(SAD) Seasonal Affective Disorder, Seasonal Depression, or the "Winter Blues" affects a large number of people in the US and around the world every year. Seasonal Affective Disorder usually occurs in the fall lasting all winter long. Once spring arrives and people can get back outdoors and get some sunlight the symptoms go into remission, and of course as soon as fall comes around again, the symptoms return.
It doesn't matter what you call it, the seriousness of this Disorder is very high and on the rise. Some of these symptoms can include, but are not limited to: fatigue, lack of interest in normal activities, social withdrawal, food craving of high carbohydrates, and weight gain or maybe even weight loss.

Seasonal Affective Disorder is an imbalance in the brain of a chemical called Melatonin. Melatonin is created from the amino acid tryptophan and stimulated by darkness, which in turn creates depression. Serotonin, which is triggered by sunlight and combats depression, firmly influences the Circadian rhythm and regulation of various body fluids.

Light Therapy Products for Seasonal Affective Disorder

Nocturnal Melatonin secretion occurs for more hours of the day in the Winter time, with having less Serotonin, that makes for a bad chemical mix. BUT THERES HOPE! Artificial Sunlight has been connected to less Melatonin secretion and more Serotonin secretion which in turn makes us feel better. In 1984, Dr. Norman Rosenthal says that using light therapy in the winter months is an effective tool for preventing the chemical imbalances that cause the Seasonal Affective Disorder.

A light box is a type of therapy that emits a light that mimics outdoors light. The patient would sit in-front of this light box which is small and portable, allowing the light therapy to reduce the production of Melatonin in your brain. Use a light box twice a day, 15 minutes at each sitting, once in the morning and once in the evening for the best results. Why use a light box? The light required to help the healing process must be about 25 times the normal lighting you would get in a living room.

The light box that I recommend is the SunBox SB-682 SunLight Jr Portable Sunlight Therapy,
I start using it by Mid October and end it's use near the beginning of May each year.

Check some of these light boxes for sale on this site, they are of high quality, good pricing. DexLight.com is a trusted re-seller of light boxes from Amazon.
It's not suggested to look into the box at all when running, you could end up with some side effects like, headaches, eyestrain, and irritability.
Trust me, light boxes work so much better than antidepressant medications that have worse side affects.