Once the clocks
go back, it feels as through the barmy days of summer are over and the winter
months have truly arrived. It is
important that we realise that this often leads us into depression.
Seasonal
Affective Disorder (SAD) is not as uncommon as many may think. Within the mysterious depths of our brains
and bodies remains the ancient systems that adjusts our sleep and energy
patterns causing mood and behaviour that go with the ebb and flow of nature’s
seasons.
Many moons ago, especially in temperate
latitudes, we evolved a genetic makeup that promoted the “winter blues” or
today we call it depression.
We ate a lot, slept a lot and did less
physically and socially. This helped
conserve valuable energy. It was an
evolutionary advantage for surviving the harshness of winter.
However today in the twenty-first
century, we try and carry on with our lives as usual. The changing seasons are ignored, as we are
not ruled by the rising and the setting of the sun, because we have electricity
and the alarm clock.
It was natural for most people who lived
and worked in the country to go to bed at sunset and get up at dawn to utilise
the daylight hours, but with fewer hours of daylight, we were kept in the dark
for so much longer.
For some, the effects are relatively
benign. Being a bit cranky, putting on a few extra pounds and snuggling on the settee
at the weekend instead of hitting the town, isn’t the hardest cross to bear
But for others, the by-product of this
mismatch between the demands of modern living and nature includes lethargy,
melancholy, withdrawal from life and complete despair, clinically known as Seasonal
Affective Disorder (SAD).
To some it is known as seasonal
depression, winter depression or the misleadingly sugar-coated term, the winter
blues. It is a form of light starvation.
Electric light is mainly yellow and
fails to compensate for the natural sunlight that we receive. Sunlight is white and is made up of the full
spectrum of the available colours.
White light lamps can be purchased and
need only be used from half an hour to an hour a day while you carry on with
your life or lives. They certainly can
make a difference.
Rather than suffer with depression, a
little research can be employed and, with the Internet available, much can be
illuminated into whether you suffer needlessly.
Light therapy is safe and simple. It is not intrusive to your daily life and
the results start to happen quickly and easily.
SAD can be treated and there is not longer a need to be sad anymore.
Spiritual healing is also available and
any good Hands-on-Healer will be able to help and advise through the Power of
God’s healing. Miracles happen every
day.
The biggest miracle however often remains
and that is not to suffer any more, but to get on and do something about it
yourself! Doctors simply peddle pills
called anti-depressants.
If you go down that road you will be on them
for life, when spiritual alternatives are available and you can deal with your
own problems in your own way.
Hands-on-Healing is a safe and simple
way to allow that Higher Power into your life to help you through love and your
own freewill.
Jenny and Michael Ayers
Monday, 5th November 2018
