This is taken from the Mayo Clinic website (awesome medical site, better than WebMD in my opinion):

Fall and winter SAD (winter depression)
Symptoms of winter-onset seasonal affective disorder include:
Depression
Hopelessness
Anxiety
Loss of energy
Social withdrawal
Oversleeping
Loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed
Appetite changes, especially a craving for foods high in carbohydrates
Weight gain
Difficulty concentrating and processing information

Spring and summer SAD (summer depression)
Symptoms of summer-onset seasonal affective disorder include:
Anxiety
Insomnia
Irritability
Agitation
Weight loss
Poor appetite
Increased sex drive

Reverse SAD
In rare cases, people with seasonal affective disorder don’t have depression-like symptoms. Instead, they have symptoms of mania or hypomania, a less intense form of mania, during the summer. This is sometimes called reverse SAD.
Symptoms of reverse SAD include:
Persistently elevated mood
Increased social activity
Hyperactivity
Unbridled enthusiasm out of proportion to the situation

I suffer from SAD. Very greatly so in fact. I suffer from the winter depression. I like to get info out about all kinds of things, so I posted the symptoms of the other kinds of SAD. However, I personally experience the winter blues. This year was especially bad for me because on top of the SAD, I was dealing with the aftermath of a devastating break-up with a long-time boyfriend. I knew going into the fall season that I was doomed to experience my hell all over again this year (February being an especially horrific month fo me). However, I am not sure if anyone else experiences this, but I tend to forget just how bad it gets for me each year. As the season turns from summer to fall, I think that I’m going to be a little blue and I just have to wait it out. No. I fool myself every time.

So I am posting this just to share, but also to note that I have noticed my ride getting strong again as the days get longer and the weather warms up. It was very strange. I thought that I was lagging on my bike due to the overeating from the depression. And of course, drinking more than usual. But that is not the case. I can literally feel the daylight energize me, breathing life into my body, propelling me up the hills I dread so much. Today, I felt ALIVE again. I came out of the darkness.

I am sure there are other folks out there too that suffer from SAD as I do. I wanted to share my story with those that may not realise that they may be suffering from it. Perhaps, there are some people that just think that the cold or the dark impedes their ride. I thought so too, but I have had some startling epiphanies this year and one of them was my SAD was affecting my ride. It became even more clear to me today when I rode as normal to work and I just felt as good as I did last summer. I didn’t even realise that the depression could affect my riding!!

But anyway, now that it is spring, let’s all ride!!

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