India has a long tradition of celebrating the monsoons. Most of us want to huddle up with a hot cup of coffee and watch the rain pouring down through the windows.
However, rain is also associated with sadness or a sense of gloom. And too much rain or, perhaps to put it better, too little sun can actually dampen your mood.
You might wake up to a cloudy or rainy morning and want to just cuddle up and continue sleeping.
Or you might want to skip college and stay home with your favourite book. Wanting to spend a lazy morning or afternoon on a day or two is alright, but if it interferes with your daily routine, work and social life, you might be depressed.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is more common among Europeans, especially among people who live in places that do not receive sunlight continuously for months.
Also called winter depression or winter blues, SAD is also known to affect Indians, albeit to a lesser degree due to the tropical climate.
First described by American psychiatrist Norman E Rosenthal and colleagues at the National Center of Mental Health in 1984, others in the field were initially sceptical about it.
Symptoms of the disorder include sluggishness, increased appetite and binging (especially foods high on carbohydrates), a strong urge to sleep or hypersomnia, insomnia at night, irritability or crankiness, feelings of guilt or a sense of worthlessness and low self-esteem.
You might also feel more easily stressed or anxious, have trouble concentrating, experience a reduced sex-drive, gain or lose more weight than normal, and in extreme cases, the person could also have suicidal thoughts.
A person with SAD is generally an otherwise mentally healthy person with mood swings occurring as days grow shorter.
This is often attributed to lack of exposure to sunlight, which can bring about a change in the levels of the neurotransmitters serotonin and melatonin as well as a dip in the vitamin D level, causing disruptions in the circadian rhythm or the sleep-wake cycle.
SAD is also associated with low temperatures and inactivity, and therefore, keeping warm and exercising might help you alleviate symptoms.
Also, frequent exposure to bright light, particularly fluorescent, can effectively turn your mood around as well as act as a preventive measure. However, in severe cases, it would be advisable to seek professional help.
As is the case with other mood disorders, this one too is more common among women.
The disorder can either be unipolar - the person would display symptoms of depression or bipolar, with symptoms of both depression and mania.