeping everyone else's holiday magic going, Because it
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  Speaker 1: just seems like that's kind of the expectation. Am I
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  Speaker 1: wrong here?
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  Speaker 2: No, it can really compound, you know, especially dad's play
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  Speaker 2: an important role too, right, Parents play are very important role.
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  Speaker 2: But society we speaking and traditionally speaking women moms are
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  Speaker 2: the ones who really do that unspoken work of keeping
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  Speaker 2: the magic going and really just doing kind of all
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  Speaker 2: that unseen labor that is visible labor, and they tend
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  Speaker 2: to do it quietly. A lot of them do it
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  Speaker 2: without complaints, but without complaint doesn't necessarily mean they're doing
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  Speaker 2: it without consequence. So oftentimes they're experiencing an increase in stress,
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  Speaker 2: a decrease in sleep, a decrease in time for self care.
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  Speaker 2: And while in short spurts that is okay, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we all have stressful weeks where we're kind of doing
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  Speaker 2: more than usual, but hopefully that's a shortened time frame.
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  Speaker 2: But when we're looking at these big stretches of winter,
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  Speaker 2: especially these big stretches of holidays where you're building magic
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  Speaker 2: from you know, October through uh through January first, that's
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  Speaker 2: a very so long period, and then on top of that,
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  Speaker 2: it's also especially moms of the young kids, how are
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  Speaker 2: you keeping those kids active and engaged during the winter months.
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  Speaker 2: They tend to get outside. They can still go outside
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  Speaker 2: and do things, playing at the park. Bundling them up,
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  Speaker 2: that's fine, but it can be more challenging to keep
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  Speaker 2: our kids engaged and active and happy during those long
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  Speaker 2: winter months. And moms kind of put their own mental
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  Speaker 2: health on the back burner, so they might be taking
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  Speaker 2: care of everybody else, but their mental health starts to struggle,
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  Speaker 2: and even their physical health starts to struggle. Because it's
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  Speaker 2: all very interconnected.
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  Speaker 1: What can moms and other people you know, dealing with
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  Speaker 1: said kind of do on their own to kind of
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  Speaker 1: help And at what point should someone stop trying to
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  Speaker 1: manage that on their own and consider speaking with a
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  Speaker 1: professional so that some of the red flags, so to say,
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  Speaker 1: of it's time to get help.
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  Speaker 2: Sure. Yeah, so a couple of things to remember. You know,
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  Speaker 2: it's kind of like that that whole analogy with the
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  Speaker 2: oxygen mask. You know, moms, you cannot take care of
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  Speaker 2: your kids, you cannot take care of your family, you
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  Speaker 2: cannot take care of your coworkers unless you're taking care
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  Speaker 2: of yourself. So please make sure that every day you
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  Speaker 2: are doing something to take care of yourself and put
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  Speaker 2: yourself first. That it's not selfish, that is self preservation.
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  Speaker 2: But then, speaking about everybody in general, what can we
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  Speaker 2: do to combat seasonal effective disorder? One is just routine.
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  Speaker 2: Stick to your routine as much as possible. Get up
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  Speaker 2: at a certain time, make your breakfast, make your bed,
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  Speaker 2: do your self care. Do one productive task a day.
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  Speaker 2: If you're working full time part time and you're getting
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  Speaker 2: your job done. If you're not, you're doing things around
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  Speaker 2: the house. What's one task you can get done. Maybe
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  Speaker 2: it's that basket of laundry. Maybe it's something as simple
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  Speaker 2: as I want to finish this book. It's been on
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  Speaker 2: my nightstand forever. Whatever it is, make sure you're doing
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  Speaker 2: one task at the end of the day and go,
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  Speaker 2: I'm so glad I got that done. Make sure you're
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  Speaker 2: getting physical activity. It doesn't have to be you know,
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  Speaker 2: major workouts at the gym, but we need to be walking.
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  Speaker 2: You can use the treadmill, you can walk outside. You
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  Speaker 2: can do some weightlifting. You can do a pull dates
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  Speaker 2: class or yoga class, or a zoom a class. You
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  Speaker 2: can just go walking with friends around the block or
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  Speaker 2: the loop in your inside ball area, but you've got
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  Speaker 2: to keep your body moving. That's imperative. The more sedentary
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  Speaker 2: we are, the more escalated those symptoms are going to become.
