Australian T3 - May 2018

Words: Claire Davies

22 T3 WINTER 2018 Discover more at techradar.com/au

Tech to beat the winter blues

Is the deep dark of winter bringing you down and making you feel sluggish and glum?

Give yourself a boost of happiness and energy with this new breed of feel-good tech

Tech to beat

the winter blues

Winter brings with it shorter days, less sunshine and a

duller sun. If you feel less interested in activities, your

appetite changes and you want to sleep more, you

could be suffering from the ‘winter blues’, or seasonal

affective disorder (SAD). The latter is the more severe of

the two – but how do you know if you’re suffering from

the winter blues or a form of SAD?

Helen Hanson, Chair of the Seasonal Affective

Disorder Association (SADA) charity, describes winter

blues as a milder expression of SAD, the latter now

recognised medically as a form of depression. “Lack of

light causes SAD,” explains Helen. “This lack of light

creates a biochemical imbalance in the hypothalamus, a

part of the brain which regulates many bodily functions.

This explains why SAD affects people in many ways

• physically, mentally, cognitively and emotionally.
  “People with winter blues feel more lethargic and
  ‘fed up’ in winter,” Helen continues. “People with severe
  SAD become medically depressed. If untreated, this
  depression – coupled with the other symptoms – can
  be devastating.”
  There are ways to alleviate symptoms, including light
  therapy, medication and lifestyle changes. If you’re
  suffering, contact your GP for advice. There’s also a
  wealth of information on the HealthDirect Australia
  (healthdirect.gov.au/seasonal-affective-disorder)
  website. On the next page, we’ve rounded up tech
  that can help take the edge off your winter blues...