Can Your Mood Be Drastically Affected by the Change of Seasons?

If you’ve ever felt different during certain seasons, you are not alone. Millions of individuals around the world suffer from something known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Although, you might be curious: just how much can a change of seasons affect your mood, and why exactly does this happen?

Why Mood is Altered by Seasonal Changes

Typically, a negative change in mood due to change of seasons happens during the cooler months. Mood is normally altered due to reduced levels of sunlight, which in turn can drop our serotonin levels. As a result of dropped serotonin levels, a depressed mood or anxiousness may arise or get worse than normal.

In rare cases, someone may experience seasonal affective disorder during the warmer months. While more research needs to be done on this form of seasonal depression, the change in mood may be correlated with an increase in heat and humidity, which may increase cortisol in some individuals. Others may experience summer depression due to past trauma.

Others believe the change in melatonin levels during the summer months can throw off the circadian rhythm and, thus, impact sleep, which may trigger low mood. Those who experience anxiety and panic attacks may have increased anxiety in the summer due to a faster heart rate due to the heat of the summer, which may be a trigger for more anxiety.

Signs of Seasonal Affective Disorder

Seasonal affective disorder isn’t just feeling a little blue during certain months. There are more symptoms that one may experience if they have this diagnosis.

Apart from depression, SAD may trigger anxiety, panic attacks, reduced motivation, feelings of hopelessness, or suicidal ideation. Other signs and symptoms might include social withdrawal, a drastic increase or decrease in sleep, a drastic change in appetite, and lower levels of energy. While every individual with seasonal affective disorder is different, typically these symptoms start and end right at the signs of seasonal changes. In some cases, they may linger even when the season ends or may not start up until halfway through the season, for instance.

Getting Professional Help

Is a change in mood, productivity, and sleep bothering you during the change of seasons? You may benefit from seasonal depression treatment in Orange County.

Not sure if you need help? If your life is moderately to severely affected due to mood alterations from change of seasons, treatment is necessary. Don’t hesitate to call a treatment facility with any questions that you may have. You deserve to get help for this debilitating condition and to feel happy again.

If you or someone you know is at risk of hurting themselves due to SAD, call an ambulance or the police for immediate help.

Conclusion

A drastic change in mood caused by a change of seasons is not unheard of. In fact, it’s a very real situation that affects so many people, more than we realize. Even for those whose mood isn’t drastically altered by a change of season, how energetic we feel on a daily basis, our level of hunger, among other factors, can also be affected by season changes.

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