Good morning everyone and welcome back to the Breakroom!
So I truly struggled to come up with a good topic for today’s post. I’ve felt like I have been in a fog all week, not a whole lot of motivation, tired, slightly overwhelmed, and just uninspired. I had a few cool ideas centered around the holidays but either I need some additional prep time for them or they didn’t pan out. I even grabbed my phone and was trying to search for good topics when you are feeling so uninspired when it dawned on me. SAD: Seasonal Affective Disorder. You will recall in a later season of The Office this is referenced by Toby Flenderson as a reason why he wanted to be considered to go down to Florida. And, of course, an earlier episode explains that office workers are notoriously prone to depression in general.
While I am not going to presume I have Seasonal Affective Disorder, there is certainly the very real chance and I think it is important to talk about it. I do wish to clarify that I am by no means a medical provider and I am using research conducted from a variety of sources. If you believe you have depression, please reach out to your medical provider to seek help.
So what is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)? Citing the Mayo Clinic:
“Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that’s related to changes in seasons — SAD begins and ends at about the same times every year. If you’re like most people with SAD, your symptoms start in the fall and continue into the winter months, sapping your energy and making you feel moody. These symptoms often resolve during the spring and summer months. Less often, SAD causes depression in the spring or early summer and resolves during the fall or winter months.1“
It is important to note that SAD is different than the holiday blues since this doesn’t have so much to do with the various holidays or events occurring, but linked to change in the seasons and daylight. And while SAD is seen as temporary to a degree it is still recommended to reach out to your healthcare provider if you or someone who know is meeting the symptoms. Between the cute acronym and use of the word “seasonal” it is too often brushed aside as nothing to worry about it. It is still a form of depression and while treatable, is by no means a laughing manner and should not be ignored.
Taking additional information from the Mayo Clinic, they list the following as the predominate symptoms. While these are most common, that is not to say there are not uncommon signs which can occur.
- Feeling listless, sad or down most of the day, nearly every day
- Losing interest in activities you once enjoyed
- Having low energy and feeling sluggish
- Having problems with sleeping too much
- Experiencing carbohydrate cravings, overeating and weight gain
- Having difficulty concentrating
- Feeling hopeless, worthless or guilty
- Having thoughts of not wanting to live
Fall and winter SAD
Symptoms specific to winter-onset SAD, sometimes called winter depression, may include:
- Oversleeping
- Appetite changes, especially a craving for foods high in carbohydrates
- Weight gain
- Tiredness or low energy
Spring and summer SAD
Symptoms specific to summer-onset seasonal affective disorder, sometimes called summer depression, may include:
- Trouble sleeping (insomnia)
- Poor appetite
- Weight loss
- Agitation or anxiety
- Increased irritability
Reviewing a lot of these signs, it is pretty interesting to note that almost everyone I know goes through these various symptoms throughout the year. In particular, I feel these all become much more commonplace during winter months. Is that to say everyone is depressed? Certainly not, I feel a lot of it does come down to some of the “winter blues” rather than SAD. I think the most important piece to help differentiate is taking the time to be aware of how you are feeling and be able to talk about it with people. There has always been a stigma with showing such weakness or admitting that you might have mental health issues. Thankfully society has become much more forgiving and many of us do feel more comfortable with admitting when we are not doing well. This week alone I was very bummed when I did not get a follow up interview for a job I’d applied for, felt overwhelmed at work, and then felt a bit overwhelmed with things around the house. Between friends, family, and my husband (and dogs) I felt better than I would have been if I tried to suck it up and suffer through. I am not saying we need to complain about every little inconvenience in our lives, but learnings to take stock of events and feelings we know should be talked about.
So we have gone through what SAD is, the primary symptoms, and even learned that it can occur in the summer as well as winter. So how can we treat it? Treatment certainly comes down to the type of symptoms you have so there is range. For those with the mild cases, light therapy and vitamin D will become your best friends. Vitamin D can be purchased in supplements while light therapy was very much all the range with those special lights people could buy for their office. I have one myself which I have not used in a couple years so I ought to break that out to see if it helps. Exercise has also been shown to help because it helping your body move and get the necessary hormones and such that you get from being active.2
Additionally the other forms of treatment include therapy and even antidepressants. These are not things you can just pick up on Amazon and this is why it is so important to recognize that you might need to speak to a professional if Vitamin D and a fancy light are not really have an effect on you. If you believe you are experiencing depression, even if you think it is season, contact your healthcare provider so you can get their recommendation on finding the best treatment.
If anyone has any personal experience being diagnosed with and dealing with SAD, please share some insight for our readers. I always say that even if your words affect just one person, that is one person who has been changed from your action.
I hope I was able to help give some insight into SAD and reminding people it is a very real condition and not something that should be ignored. I hope you all have a great weekend and send me plenty of inspiration and motivation while I work on a few projects I have in mind for Breakroom Breakdown. And always, I’ll see you around the Breakroom!
- (2021, December 14). Seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Mayo Clinic. Retrieved December 4, 2025, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/seasonal-affective-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20364651 ↩︎
- Schreier, J. (2024, October 16). Seasonal affective disorder: More than feeling sad. Mayo Clinic Health System. Retrieved December 4, 2025, from https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/seasonal-affective-disorder-more ↩︎
