How to cure winter depression with food

As the dark, winter days arrive, 35 million Americans fall into depression known as seasonal affective disorder. There is a theory that the deprivation of light changes the chemical processes in the brain of biologically sensitive individuals. These depressed individuals often crave sweets and starch. No wonder. “Carbohydrates are like a drug for the brain, something you desperately give yourself to ward off winter depression,” says Dr. Norman Rosenthal, the leading researcher of seasonal affective disorder at the National Institute of Mental Health. He explains that normal people become less alert and less energetic after consuming carbohydrates, such as sugar, regardless of the season. But for people with seasonal affective disorder, the opposite effect occurs. Carbohydrates act as an antidepressant for them. “Carbohydrates fill them with energy and lift their mood,” says Dr. Rosenthal.

Through a series of experiments at the laboratories of the National Institute of Mental Health, he examined the effects of carbohydrates on patients with seasonal affective disorder, as well as on normal non-depressed patients. He gave both groups sweetened cookies to eat. Within two hours, after eating six cookies containing a powerful 105 grams of carbohydrates, the depressed patients were more lively and energetic and less tense, depressed, and tired. However, normal subjects who ate the cookies felt drugged. One possible solution: such depressed individuals have abnormal brain chemical processes, including serotonin metabolism that acts against depression. Some believe that carbohydrate consumption helps overcome this problem by raising serotonin levels and/or serotonin-induced activity.

“Some people who eat a lot of pasta and cakes may be using carbohydrates as edible antidepressants.” – Dr. Judith Wurtman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Regardless of the reason, if you suffer from “winter depression,” do not deprive your brain of the carbohydrate therapy it craves, says Dr. Rosenthal. By doing so, you only make the situation worse and deepen your despair, as the craving for sweets and starch has biological strength. “Some of our patients call it an addiction, like a craving for cocaine,” he says. Skimping on carbohydrates when your body is craving them is likely also doomed to fail. Dr. Rosenthal advises people with this type of depression, for example, to ensure their diet is not rich in proteins and poor in carbohydrates, especially during the dark winter months.

To alleviate seasonal affective disorder, you can eat sweets, but it is healthier to eat complex carbohydrates, such as beans, pasta, vegetables, cereals, bread, and salted crackers. These also work, just a little slower. Similarly, Dr. Rosenthal warns against excessive consumption of alcohol or caffeine (more than two cups of coffee a day) to ward off winter depression. Too much of either can increase anxiety, creating additional mood problems.

Franjo Lenac