TENNESSEE, USA — When the seasons change, so can your mood.
With the shorter days and less sunlight, Seasonal Affective Disorder is more common during the fall and winter months.
According to the Mayo Clinic, Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD is a type of depression that's related to the change of season.
Symptoms can include having low energy, changes to your weight or appetite, and feeling sluggish or agitated.
Clinical Psychologist Dr. Janetta Jamerson said adding pandemic stress to those who suffer with SAD could increase symptoms.
"We don't know when this thing is going to end. With seasonal affective disorder, we know the seasons will change. We can count on that," Dr. Jamerson said. "But this pandemic and COVID-19, we're really not sure how long this is going to go. Fear is a big motivator for mental health disorders."
There's several things you can do to help get ride of the winter blues.
"We can continue our exercise routine. We can continue to eat healthy. There are several good medications out there that can help. Or light therapy..." Dr. Jamerson said. "So there's a lot of things that we can do. We are powerless to change many things in our environment, but we are powerful over how we chose to respond to it."
You can find several light therapy kits online and adding more vitamin D to your diet may help.
If your symptoms don't get better, call your doctor.