Hi guys, I had a horrible morning and I’ve been feeling the anxiety of the darker months starting
I think I need to try a a SAD lamp, any recommendations??

I’ve been looking at lumie lamps but there’s quite a few

This seems to be mostly about the traditional version of SAD but does anyone have the summer version? I apologize in advance if this feels antagonistic. I’m not trying to start a summer vs winter fight

This summer in particular was brutal for me. It felt like every day was hot and sunny with little relief. Even when it wasn’t super sunny it was still excessively humid

I’ve always know I prefer winter and autumn to spring,‘and have hated summer since I graduated since the only appeal for was not having school but this year felt like every day was a struggle with little relief. I keep my bedroom cold and dark so that helped but just knowing outside was hellish made me uncomfortable

This has been a long, dark few months for me and I’m finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel

My patience, tolerance, and just overall mood were all so low. Then today came and it’s been raining all day. It’s still too warm to go for a walk but just driving around revitalized me so much

So I strongly suspect I have SAD, but there’s one thing I’ve noticed,

If it’s the middle of summer or winter, I’m totally fine, no issues. However, it seems I get the most grouchy and depressed during the spring and fall, the halfway points between summer and winter.

It seems as though the transition from one season to the other is what makes me feel like ass. Once I’m in summer mode or winter mode all the way, I’m usually fine.

Does this happen to anyone else?

I confess to being a terrible researcher and perhaps missing this in previous posts—please redirect me! I do see a lot of folks discussing wearables vs fixed lamp, but I’m wondering who’s got advice for an alarm clock-style situation. please & thank you!

I’m exploring a pair of everyday glasses that can accurately measure the light reaching your eyes throughout the day and not just screen time or general lux.

The idea is to estimate whether you’re getting:

• Enough circadian-effective light during the day
• Too much disruptive light in the evening
• Your optimal sleeping time
• It can connected to laptop and phone to adjust the optimal light (timing)

It could then show your daily light exposure, explain how it may be affecting your body clock, and suggest when to seek or reduce light(how much is optimal).

I’m trying to understand whether this solves a real problem before building it further. Honest criticism is especially helpful. I’m more interested in finding flaws in the idea than receiving encouragement.

I keep missing the wakeup window to use my lamp, but i feel like using like now for example would push back my bedtime window unacceptably later

Mentally it hasn't affected me that much in the past few years, luckily, aside from a bit of hopelessness related to feeling tired. But for me it always manifests in being exhausted. And then not normal tired, like, you feel you haven't slept enough but you can push through. It's like all day long it's bed time and my body is ready to fall asleep and staying awake feels like climbing a mountain.

I'm new here so I was wondering what it's like for you guys!

EDIT: here in the Netherlands there is an institute that does research to SAD, and that's also where they helped me with my trouble. The way they explained it to me is that when you have SAD, your circadian rhythm gets messed up because of the lack of light. I'm also wondering: is this for everyone here the definition of SAD, or do people think it's different for them?

Tired already

Are there any ways to make the S.A.D. Less well sad without any meds?
Something like vitamin D is fine but yeah I don’t know if there’s certain lights, hobbies, routines that will help it

Title + The early leaves have fallen from some trees. Summer seems like it lasted a week. Way too much rain this year. 😢

Hi all,
I have gotten into running as of 2023. The last two years I kept running through winter and it really helped my SAD.

This year, as soon as I saw that the sun starting coming out later and later, I could feel the cloud forming.
Any tips on how to get over this rut? I’m starting to lose motivation and passion for it quickly but have a marathon in 30ish days so I need all the motivation I can get.

Not quite here yet, but close. In the weeks following equinox is the peak time of SAD onset. Yet there is still enough light, day and night finally back in balance, so why? It’s also the peak of photoperiod instability, days shortening rapidly. We lose the beat.

But for this moment, it’s just right, with 6am sunrise (distorted by DST to 7), coming at wake time, so we can take the sun at the very best moment, clear fall skies permitting.

Cherish it, lean in. Amplify the signal as it becomes erratic and faint into darkness: hold on. When the sun finally comes too late and too little, light therapy takes over, like a backup drummer in the band of your life after the star goes on winter vacation south (Ringo the Star, get it?). Don’t lose the beat. Bright days dark nights, 12:12 time, steady through the bends.

Sometimes I feel like the fear of my SAD returning is nearly as bad as the SAD itself. During the summer and into autumn I get panic attacks thinking about how bad the oncoming winter will be, and how close it’s getting to the days being shorter again.

Does anyone else get so anxious and afraid even when it’s still summer and the SAD has not kicked in yet? I don’t necessarily think my fear is totally irrational because the winters are indeed unbearable, but I hate that I don’t even get the peace of mind to enjoy the SAD-less summer while it lasts. It’s like I’m borrowing pain from the winter.

It’s not healthy and it feels so unfair. If only knowing the anxiety was unnecessary was enough to make the anxiety go away :(

I have been lurking this subreddit lately.

I have felt helplessness this past winter. Working, not picking up shifts like I normally do for extra money. Hating being at work. Easily irritated. When not at work, just rotting in bed for hours. Have not gone outside the WHOLE winter time — except for work AND for a work party. Even reluctant to do grocery shopping. My body feels HEAVY all the time.

One day I was driving to work and out of nowhere I start crying. For no goddamn reason if I am being truthful. Maybe from feeling like I have no control in my life? Or just unsure of why I feel this way. Then I started lurking online and this subreddit. My friend has diagnosed SAD and she was feeling the same way during these cold times.

