What is Mountain Affective Disorder (MAD)?
Some people experience serious mood changes during the winter months due to the decrease in natural sunlight. This condition is called seasonal affective disorder (SAD for short). But what if you live in a place where there is not much natural sunlight year-round? Perhaps instead of suffering from SAD, the residents of Hobart are suffering from MAD?
What are the symptoms of Mountain Affective Disorder?*
You may:
Feel sad, grumpy, moody, or anxious.
Lose interest in your usual activities.
Eat more.
Sleep more and feel drowsy during the daytime.
*Symptoms may come and go
How can MAD be treated?
Doctors might prescribe light therapies. There are two types:
Bright light therapy.
For this treatment, you sit in front of a purpose built light box that mimics natural outdoor light for short periods of time (15 – 30 minutes).
Dawn simulation.
Lack of light can have many effects, including upsetting your circadian rhythms consequently altering your sleep-wake cycle. For this treatment, a dim light turns on in the morning while you sleep, it gets brighter over time, like a sunrise.
Other therapies will be addressed in the coming weeks, stay tuned…
1 comment:
I stay in this great hotel in Christchurch that had a simulated dawn as an alarm. After the lights turned on slowly you sat up in bed and watched the tv which turned on automatically to a few minutes of calming sunrise over lake and mountain.
I think Christchurch has really odd times to flights to Sydney and L.A so there must have been a demand for it.
It was the best wake up I have ever had.
can you post about the gently turning on light- I what one
Post a Comment