Free Guided Meditation for Seasonal Affective Disorder
Seasonal affective disorder (or SAD) is a mood disorder that occurs during the same time each year, usually when the days become darker and the light hours shorter. This can cause irritability, increased need to sleep, interpersonal complications, and just feeling both mentally and physically, exhausted. These feelings in response to the lack of light are believed to be caused by a disturbance in the circadian rhythm of the body. This regulates our sleep and wake cycles. Sunlight helps align this rhythm keeping us awake during the day and releases the hormone melatonin at night before we sleep. During the shorter daylight hours of Fall and Winter, people may be at work or in the home during the day and therefore miss the sunlight they need. This is one of the causes of SAD but there is also a link to a reduced amount of serotonin, the feel good substance our bodies produce. Whatever brought you here today, with this knowledge of what SAD is, know that you are in no way alone in your feelings. This meditation can help to release feel good thoughts which can influence your immediate well being. Even in the darker days of winter, with our imaginations, we can shed some light.
Annie Rosenberg 