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Seasonal Affective Disorder

Annotated Bibliography English 1120

One of the biggest differences I noticed when moving to New Mexico for university was the sun every day. Coming from the Pacific North West I was and am accustomed to many grey rainy days. This being said, there are many people suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder and for them the sun and clouds can impact whether or not they have a good day or a bad day.

House, Lisa A., and Barry Walton. “The Effectiveness of Light Therapy for College Student Depression.” Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, vol. 32, no. 1, Jan. 2018, pp. 42-52. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AN=EJ116943&site=eds-live&scope=site.

The article written by Lisa House and Barry Walton, “Effectiveness of Light Therapy for College Student Depression” evaluates a research study done on college students in the Northeast. All of the students that participated had either depression or a form of depression called Seasonal Affective Disorder which is depression based on the season. The participants of the study were required to sit with in front of a 10 000-lux light box for 15-30 minutes every morning between 8am and 11am for four weeks. The authors explain that the light box therapy is most effective in the morning as symptoms of depression and anxiety are most commonly felt in the morning after waking up. After the four weeks of light box therapy there were very positive results; 98% were “highly satisfied with light box therapy.” (House;Walton) The “average pretreatment depression score for all students indicated severe depression and the average posttreatment depression score was in the minimal depression range.”(House; Walton) In fact, even with a struggling college budget, 35% of the participants in the study chose to purchase their own light box after the study was over.

Miller, Michael Craig. “Seasonal Affective Disorder: Bring on the Light.” Harvard Health Blog, 30 Oct. 2015, https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/seasonal-affective-disorder-bring-on-the-light-201212215663.

In the article “Seasonal Affective Disorder: bring on the light” the author explains what Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is and how the treatment of artificial light can improve the conditions. Miller discusses the fact that symptoms of seasonal depression worsen as the days get shorter and there is more time spent in the dark. Some symptoms and feelings associated with the shorter days for people with SAD include loneliness, worthlessness and fatigue along with long term issues of obesity, lack of exercise, and difficulties in relationships and employment. Miller then goes on to explain how light therapy works by hitting the retina in your eye and connecting to a particular part of the brain; regulating something called the circadian rhythm which essentially is your internal sleep schedule.  The process of light therapy includes placing yourself in front of the “light box” as soon as you wake up for approximately half an hour. Light therapy is still being watched closely in terms of its use as an antidepressant but in the time being is helping many people boost their mood.

Taylor, Julie. “Does Weather Affect Your Mood?” WebMD, WebMD, https://www.webmd.com/balance/features/can-rainy-days-really-get-you-down#1.

The article “Does Weather Affect Your Mood?” the author addresses the rumor that many people believe; cloudy or rainy days can make people feel down or sad. Taylor explains that when people are often in dreary, dark and rainy climates it often tempts people to stay inside and feel down. Taylor had a few ways she suggests avoiding these feelings such as getting outdoors because while it may be rainy and cloudy you are still able to get exposure to UV rays outdoors which supposedly impact your circadian rhythm and can improve peoples mood. The circadian rhythm is affected by the UV rays because not getting UV rays tells your internal clock it may be time to sleep. There are many activities that people are still able to do inside to improve moods such as playing card games, board games or watching a funny television show. One very effective way Taylor advises to boost ones mood and release endorphins is exercising which may seem difficult in your house but it is still possible to move indoors.

“Unraveling the Sun's Role in Depression.” WebMD, WebMD, 5 Dec. 2002, https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20021205/unraveling-suns-role-in-depression.

The article “Unraveling the Sun’s Role in Depression” addresses the link of the chemical serotonin and depression. Serotonin is a chemical produced by your body and has been proven to be a mood-raising chemical. This article mentions a study that was performed on people with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) in order to measure their serotonin levels throughout the year and observe the different factors involved. One thing that became very obvious was that sunny days, whether hot or cold, provided much higher levels of serotonin than did a cloudy or even overcast day. The article explains that an individual suffering from SAD is deficient in the chemical serotonin not in the fluid that circulates and surrounds the brain but in the blood vessels that lead directly to the brain. For individuals struggling with SAD sunlight is essential and a very good way to boost serotonin levels and therefore improve mood and other symptoms such as lack of concentration, fatigue or lack of interest in participating in daily activities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHLg3EIH1xY

Reflection

1.     The purpose of this project was to go more in depth to my research topics by finding different sources and making sense of what they all have to say about my topic. Gathering information about my topic from different sources allows me to get a broader view and more perspective on my topic therefore becoming an expert in that area I am researching.

2.     The intended audience for this project would be people or other researchers interested in my topic; therefore, in my case it could be individuals or loved ones of people suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder or people living in very gloomy climates that think this could be a possibility. This being said, I knew an online tumblr post could be a helpful medium because they are easy to share with others as well as comment and do not require much effort for a depressed person to find at all. I also decided having pictures as a visual aspect would be a helpful tool for readers to more easily comprehend the scientific pieces behind my research rather than just hearing the same concepts being repeated without them having any meaning to the readers.

3.     My initial impression about Tumblr was that it was a very artsy way website where people posted neat craft ideas, home decor, makeup or diy. After spending more time on the platform I realized that there was much more to it than that because I found many blog scientific blog posts as well as political or just informational in general. I thought about simply using word with pictures but decided that there was more creative ways to do it so I began to look for websites where people post blog posts and found the most common one, Tumblr. To be completely honest the reason I chose Tumblr was because there were several other blog post makers but they all cost money and Tumblr was free!

4.     One challenge I faced with technology would be formatting my project on the multimodal platform. It was difficult to transfer my work from a word document to a website blog. When I copy pasted my work from the word document on to Tumblr none of the paragraphs or pictures were aligned properly or in the right spot. In order to fix it I had to retype some parts out and copy paste little chunks of my work at a time. The easiest part about technology is definitely being able to find my sources online rather than going to the library and searching for where to find a book that has any relevance to my topic. I like being able to find many sources at the push of a button and incorporate whichever ideas stick with me when looking through all of the different sources and quickly move on to another one if the current one doesn’t fit.

5.     Something I would like my instructor to know about my process and choices is that I originally started with the idea that weather alters peoples moods. This being said, I found my topic to be a little bit vague and I struggled to find concrete proof or scientific evidence that this was the case. This is when I switched to focus on Seasonal Affective Disorder because it is recognized in the medical field; therefore, having more studies, and was still within the main area I wanted to focus on. I did not know anything about Seasonal Affective Disorder so this project has made me a more well-rounded person.