Need to know:
- The symptoms of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) tend to be more severe during the winter months.
- Daylight, exercise and diet are key ways to prevent and treat symptoms.
- SAD light-therapy boxes mimic sunlight and help to boost moods.
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD), also known as the winter blues, tends to affect people more severely during the winter months, and symptoms are typically worse from September until March when the hours of natural daylight dip to their shortest of the year.
All mental ill-health is a cause for concern and can be debilitating to the person suffering, but employers can help by looking out for the first signs of the illness, educating staff to do the same, and actively working to help relieve an employee’s symptoms.
How SAD affects employees
Sufferers typically display symptoms in the winter months but it is not always easy to distinguish SAD from other mental illnesses, or the fact an employee is simply feeling down because the days are shorter and colder. Some of the common symptoms of SAD can affect everyone, including tiredness and low levels of motivation and energy during the winter months.
More tell-tale signs are a collective range of symptoms such as problems concentrating, mood swings, weight gain, over-sleeping and becoming withdrawn or shying away from social situations, as well as depression.
SAD is a difficult one for employers to support, because employees may try to mask symptoms, thinking they can cope on their own. But symptoms need to be taken seriously by employers, says Christine Husbands, managing director at RedArc. “It’s not always that obvious when you talk to someone but when you realise how depressed they are, you start to get a feel for it and the fact it could well have been caused by SAD,” she explains. “[Employers] need to get beneath it to determine what is really causing the problem.”
Employees may notice a change in their colleagues during the winter months. Even if a person has not suffered from SAD in the past, it does not mean they cannot develop the illness. Vanessa Sallows, benefits and governance director at Legal and General, says: “Colleagues can see the serious difference in mood, especially if they’ve worked with [an individual] for years, during those winter months. All mental illness is significant and severe to the person suffering from it at the time and only the individual can only understand how severe it is.”
Treatment of SAD
The easiest way employees can be treated for SAD is to make sure they get enough natural daylight.
Serotonin, a brain chemical, is thought to play a key role in keeping moods lifted. If serotonin levels decrease, then it can alter the mood. Natural daylight is a great way of boosting serotonin levels.
Sitting by a window, going for a walk at lunchtime and generally getting out of the office during daylight hours can make a dramatic difference, so an employer needs to be flexible in allowing staff to do this, says Husbands.
Exercise can also be effective at boosting energy levels and improving mental wellbeing. Therefore, building this into an employee’s daily life can make a massive difference, says Emma Mamo, head of workplace wellbeing at Mind. “Cycling to work, getting off the bus early, weather permitting, or going to the gym are all good ways of helping boost energy levels,” she says.
Weight gain and an increased appetite are symptoms often associated with SAD, so employers can support employees in making healthy food choices that can also help boost energy levels and minimise blood sugar crashes.
Support in the workplace
Employers can actively encourage employees to go out in daylight hours for a walk at lunchtime or be more flexible about working hours or breaks, taking into account the shorter days. In very severe instances, employers may choose to buy light boxes for employees suffering with SAD.
SAD light-therapy boxes create a simulation of sunlight so that the melanopsin receptors in the eyes can trigger the required serotonin release within the brain for natural sleep cycles and general feelings of wellbeing. These are not available on the NHS, but if employers choose to purchase these boxes for staff to use, prices start from around £40.
Employers can also train mental health champions in the workplace, such as mental health first aiders, to spot the first signs of SAD and to provide support, which can be effective in drawing attention to SAD, as well as promoting the support available through benefits such as employee assistance programmes (EAP). An EAP enables employees access to phone and face-to-face counselling, which can take the pressure off if they do not have family support or prefer to talk to someone outside of the organisation.
Something as simple as sitting by a window can help, and an employer or colleagues should accommodate this, says Husbands. “Be open to discuss it and let them know how important it is to sit by a window; it’s the simple things that make all the difference,” she explains. “Employers that are flexible can really help an employee and make all the difference.”