How to Overcome Seasonal Affective Disorder in Alaska

Feeling blue. Cabin fever. The doldrums. If you live in Alaska, where the winters are long and gray and the spring and summer sometimes struggles to shake the dreariness off, some of these might sound familiar to you. The winter blues are definitely a real thing, but if your symptoms are getting more intense you might have something called seasonal affective disorder (SAD). 

While SAD affects people throughout the United States, it’s more prevalent in the northernmost states where winter months are darker, colder, and last longer. Which means for those of us living here in Alaska, we need to watch out. It’s normal to feel less energetic during the winter, but researchers believe that people with seasonal affective disorder have abnormal biological responses to changes in sunlight exposure, adversely affecting their health in many ways. 

Yes, we’re in the summer months now, and if you have SAD your symptoms should be better. But if you weren’t sure why your cabin fever held on so long, and suspect you might have this disorder, it’s good to know what you’re dealing with before next winter rolls around.

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