Does anyone get SAD in reverse?

[AchillesLastStand]

This sounds strange but I think every spring I have SAD rather than in the winter. It’s like my brain can’t cope with the longer days, I can’t sleep and feel anxious all the time. The past week has been awful, and I keep waking at 1.10 in the morning like clockwork and then can’t get back to sleep. I have constant brain fog.

I read that your brain may produce less melatonin in the spring which causes the sleep problems. I really like the winter months and feel cocooned by the dark evenings. Is anyone else like this?

For record, I’m currently taking amtriptyline for anxiety but it’s not helping with the insomnia.

I’m the same. I feel really insecure and unsettled once the days get longer and lighter. Spring is my least favourite time of year and no one gets it! They think you’re ridiculous not to be relishing new growth, summer on the way etc, barbecues in the garden etc.

I also hate those cold winter days where the sky is glaringly blue, they make me feel panicky.

@Ponderingwindow

Sort of. The long days and sun exposure does something to me. It’s not exactly SAD. It’s more a physical reaction to the sun. If I stay in the shade, wear spf clothing, and even go so far as to use a parasol on high UV days, I don’t react as intensely. I’m extremely pale and burn really easily, but just wearing lots of sunblock isn’t enough to keep me from feeling unwell.

@ponderingwindow

Have you spoken to your GP about this? Light sensitivity is extremely real, and can make you feel very ill. It's quite rare so many people go undiagnosed as the conditions are so unheard of. I have Solar Urticaria. Summer is hell. I feel ill for months.

Yes, I see how shabby and dirty the house is in Spring and the longer days make me feel more obliged to be active and out and about.
I like the long dark evenings.

I don't mind the spring, mellow sun at half mast and all that. Warm days, cool nights

I hate that intense above head burning in summer time, ugh, everything so bright

I must admit I hate the expectation of summer that we should be out & about doing stuff, days out etc and making the most of the nice weather as we don't get it often. I quite enjoy cold rainy days where I've got an excuse to laze around in my pj's all day doing nothing of a weekend!

@anarchyinateacup

I’m under the care of a specialist for chronic skin conditions, allergies, and my sun sensitivity has come up in all of that. I’m on all sorts of interesting medications, most of which make me even more sun sensitive, but they are absolute necessities and for several, given the expense, only prescribed when all other options are exhausted.

@mrburrsir

I hate the heat and find something weirdly melancholy about the long warm evenings

Yes me too!! There's a sad sweetness to it that I can't bear.

I dont know if anyone can relate to this but I also find I am on edge more because there is more outside noise. Just ordinary neighbour garden noise of an evening makes me feel jittery and I cant relax the same as I can when it is cold and dark of an evening.
I just can't wait for autumn to roll around though that makes me feel.that I am wishing my life away.

I dislike spring and summer. My children are autistic and the light evenings really cause issues with their sleep (one didn’t go to bed until later as the light stops her and then she woke up at 2am and is banging around). She’ll only go into the garden when it’s cooler and darker so she’s stuck in all the time.

I like longer evenings and it being daylight when I’m going to/from work (shift worker). However, the one thing I hate is as pp said the noise from neighbours/kids/boy racers. Autumn/winter are quieter but I hate the cold and dark!

Not as much as others here but i hate light evenings. I think its if its light after 8pm anyway i start complaining about mid May and heave a sigh of relief again mid August. Ideally I'd live nearer the equator.

I hate summer and live in Australia. Yay me.

Not sure if I’d be better with a UK summer. Have visited during summer and 25 degrees felt much warmer than it does back home and there were warnings about the heat broadcasted on the tube.

I also can’t deal with endless sunny days and sun glare and get light related migraines. Love a nice cloudy, moody day and a decent fall of rain.

Heatwaves definitely make me depressed.

My favourite holiday is skiing or somewhere in the mountains. Lying by a pool or beach for a week isn’t my idea of fun.

I actually do like summer and being in the sun, but for several years around the menopause I found the spring triggered horrible bouts of anxiety. I have got better at managing that. But something that helped a LOT was wearing a sleep mask in spring ans summer. Even though the blackout in my bedroom is reasonable, enough light was creeping in to disrupt the last hour or two of sleep, and I think that was setting me off in some way. I do think the sleep mask has helped a lot: even though it isn't 100% comfortable, it is far preferable to tossing and turning through the dawn hours with an increasingly racing heart....

@bigyellowTpot

I must admit I hate the expectation of summer that we should be out & about doing stuff, days out etc and making the most of the nice weather as we don't get it often. I quite enjoy cold rainy days where I've got an excuse to laze around in my pj's all day doing nothing of a weekend!

I'm exactly the same.

Other people look forward to buying their summer clothes, I look forward to treating myself to a job lot of new pyjamas for my birthday every September!

