As most people are aware, Seasonal Affective Disorder (fittingly shortened to SAD) is a depressive illness, caused by lack of sunlight, that strikes in winter and can be treated by light therapy. However, light therapy is not a cure-all — at least not on its own. The National Institute of Mental Health reports that nearly half of all SAD sufferers don’t respond to light therapy alone. These people may be helped by antidepressants or psychotherapy, with or without light therapy.
There’s also a more natural, less expensive treatment that can help — the hormone melatonin. This is secreted by the pineal gland in the brain and sets the circadian rhythm of sleep and waking. It’s for sale in capsule form in stores and online.
A study funded by the NIMH found that most symptoms of SAD were caused by the body getting “out-of-sync with the sun” in winter. Melatonin was a logical choice to try re-setting them.
It did work, researchers found, combined with light therapy — but both treatments had to happen at the right time of day.
A person’s rhythms are considered in sync when his pineal gland starts secreting melatonin about six hours before the middle of his night’s sleep. In most of the 68 SAD sufferers taking part in the study, the interval was shorter than six hours, suggesting it had been thrown off by the shortening of the days in winter. A few of the subjects had longer intervals.
All the subjects had light therapy in the mornings. The ones with longer intervals also took melatonin in the mornings. The subjects with shorter intervals took it in the afternoons.
The NIMH says this “more than doubled their improvement in depression scores”, compared to the control groups, who got a placebo or simply took melatonin at a less optimal time.
Melatonin has potential as a future treatment for SAD.
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