Are you feeling Seasonal Affective Disorder from all the rain?

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – If you’re struggling a bit to get through these cloudy, rainy winter days…you’re not alone.

The official name for your wintertime blues is: “seasonal affective disorder”, and it can touch young and old.

News 12’s Ashley Henderson found some people to talk about that today.

KAYLEE NIX, NEWS 12 METEOROLOGIST:
“Like you can see behind me today, we’re going on day three straight of continual cloud cover and rain. We’ve got another four days, as more active weather systems move on through.”

Some people love clouds and rain….but even they may be getting their fill of Chattanooga’s weather lately. Most people are starting their conversations today with “I’ll be glad when this rain is over.”

But, for others….it’s a more serious problem that can affect their daily lives.

“We are absolutely in the Seasonal Affected Disorder time frame. We’re coming out of a long, wet winter, it didn’t get real cold, but it’s certainly been cloudy, and the weather’s been miserable, and this week really isn’t any exception.”

Farlie Chastain has counseled a number of patients on the nature of their depression. He knows it can be mild or serious.

“Major depressive disorder is a disorder that has a set of symptoms in which you lose the ability to do a lot of the things you used to do – you feel sad, you don’t have the energy to get out of bed or you don’t have energy to complete tasks, you lose focus. And with that you may even find yourself suicidal.”

KAYLEE : “To put it in perspective, during the month of January, 15 of our days, so about half of January, we recorded measurable precipitation. Which means that 15 of those days, there was at least some cloud cover for us.”

So what can we do about it?

FARLEY: “Exercise, is probably first on the list. As we lose energy and we don’t feel good in the dark times of year, or when we have less sunlight, it’s good to get out. You can go to your local sports club, or to your local gym, and do some exercise. 20 minutes a day.”

In a cloudy, rainy and just plain ugly day in Chattanooga….Ashley Henderson News 12 Now.