When the sun makes you sad
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While Seattle is known as a city where spirits sour during the gray gloom of winter, some locals actually feel their moods darken during our sunny summers.
The big picture: While most associate seasonal depression with overcast skies and long nights, a rare form — summer-pattern SAD — strikes when the sun and heat peak, disrupting sleep, appetite and emotional balance.
Catch up quick: Unlike winter-pattern SAD, which often brings lethargy, overeating and oversleeping, the summer version shows up differently — and sometimes more distressingly.
- Symptoms include insomnia, poor appetite, restlessness, and anxiety, per the National Institute of Mental Health.
Zoom in: Patients with summer SAD are also more likely to report suicidal thoughts than those with winter depression, according to Norman E. Rosenthal, a Georgetown University professor known for his pioneering work on the disorder.
- The mix of agitation and depression can be a dangerous combination, he wrote in a 2023 blog post.
- In the winter, a person might feel suicidal but lack the energy to act, whereas in summer the risk can rise as lethargy lifts, Rosenthal told the Washington Post.
- Patients have told him the constant heat and light of summer cut through them "like a knife," he said.
State of play: Unlike the winter blues, which are triggered by a lack of sunlight that disrupts circadian rhythms, summer-pattern SAD appears to be driven by the heat, says David Avery, professor emeritus at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
- Studies show people with summer depression often run extra hot at night, and that interferes with the body's natural cooling process and blocks the deep, restorative sleep that keeps mood and energy in balance, Avery tells Axios.
- Bringing cool air into the bedroom — with a fan, A/C or open windows — can help trigger the drop in temperature needed for restful sleep.
- Exercise helps too, as it strengthens the body's heat loss mechanisms and improves its ability to regulate core temperature, a key factor in managing summer SAD, Avery adds.
Between the lines: Some patients describe feeling pressure to maximize every sunny day — to travel, hike, attend events — and when that urge doesn't appear, the guilt or confusion can deepen the distress, Seattle-area psychotherapist Sam Louie tells Axios.
- "We only get a short window of good weather here," says Louie. "There's this pressure to pack every weekend with something — boating, swimming, hiking — and when that energy isn't there, it can feel like failure."
What's next: As fall nears, cooler nights and dimmer days could bring welcome relief for those worn down by the heat of summer.
- The rest of us will continue doing our best to not let the long, wet winter seep too deeply into our bones.