{"id":339022,"date":"2025-12-28T09:53:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T09:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/339022\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T09:53:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T09:53:07","slug":"carlisle-health-expert-how-to-beat-sad-this-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/339022\/","title":{"rendered":"Carlisle health expert: How to beat SAD this winter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Dr John Campbell, a former nursing<\/a> lecturer, streams to thousands of viewers each week, discussing the latest developments and talking points in health and medicine.\n<\/p>\n

\n He told the News & Star that Vitamin D supplementation, a wide variety of foods and regular exercise outdoors are amongst the best ways to stave-off SAD.\n<\/p>\n

\n Dr John Campbell addressing his viewers on a livestream during the Covid-19 pandemic.\n<\/p>\n

\n Dr Campbell explained that, being a disorder, SAD affects or disrupts normal psychological function.\n<\/p>\n

\n SAD is a form of depression experienced at certain times of year, particularly in winter when there are less daylight hours and more time is spent in-doors due to cold weather.\n<\/p>\n

\n Dr Campbell said: “The idea is that most people wouldn’t get this but for some people it reaches a pathological level of disorder.”\n<\/p>\n

\n A person feeling low. (Image: Unsplash)\n<\/p>\n

\n The health expert regularly prompts the use of Vitamin D to his viewers, advocating that it should be prescribed on the NHS<\/a> due to its affects against a variety of health conditions.\n<\/p>\n

\n He said that lower Vitamin D levels in the winter months could be a factor in the experience of SAD.\n<\/p>\n

\n Dr Campbell said: “Some of my mates say, ‘I don’t feel right in winter, David. My thinking’s a bit groggy.”\n<\/p>\n

\n He suggests to increase their dosage of Vitamin D<\/a> through supplementation and they all see a marked improvement.\n<\/p>\n

\n A GP writing-out a prescription. (Image: PA)\n<\/p>\n

\n Dr Campbell said: “Exercise is important, being outside. Exercise is important year-round for affective status.”\n<\/p>\n

\n He also advises that a healthy diet includes “adequate protein, a wide variety of foods for your microbiome.”\n<\/p>\n

\n Dr Campbell also advised caution around alcohol intake, “not using the early evenings to have a drink at 4pm.”\n<\/p>\n

\n Dr Campbell said that some people may need medical treatment to mitigate the affects of SAD.\n<\/p>\n

\n PHQ-9 is a patient health questionnaire used by medical professionals to diagnose depression which Dr Campbell said could help to spot any changes in mood after the seasons change.\n<\/p>\n

\n A person receiving talking therapy. (Image: Unsplash)\n<\/p>\n

\n Dr Campbell said: “People could do those scales in the middle of summer and then do them on February 1 and see if they get different ratings and that would show if they’re predisposed to SAD.\n<\/p>\n

\n If you were clearly not depressed in summer “and you used PHQ9 and were depressed in winter, that would be one way of diagnosing SAD.”\n<\/p>\n

\n Subscribe for more in-depth journalism on subjects that matter to you<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n Dr Campbell said that patients could then visit their GP<\/a>, equipped with data on how their mood has changed.\n<\/p>\n

\n For some, the lifestyle changes mentioned will not be enough to address SAD and they may need medical help.\n<\/p>\n

\n Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) may be prescribed to those who need further help with low mood.\n<\/p>\n

\n SSRIs are a form of anti-depressant which increase serotonin levels in the brain and are usually prescribed alongside talking therapy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr John Campbell, a former nursing lecturer, streams to thousands of viewers each week, discussing the latest developments…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[102,1906,6623,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-339022","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-mentalhealth","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}