What is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)? A Teens Guide to Beating the Winter Blues

Ever notice how your mood changes with the seasons? You're not alone! Seasonal affective disorder, also known as SAD is a type of depression that hits during certain times of the year, usually in the winter months when there's less sunlight (Mayo Clinic, 2021). Some call it “winter blues”. This can seriously affect teens who are already dealing with school, friends, parents and the challenges of growing up. Don't brush off that yearly case of the “winter blues” if you notice your mood, or a friend's mood changing with the season; this may be Seasonal Affective Disorder. Realizing the signs can help you take steps to feeling better. Use the tips and treatment options in this post to help get rid of those “winter blues” and start feeling like yourself all year.

What is Seasonal Affective Disorder?

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is short periods when you feel - sad - or just not yourself. Most of these changes start and end when the seasons are changing. Although it can occur during other seasons, the most common form of SAD is the “winter blues”. When the days get shorter and darker it can feel like your motivation and energy disappear. (National Institute of Mental Health, 2023). Sometimes these mood changes can be very serious and have a significant impact on your life.

How does seasonal affective disorder affect your life?

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) can impact a person’s mood, energy levels, and overall quality of life, especially during certain times of the year. Knowing how it affects people is important not just for personal health, but also for your school and future.

People with SAD might feel sad, and tired, have trouble sleeping or sleep too much, and lose interest in activities they used to enjoy. These symptoms can affect daily life and happiness.

School may already be a source of stress for some teens - those with SAD might see a drop in attention, more missed days, and more late arrivals due to sleeping in. It’s hard to stay motivated and focused when you’re down. With all this in mind, students with SAD might experience a drop in grades, unfairly damaging their future opportunities. These reasons and more are why it’s so important to stay on top of your mental health!

Examples of Symptoms

Seasonal affective disorder is actually a branch of the larger tree called ‘major depression’ (Depressive Disorders, 2025) - which is basically when you’re sad much longer than you should be. Sounds scary, right? It doesn’t have to be, there’s a whole safety net of support out there to help: from loved ones and friends, to local institutions, organizations like Kids Help Phone and articles like this one!

SAD shares all of the same symptoms as major depression, except that these feelings of downness or tiredness follow a seasonal pattern. For example, a teen might feel sad throughout the winter without a clear reason. Some even report SAD during fall or summer. Teens burdened by SAD might feel too tired to do things they usually enjoy, like sports or hanging out with friends. Some also sleep poorly, or too much, and still wake up feeling tired.

Here’s a list of common symptoms of major depression:

●       Low self-esteem

●       Feeling sad or down most of the time

●       Feeling extra tired, even after sleeping

●       Sleeping too much or not enough

●       Losing interest in things you usually enjoy

●       Craving junk food or eating more than usual

●       Eating less than usual

●       Feelings of guilt and hopelessness

Risk Factors

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is more than just a singular disorder therefore, there's much more than just a simple answer for risk factors!

●       Genetics: This disorder affects about 6% of Americans (Targum & Rosenthal, 2008).

●       Northern Populations: More people have it in countries further north of the equator, like in Canada or the US, most of Europe and parts of Asia, where as many as 10-20% of people may have it (Jurgaityte et. al, 2020).

●       Environmental Impacts: Shorter days and colder weather (although SAD can occur during other seasons).

●       Vitamin D Deficiency: The sun makes our body produce Vitamin D; having less sunlight hours means we don’t get as much Vitamin D.

●       Imbalance of Circadian Rhythm: Our body’s natural clock transitions with the sun causing the feeling of tiredness earlier in the evening, and later in the morning.

It’s important to note that these risk factors are quite common to co-occur, making SAD a much more common disorder than you probably realize. No one is ever alone in this disorder, and with finding effective treatment it can be managed! 

 

Neural Basis

Our circadian rhythm is a fancy term to describe how our brain controls when we wake up and go to sleep. The sun signals to our brain when it is morning as it goes up and lets us know when the day has ended when it goes down. During winter, this normal routine changes because days are shorter. Less exposure to the sun affects how chemicals are released in the brain. With less daylight hours, the brain might take longer to release chemicals that signal “wake up” or release less than what we are used to; this can seriously impact our mood or our ability to stay calm. Our most important neurotransmitters impacted are serotonin, dopamine and norephedrine (Jurgaityte et. al, 2020). Disruption to our circadian rhythm also interferes with melatonin, which is critical for sleep (Delainey et al., 2020).

