Sunny-day blues: Seasonal affective disorder hits some during Arizona summer
We often think of sunny skies as a reason to be in a great mood, but Arizona's summer heat may actually send some residents into a depression-like state.
(Flickr Photo/@Jorge Karlz Parker)
(Flickr Photo/@Jorge Karlz Parker)
PHOENIX — We often think of sunny skies as a big reason to be in a great mood, but Arizona’s summer heat may actually send some residents into a depression-like state.
Seasonal affective disorder – or SAD – affects people in sunny states, such as Arizona, just as much as those that experience drearier weather.
Chip Coffey, social services director for St. Luke’s Behavioral Health Center in Phoenix, said the combination of extreme heat and relentless sun can send many Arizonans into a downward spiral when summer comes.
“Everything is physically drained from you,” he said. “The shoulders drop, the head drops and you just feel beaten up. And you just walked out the door.”
Symptoms of summer SAD include losing weight, extreme agitation and sleeping less. There are also classic symptoms of depression.
“There’s the hopelessness, there’s the helplessness, tearfulness,” Coffey said. “If they go on and they’re untreated, it can go into being suicidal.”
Coffey said anyone demonstrating the aforementioned symptoms should undergo a mental health evaluation.
For those who have been diagnosed with SAD or find themselves in an inexplicable funk, Coffey recommended you do your best to keep cool, adhere to a regular exercise routine, stay indoors during the hottest parts of the day and do your best to get at least seven hours of sleep each night.
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Comments
18 Comments
The heat didn't bother me when I was younger. Now that I am older it does get to me. I cope by trying to get away to a cooler place once a month thru the hottest months. It makes a big difference.
When I was an inspector a few years ago, I was outside half the time and the heat barely bothered me. Last year, I didn't have AC in my truck. The first few weeks was brutal, but I got use to it and wasn't sweating as much. I'll probably wimp out a little myself this year because I fixed my AC last month. Most peeps get less tolerant to hot and cold temps as they age. My grandma was 78 before she finally got to where she could no longer tolerate the heat. Before that, she enjoyed it and would mow the lawn and play out in her garden at any time of day. I think it's even more difficult to acclimate when you work inside and they keep the office at freezing temps, only to walk outside and it's 40 degrees hotter. Society is not doing us any favors by creating such artificial comfort levels. It makes us much less tolerant to extreme temperatures.
I must say that driving around Arizona has become worse the more people migrate to Arizona,.. you used to find courtesy and respect on the roads for the most part 20+ years ago,..
You still find it in the small towns, and much more so in Tucson than Phoenix,... but the Phoenix area is probably the highest percent of non native Arizonans,...