When it’s summer that leaves you feeling depressed

It’s well known that winter makes some people feel low. Now experts say summertime can be as bad

WHEN the days get warmer and brighter, so, too, do our spirits. At least, this is the common perception of how summer affects our mood — but it doesn’t ring true for Gemma Adams.

The 31-year-old finds that come springtime, she feels increasingly gloomy and it just gets more pronounced with the advent of summer. ‘Summer always makes me feel ten times worse,’ she says. ‘It’s when everyone else expects you to be happy, but it just makes you feel even more that you don’t measure up.’

Gemma, who works in the civil service and lives in Liskeard, Cornwall, adds: ‘I’d much rather it was raining so I can stay at home and just snuggle up on the sofa.

‘I look forward to the winter — you can go to bed at 7pm and no one will bat an eyelid. But in the summer, when you’re invited to barbecues and the beach and expected to be sociable, it just makes it harder to hide away.’

It doesn’t help that Gemma lives in a resort where the annual influx of holidaymakers only makes her feel more at odds with the carefree mood around her.

‘It’s depressing when you see everyone else enjoying themselves and you’re just at work having another miserable day.’

Gemma, who is separated and has a twoyear-old son, Joseph, was diagnosed with depression in 2011, following a traumatic ectopic pregnancy, where a fertilised egg implants outside the womb.

She has since managed the condition with cognitive behavioural therapy and courses of antidepressants. Although she stopped taking medication in 2013 so she could breast-feed her son, she started taking it again in June.

But while some people’s depression gets worse in the summer, there are others for whom depression seems to be triggered by summer itself.

Many of us will be familiar with the winter blues, or seasonal affective disorder (SAD), but less well known is the fact that a summer variety also exists.

‘Up to 8 per cent of the population are estimated to have winter SAD, and around 1 per cent have the summer version,’ says Lance Workman, a professor of psychology at the University of South Wales.

‘But while a relatively small number have a serious problem with summer SAD, around 10 per cent of people will find their mood changes for the worse to some degree during the summer months.’

The symptoms are rather different, however. Those with winter SAD tend to feel lethargic, want to sleep for long hours, have an increased appetite and tend to gain weight.

PEOPLE who have the summer version feel agitated rather than lethargic, have difficulty sleeping, poor appetite and weight loss. ‘It tends to be a more anxious form of depression, so rather than feeling unable to do anything, you find it hard to sit still,’ says professor Workman.

While the exact cause of seasonal affective disorder is not fully understood, the winter variant is thought to be linked to a lack of sunlight entering the eye (hence the popularity of light therapy as a treatment). The theory is this disrupts the function of a part of the brain called the hypothalamus, which lowers production of the brain chemical serotonin, a chemical thought to have a role in mood.

professor Workman adds that serotonin has an ‘antagonistic relationship’ with melatonin, the hormone that makes us sleepy — basically, less serotonin means more melatonin, which is why people with winter SAD tend to feel tired.

‘In contrast, people with summer SAD are thought to produce too little melatonin during the summer months, which means they can’t sleep,’ says professor Workman. ‘on top of that, serotonin levels that rise with the increased light can, in turn, lead to irritability in some people, so this might be another factor in the condition.’

Summer SAD is thought to be down to a combination of sunlight and heat. Seasonal changes in brain chemicals may affect all of us to some degree, but ‘some people are particularly sensitive to the amount of heat and light out there’, says professor Workman.

Indeed some studies have shown that in countries near the Equator, such as India, there is a higher prevalence of summer SAD than winter SAD, which is more common in northern latitudes.

There is also a hypothesis that summer SAD may be tied to seasonal allergies. people who found that their mood worsened during high pollen counts were more likely to have a non-winter variety of seasonal affective disorder, according to a study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders in 2007.

‘We know many people with depression also have evidence of inflammation in their bodies, and allergies can trigger an inflammatory response, so there is a rational basis for this theory,’ explains Ian A. Cook, a professor of psychiatry and bioengineering and the director of the depression research and clinic program at the University of California.

‘But it’s hard to draw a conclusive pattern as the condition is very under-researched.’

What’s clear, though, is that it’s not just summer SAD that can make people feel low during the warmer months.

Holiday periods can be isolating for people who are prone to depression, says professor Workman.

‘If you see others having a good time, it can make you feel even worse. We know people get depressed at Christmas if they don’t have friends and family to enjoy it with, and the same can happen in summer when you feel you should be enjoying yourself.’

Another issue is that summer can bring problems with body image to the fore — something Gemma Adams can relate to. Although she has lost a lot of weight in recent years, dropping from 18st 9lb to 11st 1lb (she is 5ft 7in) she remains selfconscious about her appearance.

‘In winter you can just throw on a big coat and it doesn’t really matter what you look like,’ she says. ‘In the summer, you’re supposed to make an effort to look good.’

At any time of the year, depression can be made worse by what’s known as the anniversary effect of a traumatic event, such as a divorce or a bereavement. In Gemma’s case, her ectopic pregnancy and subsequent marriage breakdown both happened in the summer.

To help manage the blues, professor Workman suggests planning ahead to make sure that when summer is in full swing you are sleeping as well as possible.

‘For example, to avoid getting woken up too early by the light, get your curtains lined. You will sleep longer and that can have a positive effect on other symptoms.’

He also suggests making sure your bedroom is cool well ahead of bedtime by using a fan, and advises cool showers before bed.

Extreme heat should be avoided: ‘Stay indoors during the hottest part of the day, but don’t vegetate. Early morning or evening walks are a good plan so you don’t feel you’re letting your fitness suffer.’

FOR more serious cases, cognitive behaviour therapy and/or antidepressants may also be effective. But for some, it may help simply to recognise that this problem exists and that you are not the only one.

‘Twenty-five years ago, if you mentioned SAD, no one know what you were talking about,’ says professor Workman.

‘By the mid-Nineties, it had become well known, but it tends to be associated with the winter. That means people who feel down in the summer think they are the only person on the planet to have it. If there was more awareness, that in itself could help people feel better.’