Aperitif
Meme bar
- Location
- ...I don't have much idea - really.
If you want a light box, why not go a couple of rounds with a baby kangaroo, or Charlie Magri?
SAD / light boxes
- Thread starter coffeejo
- Start date
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OP
OP
coffeejo
Ælfrēd
- Location
- West Somerset
Good thing you said baby kangaroo and not panda or I'd have gone all 
Aperitif
Meme bar
- Location
- ...I don't have much idea - really.
...and it would have only L.E.D. to pandamoanymum...Good thing you said baby kangaroo and not panda or I'd have gone all
mcshroom
Bionic Subsonic
- Location
- Egremont, Cumbria
I've just started using mine again this year for exactly the reason you are looking at, to get myself out of bed in the morning.
Mine's the mini SAD light box from Maplin, and I have it plugged into a timer plug so it turns on a couple minutes before my alarm clock goes off, meaning the room is light when I wake up. I think it helps, though it may just be a placebo effect.
Mine's the mini SAD light box from Maplin, and I have it plugged into a timer plug so it turns on a couple minutes before my alarm clock goes off, meaning the room is light when I wake up. I think it helps, though it may just be a placebo effect.
Aperitif
Meme bar
- Location
- ...I don't have much idea - really.
'placebox', surely Marcus?I've just started using mine again this year for exactly the reason you are looking at, to get myself out of bed in the morning.
Mine's the mini SAD light box from Maplin, and I have it plugged into a timer plug so it turns on a couple minutes before my alarm clock goes off, meaning the room is light when I wake up. I think it helps, though it may just be a placebo effect.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I am not convinced that the spectrum of the light is that important, just the actual intensity. My light box gives off a very white light, such that if I walk out into a different room, the electric lighting there seems very yellow.
My box is a huge old thing that my sister bought for me. It does help, but it is cumbersome, using 2 flourescent tubes. If I were shopping now, I would look at a more compact LED light, maybe something like Phil's if it were bright enough?
The biggest mistake I made was buying a mid-terrace house in a N-S block, close to a steep hillside. I get natural light at the front until about now, then the sun goes off round the end of the terrace ... as if by magic it has just gone! Ah, false alarm, that must have been due to a cloud passing, but it will not be long before the house becomes very gloomy.
In the afternoon, the sun can make an appearance round the back of my house for about 3 hours max before disappearing behind the hill on which Heptonstall sits. Even in mid-summer, the sun is gone before 6:00 pm and I am in shadow. I can live with that, but in winter it is just so depressing. The sun barely gets above the hill to the south of the town, and then clears off behind the one to my west. It means the house is cold, dark and depressing to be in. Everybody who has stayed here in the winter has commented on it.
As cj pointed out, the problem is that the result is feeling wiped out before you even start your day, with a mountain to climb to even open your door. In my case, I actually do have mini-mountains dotted all around. Nearly all of my favourite walks and rides involve relentless hills (see my last couple of ride reports in Your Ride Today), which is great when feeling good, but a nightmare when struggling.
It is achicken and egg Catch 22 situation. A midday walk or ride can work wonders, but be incredibly difficult to set out on because you need to have already done the walk or ride to find the energy for it!
I find other people can be an extra motivation to get out. When I was initially recovering from my DVT/PE, I built my fitness back up with a regular walk up one of the local hills either to accompany a friend to work, or to meet her from it, depending on which shift she was on. Now she isn't doing that job any longer, I struggle to walk up there. Physically I could do it, but my heart is not in it.
The need for company and motivation is why I started organising rides. My main cycling partner had cleared off to sunnier climes/climbs in Spain, and I was just sitting around my house getting fatter, and more depressed. (The fall in the value of the euro due to the recession forced him to come back, so at least I now have a regular cycling partner again. We went out yesterday, and will be out again today.)
It is hard to explain SAD to people who do not suffer from it but I could illustrate the problem by telling you that I have virtually no memory of any Nov, Dec, Jan or Feb from the past 30 years! The only winter that I can really remember is 2010/2011, not because it was really cold (which it was) but because my mum was dying and the memories are all tied up with that.
I pretty much hibernate every winter. If I had the money, I think I would take drastic action and 'do a Dayvo'. I would stay here until the clocks went back, and then clear off with my bike and a laptop to somewhere brighter and warmer until the clocks went forward again. Walk and cycle to cafes in the midday sun, and spend the evenings writing books and apps to fund that lifestyle.
Anyway ... enough waffle - my lightbox has reawoken my brain. Time to eat something, then get on with some urgent tasks before hitting the hills!
Good luck, my fellow SAD people!
My box is a huge old thing that my sister bought for me. It does help, but it is cumbersome, using 2 flourescent tubes. If I were shopping now, I would look at a more compact LED light, maybe something like Phil's if it were bright enough?
The biggest mistake I made was buying a mid-terrace house in a N-S block, close to a steep hillside. I get natural light at the front until about now, then the sun goes off round the end of the terrace ... as if by magic it has just gone! Ah, false alarm, that must have been due to a cloud passing, but it will not be long before the house becomes very gloomy.
