Summertime Blues

Sure we’ve all heard about seasonal affective disorder (SAD), where people get more depressed in winter. But in less than 1%, people with SAD become depressed in the summer and not the winter. Except for the season, the symptoms are exactly the same as for the more conventional SAD, where people feel hopeless, unhappy, and overly sleepy. Patients often experience chronic body aches or migraines. Too much sunlight is thought to cause the summertime SAD, which triggers the brain into making too little brain neurotransmitters and the hormone melatonin, which helps regulate the body clock. SAD is treatable.