I felt so validated reading an excerpt from Andrew Weil, M.D.’s new book, Spontaneous Happiness. To paraphrase his take on why there is a seeming epidemic of Seasonal Affective Disorder, Depression, widespread vitamin D deficiencies and out of whack serotonin and melatonin levels; our bodies have not evolved as quickly as our technologically advanced world has required of them. The adjustment is beyond just “culture shock”; it’s our very biology struggling to adjust.
His understanding jives with my experience of things, not only as someone for whom the onset of winter brings the challenge of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), but also as a trainer of clinicians and a promoter of best practices in treatment approaches for it. It is the frame of our seeing SAD as a ‘normal reaction to an abnormal situation, a natural reaction to an unnatural environment’.
The bottom line is that the mammalian part of us humans are not really built for the current lifestyle we Westerners enjoy; one in which we are cut off from the natural environment and cycles of nature, in what we eat, how much we sleep, what we touch, our limited body movements and amount of sunlight exposure. So many of us are much too sedentary, in temperature controlled, windowless or tinted or even sealed window spaces, staring at computer and other media screens for too many hours. We spend much of our daily life in constantly lighted environments regardless of the time of day or night. Our demands ask for us to keep the same daily and sleep schedule year round, as if our bodies were oblivious to the shifts of daylight hours and seasons through the year. Additionally, our brains are being shouted at more and more from attention seeking sensory stimulating electronic sources than by the more passive and subtle features of the natural environment they were first wired for. These factors, along with the 24/7 media barrage of news and traumatic events and images from the four corners of the globe–as if these events were going down in our front yard–keeps our brains bathed in adrenaline and cortisol, the stimulants that readies the nervous system for dangers, real or imagined, in freeze, flight or fight mode.
The positive side of this holistic perspective is that it informs us, in constructive ways, as to what is needed to maintain our well-being. And for those of us who treat these conditions, it helps us develop an affirming, helpful, multi-dimensional framework for the treatment of our clients coming to us for help with these issues.
Howard Reznick, LCSW-C is currently one of the producer-editors of ifIknew.org, a youth oriented prevention education video and blog site addressing contemporary health issues. A therapist and trainer the past 30 some years, Howard will be leading an upcoming workshop titled; “Ain’t No Cure for the Wintertime Blues?“