Seasonal Affective Disorder
20This thread is for everybody, but it’s mostly for the person who posted on the Fall thread, which I cannot find, about being severely affected by seasonal affective disorder.
I have always been somewhat affected by S.A.D., but life events dramatically increased it a couple of years ago and I was looking for a way to reduce it. I bought under-counter dimmable daylight led strips on Amazon and affixed them facing down in the window frames behind the curtains. The ones I bought are out of stock but here are similar ones. When it first starts getting dark in the afternoon I turn them on at 100%, then dim them as the evening progresses to simulate a more desirable sunset, turning them off completely at about 8pm. Consciously I know it’s dark out, especially since I have to take the dogs out, but that subconscious part of my brain that starts screaming when the sun goes down at 4pm is mostly satisfied with the pretense. I took the picture below at about midnight, it’s completely dark out. You can see that it’s a pretty good illusion, especially where the light falls on the wall by the lamp, which is off. It looks like sunset light.
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Yes, I have it. Thanks for the suggestion. I also burn scented candles and buy fresh cut flowers. I sit outside and read if the sun is out even when it’s cold. Paxil helps.
@tngrannyd I buy fresh flowers in the winter as well. Scented candles and other scented stuff just annoy me, lol. I keep one burning the the bathroom during the winter when the guys from the gaming group are here and it’s too cold to open the window, otherwise I don’t use them.
The dark months of the holiday season are tough for me, for reasons along with the lack of sunshine. But I try to get out and about in what sun we get. I’ve been know to take St Johns Wort and up my vitamin D intake as well.
I really like the way you went all in with the lighting. That is awesome.
Getting outside for the time one can, for some activity can help, I am told. Esp walking or aerobic.
Thx for lighting info
Sipping a little whisky may help to brighten the day.
My S.A.D. is dependent on whether the Seahawks win or not…
@daveinwarsh Alcohol makes depression symptoms worse. So does marijuana, apparently.
@daveinwarsh You’re having a good week then!
@sammydog01 Yup… Go Hawks!
@daveinwarsh Seahawks Athletic Disorder?
@daveinwarsh Living in the Pacific Northwest, I too am a huge Hawks fan. Maybe S.A.D. could stand for Sadly Absent Defense? Go Hawks!
They also make lights for this that you shine on yourself in the morning for a while, although your solution is pretty cool.
I really like this idea!
I do have one of those full spectrum lights for mornings, which helped, especially back when I’d start my day before dawn. Gotta remember to take that out again soon.
Light visors are a thing.
@eonfifty
so…out of curiosity, what’s it look like from the outside? I’d be a bit worried about possibly blinding passers-by…
@earlyre They’re just LED strips, not the bat-signal. An ordinary 100W low-pressure sodium street light (not the big ones) puts out 1800 lumens. The big ones four times as much at 7200. The sticks linked in the OP are 1000 lumens each, looks like four each wall, so on the order of one of the big street lamps, pointed down not outward, and spread over a much larger area than the street lights. You should worry more about the street lights.
@earlyre OTOH, there appear to be four sticks in the linked kit, so that’s two by 1000 lumens, more on the scale of a small street light. @moondrake, how many did you purchase?
@earlyre @PocketBrain I put four sticks in each window set, so you are looking at eight sticks. They don’t put much light outside, as they are reflected by the window screens, which seems to help diffuse the indoor light. It has the additional benefit of making it impossible to see in at night. The screen is lit up, so that’s all you can see, from the street or right in front of the window. I’ll take a photo tonight and post it.
@earlyre @moondrake @PocketBrain
When these lights are turned off, can you take and post some closeup pix of the installation?
@earlyre @f00l @PocketBrain Not much to see, they are mounted really flush. As I recall, I used the adhesive strips they came with. They are super lightweight.
Looking up at them.
Looking at them straight on.
@earlyre this is a photo taken from about 20 feet away from the window. You can see that it’s only a dim glow coming through the window, the screen bounces most of the light inward. You can see inside the room, but not nearly as clearly as when these lights are off
Do you manually dim them? You could get an arduino with a RTC and PWM the lights. An ambient light detector could determine sundown, then start to dim the lights according to your pre-set “virtual sunlight” schedule.
@PocketBrain I use a remote. Thanks for the suggestion.
Depression sucks…I have been getting all four seasons continously since about July 13th 2013. Found a few ways to cope but they are mostly unhealthy and illegal. Still working on fixing it in a healthy manner but some ex-wives tend to enjoy making our lives as miserable as possible.
@sicc574 “No matter how hot she is, somebody out there is sick of dealing with her shit.”
I finally broke down and got a light box a few years ago. It’s a pain in the butt to have to sit in front of the thing, but I finally realized I could set it on my vanity and have it on while I’m spackling on my powders, paint & potions. I just have to do a quick mirror check in other lighting to make sure I don’t end up looking like this:
@LaVikinga Why wouldn’t you want to look like that!?
/giphy drew carey mimi
@capguncowboy There may have been a few evenings…a few boozy, raucous evenings with friends, and in the light of morn…well, let’s just say the morning light can be unkind.