Blog - Is there such a thing as the July Slump
Listening to my fellow SADders I realise that quite often our mood dips around July time, and I wondered why this might be.......
Over the years I have come to realise that Seasonal Affective Disorder is not just a winter thing, it has a full year cycle of peaks and troughs in moods and physical symptoms. At the finer points these variations through the year are both personal and and different from year to year, but a theme can be seen.
Consider the cycle starting in January where those of us in the Northern Hemisphere are in the depths of winter. We are fighting the fight and dealing with our stuff day by day. It's tough and every little problem feels huge. We are exhausted, anxious and depressed, fighting food cravings and the crushing desire to sleep. However, we have made it through the winter solstice and spring is a matter of weeks away. Although it is a long way off the light is at the end of the tunnel.
March and April comes and most of us are starting to feel better; spring is nearly here and life is going to improve.
May and June often brings a deep sense of relief. Some have commented on how they feel like they have been through a great trauma and it is over now. We can relax and hopefully get some warmth and sun and we are winning our battles.
Then July and August arrive and we are at our healthiest and have recovered from the effect of winter. This is when we notice that the belief that we held in the winter that everything will be ok once summer comes was a lie. We still have family problems, money worries or trouble with our neighbours. Life isn't all butterflies and roses, it's real and at times hard.
It's natural for us to think that this is somehow the return of our SAD symptoms and, for some it might be. If you've been using sun block, covering up or working inside most days then you could still be low on Vit D, but even then, supplementing doesn't solve the problems.
It is important to remember that just because it is summer, we still have problems, life can still throw us the odd curve ball. Because these times remind us of winter we lose our faith in our ability to deal with the problem and are at risk of spiralling down.
If this is something you think might be happening to you it is important to see it for what it is and do what you can to deal with it. The sooner we can accept that things go wrong in the summer too the sooner we can work on our resiliance to deal with it.
You are solar powered, catch some rays and go sort that shit out! You never know, if you fix it now you won't have to deal with it when winter comes around again.
Hope your getting sun where you are!!!!