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  Speaker 2: It's also important to stay connected, so call your friends,
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  Speaker 2: call your family, spend time out in the community, go
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  Speaker 2: do events, indoor, outdoor, whatever it is. Stay connected to
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  Speaker 2: the people around you. Eat nourishing foods. I always say
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  Speaker 2: eat seasonally, so eat warm suits and things that are
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  Speaker 2: going to really fill your body with the nutrients you need,
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  Speaker 2: keep your body going, energize the brains. You can also
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  Speaker 2: speak a dietician if you need help with that. But
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  Speaker 2: then of course it's totally okay to call your primary
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  Speaker 2: care or call your therapist or see a psychiatrist and say, hey,
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  Speaker 2: I'm struggling and this isn't getting better. I still got
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  Speaker 2: a long stretch of winter ahead of me. I really
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  Speaker 2: think I need something to help push me through. There
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  Speaker 2: is no shame in seeking outside help, and there's no
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  Speaker 2: shame in seeking medication. Some people are on antidepressions all
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  Speaker 2: year long, and that's how they function best, and that
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  Speaker 2: is incredible that they are putting themselves first and doing
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  Speaker 2: what they need to do. Some people just go on
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  Speaker 2: medication to support themselves during either a very stressful time
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  Speaker 2: in their life or during like seasonal depression. I have
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  Speaker 2: many clients who we know that by the time end
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  Speaker 2: of November or early December hit, they're starting to feel
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  Speaker 2: some depression. So we start them back on medication in
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  Speaker 2: October and then they skip that hole oh my gosh,
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  Speaker 2: I'm feeling so well and feeling so depressed, because they're
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  Speaker 2: just going to fly right through and they'll come back
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  Speaker 2: off of the spring.
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  Speaker 1: And for those listening who might have a loved one
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  Speaker 1: who's struggling, what's the best way to offer someone's support
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  Speaker 1: without making them feel judged or dismissed.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, just show up, you know, show up, talk to them,
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  Speaker 2: show them you care, staying in their lives, and you
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  Speaker 2: can even ask, hey, you know you've been seeming a
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  Speaker 2: little down lately, or you're not your usual self, what's
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  Speaker 2: going on? Talk to me, Invite them to go out,
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  Speaker 2: invite them to go on a walk. But don't stay silent.
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  Speaker 2: You know, mental health is not this shameful thing that
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  Speaker 2: needs to be dealt with in silence. Foreign shame. It
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  Speaker 2: really needs to be brought out and to be open.
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  Speaker 2: Just like light fixes female depression, bringing our mental health
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  Speaker 2: out into the light is really what helps as well.
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  Speaker 1: Wonderful and we're about out of time, but you know,
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  Speaker 1: you moms for mental health. Where where can folks find
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  Speaker 1: that and and what can they expect to find that?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so you can get to it actually right there
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  Speaker 2: in my website www dot Gillian Amado dot com j
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  Speaker 2: I L L I A N A M O d
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  Speaker 2: I O dot com. It's also on Facebook and it
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  Speaker 2: is the daily online Support Group, Free of Judgment, very inclusive,
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  Speaker 2: and you're going to get kind of peer to peer support.
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  Speaker 2: They're going to get referrals and resources to the variant
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  Speaker 2: things you might need to support your mental health or
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  Speaker 2: the mental health of those you love, book recommendations, all
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  Speaker 2: kinds of things where if you just need somebody who
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  Speaker 2: understands and you need a place we can talk about
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  Speaker 2: mental health without feeling like it's going to be shamed
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  Speaker 2: about it and we're here for you.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I really appreciate that you sharing that resource and
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  Speaker 1: not only you know, sharing all this information with us today,
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  Speaker 1: but what you're doing in that space and helping folks
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  Speaker 1: I think this is an incredibly important message, especially you know,
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  Speaker 1: during the times of holidays, where everybody does seem to
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  Speaker 1: have that pressure of expectation of we should be happy,
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  Speaker 1: we should be we should be cheerful. You know, it's
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  Speaker 1: the holidays. It can be a really, really stressful time,
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  Speaker 1: and I think this is a topic that not a
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  Speaker 1: lot of people know about, and I think that awareness
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  Speaker 1: really needs to be spread.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, there's definitely a lot of guilt sometimes. Why
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  Speaker 2: am I feeling this way? But guilt has no place here.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I'm so glad, Gillian. Thank you so much for
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  Speaker 1: joining us today and we look forward to speaking with
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  Speaker 1: you again in the future.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much. To be well.