• Serotonin is known as the chemical messenger hormone that overall regulates mood, dopamine is known as the chemical messenger that sends the “feel-good hormone” our body often craves and functions as our basic reward system, too little/no production of these neurochemicals cause extreme sadness and increased risk of depression.

• Norephedrine functions as both a messenger and a hormone; it helps us stay alert and focused - however, during SAD it's more common to lack this chemical, causing less alertness overall and increasing levels of depression.

• Melatonin is a hormone that plays a role in our sleep-wake cycle, and is most present at night (Mayo Clinic, 2022). When our circadian rhythm is out of alignment as often happens with SAD, it can disrupt melatonin release, meaning changes in sleep timing, problems with sleep quality and daytime alertness (Delainey et al., 2020). Many also report over-sleeping and daytime sleepiness - called hypersomnia (Delainey et al., 2020).

It’s easy to understand now how a simple change in our environment, like not getting enough sun, can majorly affect the inner-workings of our body causing disorders like SAD to come up seasonally.

Treatment Options

Well, now we know what it is, but what can we do about it? As it turns out, the way we treat SAD is nearly identical to how we treat non-seasonal depression. Research has found that cognitive behavioral therapy, pharmacotherapy and light therapy can help push back those winter blues (Kurlansik & Ibay, 2012). Here are some options:

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): This is a type of talk therapy, so you and a therapist meet up every week to discuss what makes you anxious, or sad. Ultimately the goal of CBT is to reframe negative thinking patterns and develop powerful coping strategies. It’s more than just talking about it; it’s a scientifically-proven skill that can be used to combat depression (Kurlansik & Ibay, 2012).

  
  

• Pharmacotherapy: Whoa, that’s a big word, so what does it mean? Let’s break it down: ‘pharma’ like pharmacy, and ‘therapy’. Pharmacotherapy means using medicine like antidepressants to get through the blues. It might sound extreme, but sometimes you need that little boost to get you back on your feet. Taking vitamin D supplements can be an excellent, over-the-counter approach too! But always talk to your doctor before trying any new vitamins, or supplements.

  
  

• Light Therapy: Shorter days and winter weather means less light, a big contributor to SAD. So, what if we can steal some of that sunshine back? Light therapy means facing a bright white fluorescent light for 30 minutes each morning (don’t worry, you don’t have to stare directly into it), and research has proven it improves mood as long as you do it every day.

  
  

When it comes to SAD, all three of these treatments have been found to be equally effective, so it comes down to preference. That being said, seasonal depression is - obviously - seasonal. Seasons are predictable, so why not take proactive steps to having a better winter next year?

Closing

Let’s recap: seasonal affective disorder is a real thing that affects 6% of Americans (Targum & Rosenthal, 2008) is linked to lack of sunlight (leading to less vitamin D), and can be treated with light therapy or other ways we treat major depression. And - yes - although it’s less common, SAD can occur during other seasons. Remember to keep your friends and loved ones close this winter, ask them how they’re doing, and don’t be afraid to open up about how you might be feeling. Like penguins huddling together against an Antarctic storm, we’re stronger (and warmer) together!

 

Call-to-Action

Do you know a summer spirit who can’t help but get down with the winter blues? Try sending them this blog post to remind them they aren’t alone!

References

Delainey L Wescott, Adriane M Soehner, Kathryn A Roecklein (2020). Sleep in seasonal affective disorder. Current Opinion in Psychology, Vol. 34, 7-11.

Depressive Disorders. (2025). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Jurgaityte, V., Khawaja, N., Dijokas, J., & Rimkevičiūtė, P. (2020). Risk factors and        

treatment approaches to seasonal affective disorder: a review. Neurologijos Seminarai, 24(1(83)), 26–34.

Kurlansik, S. L., & Ibay, A. D. (2012). Seasonal Affective Disorder. American Family Physician, 86(11), 1037-1041.

Mayo Clinic (2021). Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) - Symptoms and causes. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/seasonal-affective-disorder /symptoms-causes/syc-20364651

National Institute of Mental Health (2023). Seasonal affective disorder. National Institute of Mental Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/seasonal-affective- disorder

Targum, S. D., & Rosenthal, N. (2008). Seasonal affective disorder. Psychiatry (Edgmont (Pa. : Township)), 5(5), 31–33.