Dr. Kelly Rowan

Here's the problem with the vitamin D explanation.

If we drew an imaginary line across the United States from Boston on the East Coast all the way to Northern California on the West Coast,

Everyone above that line probably is vitamin D deficient in the wintertime.

The reason we don't think that vitamin D is causally related to seasonal affective disorder is because everybody north of Boston should have seasonal affective disorder in the wintertime if it were really about a vitamin D deficiency.

Mm-hmm.

So my advice would be if it's something you're concerned about, get tested and use the supplementation if your doctor recommends that.

But I would not expect seasonal affective disorder to be fully reversed by that.

Yeah, I think for anybody who struggles with the winter, whether it's somebody with seasonal affective disorder or somebody with the winter blues or a few symptoms, there are some things you can do.

Do what you would usually do.

If it was go to the gym and see people, do that.

Don't get stuck in the pattern of going home, getting under a blanket on the couch just because it's dark out.

That's the first step down the slippery slope.

to falling into a depression or experiencing a lot of symptoms.

So I would encourage people to stay in their routines, stay active with your groups, keep your social contacts going, schedule activities and do them with your social networks, and then watch out for those negative thoughts.

Look for your natural antidepressants and try to use those as much as you can to fight it this time of year.