Duncan Chiropractic Group Newsletter

From Your Howell Michigan Area Chiropractor

Did You Know?

The medical definition of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is: symptoms of depression coinciding with seasons of shorter days and less sunlight. This is blamed on our (so-called) biological internal clocks, or circadian rhythm, and it is said that SAD sufferers are more likely to be women and younger persons. Other symptoms include a craving for sugary foods, such as sweets, candies, and refined carbohydrates.

The true cause of SAD is the lack of exposure to natural sunlight.

If you lack sufficient sunlight on your skin, you can suffer from health effects like depression. That's because the human body is designed for frequent sunlight exposure. Sunlight provides an essential element to the human body... something that you need on a frequent basis in order to achieve optimum health... Vitamin D.

In order to reverse seasonal affective disorder, or sunlight deficiency, the only treatment necessary is, of course, to get more natural sunlight on your skin. Sunlight is the answer, and all people need to do is step outside and expose their skin to natural sunlight for a few minutes each day, and their body and nature will take care of the rest. A person who makes a point to get natural sunlight on their skin on a frequent basis -- daily, if possible--will experience a wide range of benefits, including improvement in mood, an ending of any state of depression they may have experienced, and enhanced brain function.

Depending on where you live, of course, it may be difficult for you to get natural sunlight on a regular basis, and so the next best thing is to get high-intensity, full-spectrum lighting. These are essentially very bright lights that radiate some of the same frequencies as the natural sun. However, this is only the second best thing. Nothing replaces natural sunlight in terms of intensity and frequency.

The bottom line to all of this is that seasonal affective disorder is treated by relying on nature -- sunlight, plants, fresh air, regular physical exercise, and living foods.