According to a study published in the Journal of affective disorderswomen are much more likely than men to experience seasonal mood swings, with these seasonal depression symptoms peaking during the winter months.
the seasonal affective disorder(SAD, also called seasonal depression) occurs gradually in late fall and most often disappears in early spring. The main symptoms of this form of depression are a sense of worthlessness, lack of energy, fatigue, and a lack of interest in usually enjoyable activities (or anhedonia).
To better understand SAD, researchers at the University of Glasgow studied health data from 150,000 adults and examined the depressive symptoms of these participants by linking depressive symptoms to day length as well as average outdoor temperatures.
They found that symptoms of depression, fatigue and anhedonia were stronger in winter in women. And that if depression and anhedonia diminished as
the days are getting longer, the fatigue seems to persist.
According to Dr. Daniel Smith, lead author of the study, these findings provide further evidence that women may be more prone to the seasonal form of depression than men.
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