Thank you for this helpful article about seasonal affective disorder and possible treatments.

I take my grandpa outside his nursing home and push him around his wheelchair so he can get exposed to sunlight and fresh air. It helps me too as one of his caregivers so i can get my vitamin d.

this is very helpful, especialy about the vitamin D and light box which are easy-enuf solutions

Yeah. That is why I'm supposed to wear sunglasses if I'm on the computer before bedtime. Ought to wake me up in the morning, though, eh?

Hey Jeanne,

I've heard working at your monitor at night is just like a light box, staring into a big bright bulb. What I shouldn't be doing right now. I forgot that I also take tryptophan and something called "Night Rest" that you can get at health food stores, and I absolutely swear by both of them. I've taken them for years. It works great for me. Note about tryptophan: a Japanese producer made a really bad batch that killed people, I think in the 70s. It hasn't been around much since, but it's coming back. According to what I have read, there's nothing intrinsically dangerous in taking tryptophan. But man, it works.

I'm seeing a psychologist who specializes in sleep problems. He has recommended bright light for a 1/2 hour or so in the morning and again in the afternoon. He said that although their sleep clinic sells the light boxes all it really takes is a bright light. It doesn't have to be full spectrum either. He suggested a garage-type trouble light that can take a 100 W bulb. I haven't gotten one yet, but I'm going to give that a try! Also, for a while before going to bed, he wants me in dim light. If I'm reading or working on the computer I should try sunglasses to reduce the glare. Hmmm ... his "light therapy" is not very high tech, but it is definitely affordable. Now the questions is, will it work? Stay tuned! :-)

Hi Jeanne--I think you are right, vit. D can work great with monitoring. I forgot to mention fish oil, we both take it. We live in Flagstaff, where it gets pretty cold too! But probably not quite as cold as Minnesota. Another thing to try I was going to mention: a dawn simulator. Supposedly if you have any kind of bipolar disorder a light box could cause mania. But a dawn simulator seems to be safer. It just slowly turns lights on (they have to be incandescent), and for some people this helps reset hormones, avoiding the effects of "bad" hormones that are stimulated when the usual sleep and wake processes aren't working right.

Hannalee, I immediately looked up where you live when I read your advice about wheeling your loved one out into the sun for breakfast. Yup. Arizona! Good for you. That is not much of an option for Minnesotans, for much of the year. :-) Definitely, though, if your climate allows it, that is a great route to take.

In this northern climate, many people need to take vitamin D supplements. It would be hard to guess at dosage, but it can be tested when other lab work is done or by itself. After you've been on a supplement a while, it can be tested again, and the dosage adjusted.

My mother, who is bipolar and also gets SAD, gets melatonin at night. Along with that, it would be most helpful to get someone like that out in direct sunlight, very preferable in the morning. Both of those things help the person to get sleepy in the dark and wake completely in the morning. That helps other hormones regulate themselves. It's also my unorthodox view that there's not a lot of evidence that antidepressants actually work. Although for me personally they seemed to work at least once. I still think they are inferior to melatonin at night and sunlight in the morning, even if you have to wheel the person out in the sun for breakfast.

Keeping warm with light weight, comfy coverings, comfortable seating, and plenty of warm light helps us all through winter blues. Background music can add to the warm feelings. Eradicate drafts!