When the winter blues get severe, they might be better identified as seasonal affective disorder (SAD), which can sap you of energy and leave your mind and body feeling down. This seasonally recurrent kind of major depression is likely worse for many people due to our modern indoor lifestyles. About 10 percent to 20 percent of cases of recurrent depression follow a seasonal pattern. While a summer pattern isn’t entirely ruled out, the predominant trend involves fall/winter depression with spring/summer remission.[ii] SAD is distributed across the general population.[iii] Young adults and women, however, are most likely to experience it, with the reported gender difference following a 2:1 to 9:1 range. It has also been identified in children and teens. Here are some ways to combat SAD, and its less severe cousin “the winter blues,” naturally. 1. Vitamin D A 2015 study probed the relationship between 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D) and depressive and anxiety disorders in …