Seasonal Affective Disorder: Symptoms

Feeling down? Sluggish? You might be experiencing the winter blues. A more severe form of the winter blues is seasonal affective disorder (SAD). SAD is a type of depression that surfaces in fall and winter, when the shorter periods of daylight seem to throw off their circadian rhythms. Show symptoms of depression and feel lousy nearly every day. Signs and symptoms of SAD include: - Depression - Loss of energy - Anxiety - Irritability - Feeling tired, sleeping more - Loss of interest in sex - Changes in appetite, especially an increased appetite and craving for carbohydrates - Weight gain - Difficulty concentrating and processing information - Withdrawal from friends and family - In women, premenstrual syndrome that worsens or occurs only in winter