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What is seasonal affective disorder (SAD)?

Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is a type of depression that affects a person during the same season each year. If you get depressed in the winter but feel much better in spring and summer, you may have SAD.

Anyone can get SAD, but it is more common in:

• People who live in areas where winter days are very short or there are big changes in the amount of daylight in different seasons.
• Women.
• People between the ages of 15 and 55. The risk of getting SAD for the first time goes down as you age.
• People who have a close relative with SAD.

What causes SAD?

Experts are not sure what causes SAD, but they think it may be caused by a lack of sunlight. Lack of light may upset your sleep-wake cycle and other circadian rhythms. And it may cause problems with a brain chemical called serotonin that affects mood.

What are the symptoms?

If you have SAD, you may:

• Feel sad, grumpy, moody, or anxious.
• Lose interest in your usual activities.
• Eat more and crave carbohydrates, such as bread and pasta.
• Gain weight.
• Sleep more and feel drowsy during the daytime.

Symptoms come and go at about the same time each year. For most people with SAD, symptoms start in September or October and end in April or May.

How is SAD diagnosed?

It can sometimes be hard to tell the difference between nonseasonal depression and SAD, because many of the symptoms are the same. To diagnose SAD, your doctor will want to know if:

• You have been depressed during the same season and have gotten better when the seasons changed for at least 2 years in a row.
• You have symptoms that often occur with SAD, such as being very hungry (especially craving carbohydrates), gaining weight, and sleeping more than usual.
• A close relative—a parent, brother, or sister—has had SAD.

How is it treated?

Doctors often prescribe light therapy to treat SAD. There are two types of light therapy:

• Bright light treatment. For this treatment, you sit in front of a “light box” for half an hour or longer, usually in the morning.
• Dawn simulation. For this treatment, a dim light goes on in the morning while you sleep, and it gets brighter over time, like a sunrise.

Light therapy works well for most people with SAD, and it is easy to use. You may start to feel better within a week or so after you start light therapy. But you need to stick with it and use it every day until the season changes. If you don’t, your depression could come back.

Other treatments that may help include:

• Antidepressants. These medicines can improve the balance of brain chemicals that affect mood.
• Counseling. Some types of counseling, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, can help you learn more about SAD and how to manage your symptoms.

If your doctor prescribes antidepressants, be sure you take them the way you are told to. Do not stop taking them just because you feel better. This could cause side effects or make your depression worse. When you are ready to stop, your doctor can help you slowly reduce the dose to prevent problems.

You may feel better if you get regular exercise. Being active during the daytime, especially first thing in the morning, may help you have more energy and feel less depressed. Moderate exercise such as walking, riding a stationary bike, or swimming is a good way to get started.

(source: http://health.yahoo.com/depression-overview/seasonal-affective-disorder-sad-topic-overview/healthwise–hw169555.html )

Hey Guys… its me, “coffee”..^^

I’m proud to announce that Coffeecupz Blog now has a shorter web link…so its gonna be easier for you to access^^

the next time you want to visit this blog… just… type in on ur URL bar:

more blog features to come!!

mainly here’s a sneak preview of what u will find here soon…

YOu will find these Contents on my GENERAL MENU BAR (top navigation bar)

* The advocate HDI (Human Development Int’l) codes & images–lets help spread the call to save mother Earth..

* FriendsterLayouts4u Segment Page — offers variety of friendster lay-outs for free, as well as customized lay-out orders for a very minimum rate

* MY ARTWORKS GALLERY - a page where i will showcase my latest graphic artworks^^

* and ofc, news, articles…anything that goes around the clock will be posted on the main page…of CoffeeCupz Blog

well, that’s it for now….. just feel free to contact me if you want to suggest or comment on smt…

Have a Nice Day to All of YOu….

Cyaz 4 nowz…

♥Coffee♥

“Making landfall and interconnecting people worldwide for a common direction to save humanity and the Living Planet Earth”

It is alarming to note that nowadays, a large segment of the human population falls into suffering from a deep-economic crisis. Many became victims of diseases, AIDS, pandemics, drug addiction, exploitation, unemployment, and various family problems involving mostly women, children, and the youth.

This fact merely states a large percentage of declining Human Development Index which jeopardizes not only the status of human life but of the ‘elements’ that help sustain life — mountains, seas, lands…”nature”.

Thus, the goal of establishing Human Development Internation is to help support and boost the concept of putting people as the Central Focus and the Ultimate End in development..without jeopardizing elements that helps sustain human life.

