Dawn simulation could lighten spirits of SAD sufferers

And maybe yours should. Got the winter blues? You may be that one person in 10 who needs to pay attention here: Light up your bedroom, light up your life.

The latest treatment for SAD -- seasonal affective disorder -- awakens you as though it were sunny June, not dreary December. Controlled by a simple rheostat, dawn simulation provides SAD sufferers their daily quotient of light.

Compared with the old treatment -- sitting under special lamps for 30 minutes or more -- a dawn simulator saves time, saves money, requires zero hassle and even less motivation, advocates say.

All you do is sleep, wake up, feel better.

If you think you have winter depression, talk to your doctor. And remember this: Tomorrow brings the first day of winter. Dark going to work. Dark coming home. Dark period.

By misfortunes of geography and planetary positioning, the incidence of winter depression along Puget Sound is fully 10 percent here, vs. 1 percent in such southern states as Florida. Shorter days, longer faces. That's SAD, times 10.

And it means 350,000 locals who'd sooner crash on the couch with chocolates than do just about anything.

Psychiatrist David Avery said recent research shows that dawn simulation is a potent weapon for winter depression. Avery knows from experience -- his patients' and his own. His symptoms were relatively mild.

"It was always difficult for me to wake up in the winter," Avery said. "For some of us, dawn simulation is an effective answer."

Systems sell for about $200 or less, compared with $500 or more for some light boxes. Another option, a light visor that frees you from the box and gives you mobility, costs about $200.

Avery and his colleagues at the University of Washington have also heard reports published in May that suggest melatonin may be a key to SAD's inner secrets. Melatonin, a hormone secreted by the pineal gland, is light sensitive and secreted during darkness. It's the body's natural sleeping pill.

Research shows victims of winter depression have increased melatonin levels during winter, Avery said. By adjusting hormone levels, doctors may be able to treat patients who don't respond to lamps.

"We're all affected, to some degree, by the lack of winter light," Avery said. The bad news: Seattle is as bad as it gets. It sits at the southernmost latitude of what might be called the gloom zone.