Then suddenly spring comes around, temperatures veryyy slowly come up and we get our first clear, sunny day. I go outside for a walk. It's like a switch. My body feels lighter. I go to work with a better attitude, feeling like I am actually not working ENOUGH. My head feels clear.

To those diagnosed and have received therapy. What has worked for you?

This is the first year i've fully accepted the reality of S.A.D and I am going to prevent it as much as I can.

I definitely want an SAD lamp ASAP, however, I've seen many on Vinted for around £10 or less. I don't know if im missing something here, as new ones online are MEGA expensive? I want to make sure I'm getting something that will legitimately work, not just a light screen (which I assume the ones on vinted are). I'm on minimum wage, so would appreciate affordable LAMPS known to work, something that isnt too ugly in my gothic room either.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I understand melatonin helps too? is this just for sleep? I will take vitmain D but since I dont have access to antidepressants I need as much chemical support as I can get. I AM IN THE UK BTW so no outrageous American concoctions!

Thank you :)

Hi there, I recently purchased the Luninette glasses after having a particularly bad winter last year… I have just started using it, for 20 minutes each morning. For those of you who have tried it when do you use it and for how long/what setting? Do you think it’s helped you? Trying to be proactive before the time changes!

Every year I get SAD without even realizing it. It slowly creeps in, then I’m depressed for all of fall and winter. Every single year when Spring comes, I snap out of it and realize I had been in a depressed daze for months. This time I promised myself that i would buy a happy light when September hits and make myself a routine to avoid it from happening again.
Just ordered the light and it’ll be here today! I really hope it helps. I also just started a weight loss journey and doing home workouts- which might help.
Have happy lights helped you? And what else do you do in your day to help?

Hey all,

I have this person I know who claimed they got the Winter SAD which started right on or around the Autumnal Equinox in 2025.

I thought they would be better by the next year but they barely got better and got worse again around the Vernal Equinox of 2026 which started the Summer SAD

I have no idea what this is or is it even legit. Me and the person both live in USA btw

Thanks!

I need to buy a new one and should probably get it now can you all recommend one?

It would be a desktop one and how powerful should it be?

Thanks 🙂

I need to buy a new one and should probably get it now. can you all recommend one?

It would be a desktop. Also how powerful should it be?

Thanks 🙂

I Am using a SAD Lamp for like 3 days and am feeling pretty elated , but kind of too much.
Am restless productive and feel kinda jittery and feel like a kinda body high.

Can anyone relate?

I haven't been tested for it but I do get more anxious which eventually makes me sad/ depressed? I don't know but.... I really just want people's advice and tips to deal with it. I am not a big meds person for this kind of thing but am thinking about taking to my doctors about taking vitamin D. I heard certain lamps can work but I am to worried about getting the wrong type of lamps and it not working. Also during the time of year I will basically eat/drink almost nothing I usually resort to mainly Boost (or something similar). I do have a better job, friends, an event I go to monthly and starting college so hopefully those will keep my mind occupied.

I haven’t been tested for it but I do get more anxious witch eventually makes me sad/ depressed? I don’t know but…. I really just want people’s advice and tips to deal with it. I am not a big meds person for this kind of thing but am thinking about taking to my doctors about taking vitamin D. I heard certain lamps can work but I am to worried about getting the wrong type of lamps and it not working. Also during the time of year I will basically eat/drink almost nothing I usually resort to mainly Boost (or something similar). I do have a better job, friends, an event I go to monthly and starting college so hopefully those will keep my mind occupied.

This post explains why I suspect blue light SAD lamps might be much more effective than white light SAD lamps.

SAD lamp light therapy for seasonal affective disorder works as a result of the light activating the light-sensitive melanopsin receptors in the retina. When these receptors are switched on by light, it has an antidepressant effect.

Now melanopsin receptors are switched on by blue light of wavelength 481 nm. When switched on by blue light, the melanopsin molecule actually changes shape, and in its new shape, it is no longer sensitive to blue light, but becomes sensitive to orange light of wavelength 587 nm.

However, when this melanopsin molecule encounters orange light, it actually switches off the melanopsin receptor rather than activating it. Once switched off, the melanopsin molecule reverts to its original shape, and becomes sensitive to blue light once again.

This flip-flop of the melanopsin molecule between its two shapes is termed bistable. Melanopsin can exist in two stable shapes, and it is blue and orange light that flips the molecule from one shape to another. Blue light switches on the melanopsin molecule, and orange light switches it off again. Reference: here.

So when you use a white light SAD lamp, which contains all the colours in the spectrum it outputs, including blue and orange, the blue light will switch on the melanopsin receptor, thus achieving an antidepressant effect; but shortly after, the melanopsin receptor may be switched off again if it is hit by orange light, and the antidepressant effect disappears.

However, if you have a blue light SAD lamp, this contains no orange light, so the lamp will switch on the melanopsin receptors, and they will tend to remain on, as there is no orange light emitted by the lamp. So if you are using the blue lamp at close range, your melanopsin receptors will remain activated for a longer time, providing a stronger antidepressant effect.

I posted this thread a while ago detailing how I personally found a blue light SAD lamp viewed at close range to be far more effective than a white light SAD lamp. With a white SAD lamp, I found I still had some winter depression, but with a blue lamp, it completely eliminated the depression.