In the afternoon, the sun can make an appearance round the back of my house for about 3 hours max before disappearing behind the hill on which Heptonstall sits. Even in mid-summer, the sun is gone before 6:00 pm and I am in shadow. I can live with that, but in winter it is just so depressing. The sun barely gets above the hill to the south of the town, and then clears off behind the one to my west. It means the house is cold, dark and depressing to be in. Everybody who has stayed here in the winter has commented on it.
As cj pointed out, the problem is that the result is feeling wiped out before you even start your day, with a mountain to climb to even open your door. In my case, I actually do have mini-mountains dotted all around. Nearly all of my favourite walks and rides involve relentless hills (see my last couple of ride reports in Your Ride Today), which is great when feeling good, but a nightmare when struggling.
It is a
I find other people can be an extra motivation to get out. When I was initially recovering from my DVT/PE, I built my fitness back up with a regular walk up one of the local hills either to accompany a friend to work, or to meet her from it, depending on which shift she was on. Now she isn't doing that job any longer, I struggle to walk up there. Physically I could do it, but my heart is not in it.
The need for company and motivation is why I started organising rides. My main cycling partner had cleared off to sunnier climes/climbs in Spain, and I was just sitting around my house getting fatter, and more depressed. (The fall in the value of the euro due to the recession forced him to come back, so at least I now have a regular cycling partner again. We went out yesterday, and will be out again today.)
It is hard to explain SAD to people who do not suffer from it but I could illustrate the problem by telling you that I have virtually no memory of any Nov, Dec, Jan or Feb from the past 30 years! The only winter that I can really remember is 2010/2011, not because it was really cold (which it was) but because my mum was dying and the memories are all tied up with that.
I pretty much hibernate every winter. If I had the money, I think I would take drastic action and 'do a Dayvo'. I would stay here until the clocks went back, and then clear off with my bike and a laptop to somewhere brighter and warmer until the clocks went forward again. Walk and cycle to cafes in the midday sun, and spend the evenings writing books and apps to fund that lifestyle.
Anyway ... enough waffle - my lightbox has reawoken my brain. Time to eat something, then get on with some urgent tasks before hitting the hills!
Good luck, my fellow SAD people!
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
[QUOTE 3332954, member: 259"]Just a question ., I'd be interested to know how you SAD sufferers were diagnosed with this? Did you see a doctor about it or do you self-diagnose? (just idle curiosity on my part)[/QUOTE]
Self-diagnosed in my case.
I don't think there is an actual test. It is more of a syndrome. I read an article in Cycling Weekly about SAD, and thought 'Oh, FFS - that is what is happening to me!' I got the light box and things rapidly improved.
There may be a placebo effect, but who cares? If the result of switching the box on is to feel better, I am going to switch it on!
Self-diagnosed in my case.
I don't think there is an actual test. It is more of a syndrome. I read an article in Cycling Weekly about SAD, and thought 'Oh, FFS - that is what is happening to me!' I got the light box and things rapidly improved.
There may be a placebo effect, but who cares? If the result of switching the box on is to feel better, I am going to switch it on!
srw
It's a bit more complicated than that...
[QUOTE 3332954, member: 259"]Just a question ., I'd be interested to know how you SAD sufferers were diagnosed with this? Did you see a doctor about it or do you self-diagnose? (just idle curiosity on my part)[/QUOTE]
Self-diagnosis. I bought a light box in desperation at feeling crap in the winter, then felt so good after my first session in front of it that I deduced it was probably real.
Self-diagnosis. I bought a light box in desperation at feeling crap in the winter, then felt so good after my first session in front of it that I deduced it was probably real.
GrumpyGregry
Here for rides.
Medical diagnosis in my case; three winters running I ended up at the GP's suffering from depression, filled in a lengthy questionnaire, and Hey Presto! 20-odd years of "I always feel parp in the winter" had a name, an explanation and a treatment/coping strategy that didn't involve either alcohol, stupid risk taking or happy pills and thier, for me ghastly, side-effects.
Best coping strategy, until I busted my femur doing it, was rugby reffing three times a week all winter. Wanting to get fit to ref, I took up cycling again, and post leg break I joined a running club.
Best coping strategy, until I busted my femur doing it, was rugby reffing three times a week all winter. Wanting to get fit to ref, I took up cycling again, and post leg break I joined a running club.
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A light box didn't work for me as I "knew" it wasn't sun, and it's real sun I need to alter my mental state. I scour cheap flights and fly to BCN or Malaga at least 2 times each winter for 2-3 days, I cycle there and it's huge psychological boost for weeks prior just to know I am going.
Scotchlovingcylist
Formerly known as Speedfreak
I don't suffer with sad but have a friend who does. He uses sunbeds during winter which he swears by, I'm aware of the possible health risks but everything in moderation eh?
ScotiaLass
Guru
- Location
- Middle Earth
I am with you on this one!
