SAD Lights

Moving to CA may not be the answer. I live in Southern CA and am a native. I still get seasonal depression. I've considered getting one of those lights. Right now I am on a high dose prescription Vitamin D that we're hoping will help. I have a friend that has one of those lights though and she likes it.

I agree with your husband! I've lived all over the country and nothing beats California.
Also, we may not have "seasons" but we have plenty of beautiful fall color right now, spectacular flowers in the spring, can be at the ocean in less than an hour and have plenty of snow and winter (and mountains and skiing) just a half day's drive away.
Why LIVE in the snow and cold when you can just visit it :-)

J.,

While there are many things about California I love, I don't think moving there will solve the problem!!

Winter isn't over in Chicago until at least February...so that you get "grumpy" from October to January?? There might be something else going on?? Depression maybe? Sorry - but one of your other posts is about the stress of the Holiday's, right? So my guess is after Halloween you start getting depressed knowing what is coming up and what you are dealing with in way of family issues.

Go to your doctor...get your hormones and blood checked for deficiencies.

Columbia University did a study on SAD..
http://www.columbia.edu/~mt12/blt.htm

My friend moved from the Sacramento CA area up to Washington State and it was so dark and dreary. She started having issues and her doc told her to get the lamps. They made a world of difference to her.

I have seen the lamps that were one bulb that did not do that much, I worked with some one who bought a standard neon light fixture (like in the ceiling at work) and put the SAD bulbs in it wired it to be a large panel plug in lamp and mounted it on the wall next to where she spent most of her day. It totally turned things around for her.

It was cheaper than buying the SAD panels that run hundreds of dollars and still worked better than a single bulb lamp. Just a thought.

I just bought one recently to get me through this winter. If it's anything like LAST winter, I'm going to be using it A LOT! I've also heard they really help. Keeping my fingers crossed that I don't spiral down into my usual winter blues.

Of course, moving to Cali would probably help, too. But having all four seasons is something I'm not willing to give up. Would rather be sad for a few months than miss seeing the leaves change in the Fall or new buds bloom in the Spring or that first pristine snow covering the ground in the Winter.

Vitamin D3 liquid gels derived from cholecalciferol. I take 4,000 IU a day. It's sunshine in a bottle and truly helps. I don't get sick all winter, and also don't get depressed. You can find it pretty much anywhere that sells good vitamins.

YES. I love mine. I've had it for years and maybe it's a placebo effect, but I really think it works to mitigate the exhaustion/slight depression I get mid-winter in New England. I have one of the big lamps and it's insanely bright and a little awkward to sit as close to it as you're supposed to, but 100% worth it. They're also a lot cheaper now than they used to be, so I highly recommend getting one.

I've been using a SAD light for years. I can definitely feel its positive effects!

If I didn't live in CA or somewhere that gets a lot of sun, I would probably get a SAD light. I really can't handle not seeing the sun for very long. I do need the sun to feel happy.

Hopefully, the SAD light will be of help to you. Sounds like it has helped some of the responders, but if it does not help you, then you may want to address this through nutritional supplementation. Rather than using a prescription vitamin D, which is probably going to be synthetic and not a healthy option, you should go with a food supplement that does not use synthetic vitamins. I know an excellent one to recommend since it helped a friend of mine with SAD, but don't want to turn this into an advertisement, so let me know if you want to hear my recommendation.

I have a very small one. It automatically dies out after about an hour although it is electrical. I guess there is a timer on it. I really do not see a difference with it other than a reading lamp...