by Ian Elliot
Northern News Services

NNSL (Nov 03/97) - Starting to feel tired and worn out? Sleeping badly? Have an almost insatiable appetite for chocolate?

You may be missing the sun, perhaps more than you think.

Some people in the North are more affected by the onset of winter than others and it can cause profound mood and behavioral changes as the number of hours of sunlight dwindles to near-zero in the dead of winter.

Some sufferers simply assume they are not built for winter and either endure it until the spring or move south.

Doctors and mental health workers, though, recognize these symptoms as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), and for those who suffer from it, the slide begins as soon as clocks are set back an hour in October.

"I have seen a few people suffering from it," said Peter Mackie, co-ordinator of the Canadian Mental Health Association office in Inuvik.

"It can come in degrees. In severe cases it can disrupt your life and make your winter absolutely miserable."

When the days get shorter, less light reaches people's retinas and that disrupts the amount of the hormone melatonin released into a person's bloodstream.

Melatonin, which acts as a sedative, is one of the body's biological clocks and a change in the amount of melatonin in the blood can leave a person feeling like it is always night.

The disorder can be treated with drugs in severe cases, but the cornerstone of treatment is the light box, in front of which a patient sits every day for a period of time.

The light box, which does not work for everyone, is much brighter than average room lighting. It is bright enough to fool the body into producing the hormones it needs to establish a regular schedule again and the symptoms of the disorder begin to fade in as little as two weeks.

To fight off SADness, sleep authorities suggest staying active and making the most of what little sunlight there is by walking or engaging in physical activity.

"You need to try and do whatever you can to get most out of life," said Mackie.

"You have to get out as much as you can, if the weather allows. Myself, I find if I'm stuck inside the house, it drives me crazy."

And if worst comes to worst, two weeks in Florida in the depths of winter is almost guaranteed to banish the winter blahs.

"Wouldn't that be wonderful?" joked Bev Devins of the charitable foundation Sleep/Wake Disorders Canada.

"If OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan) would pay to send us south for two weeks each."