Summer SAD
Seasonal Affective Disorder--The Summer Kind
The first time I ever fainted was in preschool.
It was a typically hot midwestern summer day and I was leaning against a wall watching toy trains indoors. I remember feeling hot and uncomfortable. Suddenly, I slumped down to the floor. My teacher picked me up and carried me to a cooler area, where I came to shortly after. She let me pick out a stuffed animal after the ordeal. The fainting due to overheating was the first of many. The trauma of fainting is just one of the many reasons I prefer feeling cold.
I’ve said for years that I “come alive” in the colder months whereas many people feel the opposite.
In winter, I feel happy, invigorated, energized, and calm. This can be typical of summer SAD sufferers. In summer, I feel manic and agitated.
Seasonal Affective Disorder, a common mood disorder that was first described by Dr. Norman Rosenthal in 1984, is mostly discussed in terms of how it affects people in winter. People with winter SAD have more tendency towards depression, low energy, and hopelessness.
I found out about its summer counterpart several years ago through some online sleuthing and a discussion with my psychiatrist. I felt relieved. I finally knew what was going on with me, and it made so much sense.
Summer SAD, coined shortly after its winter counterpart, creates different symptoms in its sufferers. According to Dr. Rosenthal, people with summer SAD:
often lose appetite, sleep and weight, and are agitated rather than lethargic—all opposite to the typical symptoms of Winter-SAD.
What causes summer SAD? People still don’t know definitively. Researchers say it could be due to increased light and heat, as well as genetics.
As someone who has Generalized Anxiety Disorder, PTSD, and Sensory Integration Disorder, the heat makes me feel the way I do when I’m having an anxiety or panic attack. I feel sweaty, hypervigilant, and a weirdly floaty (a feeling only anxious people will understand).
Basically, it’s awful.
WebMD (every anxious person’s favorite website) says that 4-6% of the US population is affected by winter SAD. However, approximately 10% of people who experience SAD get it in reverse, and more women than men have SAD (this doesn’t take into account people of other genders, unfortunately).
Each year, as I watch people’s excitement grow about the warmer weather, I think: Why can’t I be like that? and God, I hate those people. Instead of excitement, I feel depressed, anxious, uncomfortable, and irritable. I spend most summers in central air conditioning (if it’s available).
When people make small talk with me about the weather, I always brace myself.
Just the other day, someone said to me, “Isn’t it SO nice out!?”
It was 85ºF with 1000% humidity. My hair loves this weather, but no other part of me does.
I replied meekly, “Yeah…” when what I really wanted to say was: “ARE YOU SERIOUS? I FEEL LIKE DYING!”
But I knew that would get me a weird look.
Part of the depression of summer SAD is due to FOMO (fear of missing out). In summer, everyone else seems to be having a great time. They’re out and about, enjoying the weather, but you—as a sufferer of summer SAD—are self-barricaded in the coolest, darkest room you can find. How do you even ask people to hang out with you?
“Hey… wanna spend some time in a cold dark room?” Most people don’t seem into this. The older I get, the less fomo I have. I’m actually totally fine to not go and do all the things outdoors in summer (or ever, tbh).
If you’re a winter SAD sufferer, you’re not as alone or as isolated, since many more people experience it (and talk about it). Your misery has much more company.
In an article for Psychology Today, Lina Jamis says that:
while winter SAD is linked to a lack of sunlight, it is thought that summer SAD is due to the reverse—possibly too much sunlight, which also lead to modulations in melatonin production.
It’s evident from just the small amount of research done on summer SAD sufferers that a person can be affected by heat, light, or both. Other researchers think summer allergies could also be to blame. For me, it’s the combination of heat, extra daylight, and allergies.
How does one handle SAD in the summertime? Well, I’m still figuring it out. It already feels like summer here in the Midwest, so I’m biding my time until fall.
As I said above, being in air conditioning is major for me (and I know what a privilege it is). However, Dr. Rosenthal tells The Cut that cold therapy is fleeting:
The trouble with cold therapy, which might be seen as the equivalent of light therapy, is that it doesn’t seem to last… If you’re in the cool air conditioning, it helps you while you’re in it, but then when you go outside—my patients have described it as being hit by a wall of heat.
I can definitely attest to this. It’s a shock to the system, going from extreme cold to extreme heat.
Because of the how little summer SAD has been studied (compared to its winter counterpart), we still don’t know how to treat it in the long run. Doctors recommend typical things like staying out of direct sunlight and heat, getting enough sleep, eating well, light exercise, and taking an antidepressant.
Before finding out about summer SAD, I often felt alone in my severe discomfort with summer. I was treated like I was “overreacting” by friends and family. But knowing that others feel this way—knowing that others exist—has been incredibly helpful in my journey.
The next time someone acts like you’re ridiculous because you aren’t basking in the 85-degree weather, remember: you’re not alone! Not everyone likes the feeling of their skin melting off.
Some of us would prefer to lay down in a gentle, soft snow pile than be burned alive by the sun.
🎉 Mood Board for the Week
Watching snowy reels on Instagram and pretending I’m in them
Reading Wintering by Katherine May
How The Beauty Industry Funds Anti-LGBTQ+ Politicians - The Unpublishable
This heart-wrenching and gorgeous essay by Raechel Anne Jolie
I made an “I <3 Winter” playlist (because of course I did)
Cuddling this cutie to sleep every night and it’s been great
Finally got outside for a walk after days being cooped up due to air quality alerts
Thanks for the love on this!
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YES! Thank you so much for sharing. I am convinced I have Summer SAD here in humid Georgia and I consider Summer to be bad for my mental and physical health. Can't wait for Autumn already and Summer has barely even begun here /:
Thank you for sharing this. My sister has it and it adds another layer of difficulty to depression (which totally needed that /s)