And the summer noises...ugh! I live in cul de sac of terraced houses where there are about 14 boys aged between 8 - 14 so every evening and weekend it's incessant with bikes, electric scooters, Nerf guns, yelling and football...on one family's front lawn where they've stuck a goal net as presumably the parents want to keep the back garden for themselves .

I do have moments where I think it's sweet that they're doing that rather than constantly on screens, but half of them are now old enough to go to the park and with wfh and DD trying to study for exams I can't help wishing they'd bugger off!

I don't get SAD in reverse as I enjoy summer and warm weather (if you can call it that in Yorkshire). And I LOVE light mornings - I love to get up at 4am in midsummer when it's light and make the most of the day.

However I much prefer dark evenings. I wish it would get dark around 7pm every day. When it's light until 10pm I just think "when will the day end?!" and feel guilty for sitting on the sofa watching TV when I should be doing more worthy things.

@IAlsoHateSpring

I also hate spring! I love autumn and winter and like summer but I feel the same every spring. Like very sad and anxious and even sort of scared and lonely (for no reason).

It's worse at a certain time of night, like 5/6pm when the sun is starting to set but it's still bright and cold and I can hear the birds. It's hard to explain but it sort of makes my skin crawl.

I've NC'd to reply to this thread as I've mentioned it to a few people in real life (who all think I'm mad!).

My gosh I feel EXACTLY the same. It's so hard to explain... and I can't figure out why

My people!!

I want it to be dark by 7pm latest or I just can't settle and get to bed at a decent time. Absolutely hate it around the solstice in particular, it's not even dark at 11pm and I end up utterly sleep-deprived. Having cats that get super-excited by the dusk doesn't help either: they're not allowed to stay out overnight so while getting them in and settled for the night is a piece of piss in the winter, it's a nightmare in the height of summer.

That said, I do like light mornings. The sun coming up around 5am suits me very nicely and it's easier to get up and make a good start on the day under those circumstances than it is at other times of the year, when it's pitch black outside until nearly 8am.

And while I like being comfortably warm (without having to either bankrupt ourselves with a crazy gas/electric bill or having to sit, like I am now, in a massive blanket and electric foot warmer with gloves on), I cannot stand being too hot. I get really upset in a heatwave when there's literally nowhere in the house that I can be a comfortable temperature. Have even considered trying to save up or take out a loan and get one of those air conditioning units ready for summer, to keep just one room cool enough for sleeping in.

Yes!! I really don't like the spring and lighter evenings. Give me a cosy autumn evening anyday.

*I get depression during the summer for some reason… i think it goes back to my younger days when I had very little social life and there was the expectation that you should be out all the time having the time of your life in the sun, it just seems to have stuck with me.

*Same, it's the expectation that as the sun is out you shouldn't be stuck indoors!

I hate the summer, even more so that the temperatures are rising and we get more heatwaves. This time of year is lovely, but I can't help feeling low about the uncomfortable conditions to come.

If I had my way we would have winter and spring and fast forward to autumn. Maybe have two springs or two autumns chucked in there somewhere, so that I don't lose 3 months a year.

The melancholy, depressing and sad feeling is real for me in the spring, as a family we had a lot of bereavements at this time of year including my dad 32 years ago in April. My mum never liked the spring either.

This used to happen to DH - it's a side effect of his hay fever which mostly presents as him feeling weird and head coldy and confused.

Being MILITANT about taking his antihistamines, and (in his case) his asthma pump, as hay fever brings on mild asthma for him, have completely changed our lives (his because he feels better, mine because he's not depressed and irritable for 2 months).

@Forgothowmuchlhatehomeschoolin

I used to when l was with my ex...everyone else seemed to love summer but l knew it would mean him spending even more time in the out while l was at home alone.

That should have said pub not out!

OP yes I would say this is definitely a thing. Surprisingly for me I used to have this but I now have SAD.
I used to really struggle with the adjustment with spring and summer and always felt really low around Easter.
Do you know the song Summer Time Sadness by Lana Del Rey? This used to be a comfort to me as I likened it to my warmer month depression.
It's strange how our minds play tricks on us sometimes and it's a case of getting through it and coming out the other side. Xx

@lollipoprainbow

*I get depression during the summer for some reason… i think it goes back to my younger days when I had very little social life and there was the expectation that you should be out all the time having the time of your life in the sun, it just seems to have stuck with me.

*Same, it's the expectation that as the sun is out you shouldn't be stuck indoors!

This was me too! I totally had this feeling, I remember always thinking other people were so much happier than I was, and I have a July birthday which I always felt dread in terms of having to arrange some kind of night out, despite not having many friends. At least when you're older the expectation goes!