Therefore a Call has been sent to every people around the world to become aware and help sustain and preserve Life, in its ‘whole”…

Further, an HDIan adheres to the fact, that “time is short and uncertain” that one should live life to the fullest thus makes every new day dawn of his life shine the best in oneself for tomorrow might not come. And when that time comes which we don’t know when, one can close his eyes peacefully, knowing that he has lived life to the fullest and in peace with other beings. Indeed, character is a means in achieving life’s fulfillment. In society, no amount of effort and money can achieve a high level of human development, if people don’t have the proper character and the will to achieve it, a challenge we have to face.

People, especially the youth…. the vanguards of the future world…

Be Part of the Movement…. and help spread the Call…

MAKE A DIFFERENCE NOW: visit: http://humandevintl.org

DOH: Flu now in RP
By Sheila Crisostomo Updated May 22, 2009 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - A 10-year-old Filipino girl who had traveled to the United States and Canada was found positive for Influenza A(H1N1), making her the first confirmed case in the Philippines.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III announced this last night in a teleconference from the World Health Organization (WHO) office in Geneva, Switzerland.

“We now have the first confirmed case of Influenza A(H1N1) in the Philippines… The discovery of this first case is something we have been preparing for,” said Duque.

The girl arrived in the Philippines last May 18, and eventually developed fever, cough, and sore throat the next day.

Swab throat samples were taken from the girl who is now confined in an “undisclosed health facility.”

Duque said the samples were examined and confirmed at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) using the A(H1N1) testing kits donated by the Atlanta-based Center for Disease Control and Prevention through polymerase chain reaction machines.

“The patient was started on anti-viral and given supportive care. The patient no longer has fever and cough, but she still has sore throat,” he added.

The family and those who had close contact with her have already been advised to go on quarantine.

“We advise the public not to panic. There is no community level outbreak. Measures are being implemented to prevent transmission,” Duque said.

DOH Undersecretary Mario Villaverde said the results of the laboratory tests would be sent to a WHO-accredited laboratory in Melbourne, Australia.

He added the co-passengers of the girl in the plane home would be contacted to advise them to observe self-quarantine.

Villaverde had also urged the public to observe personal hygiene, take nutritional food, get enough sleep, take vitamin C, and drink lots of water and fruit juices to strengthen their immune system.

“If you can postpone travelling to other affected areas, that would be good for you,” he advised the public.

WHO tally tops 11,000 cases

The World Health Organization earlier raised its tally of swine flu cases around the world to 11,034 and 85 deaths.

WHO said most of the new 791 cases have been reported in Canada, Mexico and the US. Mexico confirmed three more deaths linked to swine flu, while the US confirmed two since Wednesday’s tally.

At least 38 other countries have also reported cases since the outbreak began last month.

A month after the world was alerted to a potential flu pandemic, the WHO was caught yesterday between the spread of the new swine flu virus to 41 countries and doubts fostered by its mild symptoms.

Some 10,000 cases and 80 deaths have been recorded since the outbreak of A(H1N1) influenza emerged in Mexico and the US, and the world remains at flu alert level five, signaling an “imminent pandemic.”

But World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan is hesitating about declaring a full-pledged pandemic by moving to phase six, even though travelers have carried it to other countries.

The top level would indicate sustained community transmission in a second region outside of the Americas.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso appealed for calm yesterday as a total of 281 swine flu cases were reported in the country, including the first in greater Tokyo, the world’s largest urban area.

Antoine Flahaut, an epidemiologist and head of the School of Public Health (EHESP), said the technical elements were in place to move into pandemic phase.

“But the WHO senses that recommendations which go with that are not adapted to the situation,” he explained, pointing to air travel restrictions or advice to wear surgical masks.

“Invoking phase six would be disproportionate with the current situation,”

The doubts have growm because of the relatively mild symptoms of swine flu, which experts acknowledge is no worse than seasonal influenza for now.

Most of the deaths have occurred among those who were suffering from other ailments, a common pattern for ordinary strains of flu.

When the WHO’s annual assembly opened on Monday, British Health Secretary Alan Johnson voiced doubts about phase six that had been growing behind the scenes after countries rushed to contain new cases of swine flu.

“I think you, as you and others have said, need more time, we need more time to study this,” Johnson told Chan, prompting nods of approval from other health officials afterwards, including China, Japan and New Zealand.

“She has taken that on board,” WHO spokesman Thomas Abraham said late yesterday, underlining that most of the cases in Japan were largely confined to students or their close entourage.

Chan acknowledged this week that the WHO’s pandemic response plan, introduced three years ago, was largely designed around the more deadly and virulent, but less transmissible, H5N1 bird flu virus.

“This scale was based on geographical distribution, but the public belief is that pandemic means seriousness,” said Sylvie Briand, acting director of the WHO’s Global Influenza Program.

(Source:http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=470269&publicationSubCategoryId=63 )