[英語學習Plus]冬季憂鬱症

The days get shorter, the air gets colder, and we all get stuck inside a lot more. Who wouldn't find winter just a little bit depressing?

Many of us may get a bit blue in the winter, living in the dark, unable to enjoy the weather very much. But for some people, these blues can become something quite serious. Seasonal Affective Disorder (appropriately shortened to “SAD”) is the name for a mood disorder that causes normally mentally healthy people to become seriously depressed in the winter.

People with SAD may start to have trouble waking up on winter mornings. Some of them may even feel sick in the mornings. They may lose their energy, especially in the afternoon, and they may move slowly and sluggishly. Unlike with other depressions, people with SAD feel hungrier than usual and desire carbohydrates. One sign of SAD, in fact, is gaining significant weight in the winter. SAD sufferers may often become irritable and stop wanting to see friends and family.

Doctors don't know exactly why people get SAD, but two things are probably important causes: sunlight and hormones in the body. Sunlight is important in several ways. It tells us when to sleep and when to wake up. This may explain the problems SAD sufferers have waking up. Sunlight can also affect how much serotonin our brains produce. Serotonin influences happiness. The lack of sunlight may also cause people to make more melanin, a hormone which makes us slow and sleepy.

People fight SAD in different ways. Some take medication. Others use exercise, bright light treatment, or a healthy diet to keep themselves balanced during the SAD season. If you feel winter blues coming on this year, take them seriously. Fight them with things that cheer you up and keep you excited about the coming spring.

白天愈來愈短也愈來愈冷，我們也更常躲在室內。有誰不會覺得冬天令人有點沮喪呢？

許多人或許會在冬天變得有點憂鬱，他們生活在黑暗中，無法好好享受天氣。但對某些人來說，這種憂鬱可能會變得很嚴重。季節性情緒失調（簡稱為SAD）是一種情緒上的失調，通常會使精神健康的人在冬天變得嚴重憂鬱。

患有SAD的人在冬天早晨或許會起不來。有些人在早上甚至會覺得不舒服。他們可能特別容易在下午喪失活力，而且動作會變得又慢又懶散。跟其他的憂鬱症不同，患有SAD的人會覺得比平常更飢餓，更愛攝取碳水化合物。事實上，SAD的一個徵兆是體重在冬天大幅增加。SAD患者也可能變得比較急躁，或開始不想見親朋好友。

醫生並不清楚人們罹患SAD的原因，但可能的重要因素大概有兩個：陽光及體內的荷爾蒙。陽光在幾個方面非常重要。它告訴我們何時該睡覺及起床。這或許能解釋SAD患者起不來的問題。陽光也能影響腦部製造血清素的量。血清素影響人們的快樂程度。缺乏陽光或許也會造成人體製造更多的黑色素，黑色素是造成我們動作緩慢與嗜睡的賀爾蒙。

人們對抗SAD的方法有很多種。有些人會吃藥，也有些人在SAD季節裡利用運動、光照療法，或飲食健康來保持身心平衡。如果你覺得今年會有冬天憂鬱症，請嚴肅看待。找令你開心的事來對抗它，並期待春天的到來。