Summer SAD Triggers Anxiety and Irritability, With CBT and Routine Changes Offering Relief
Updated
Updated · UCLA Health · Jun 26
Summer SAD Triggers Anxiety and Irritability, With CBT and Routine Changes Offering Relief
3 articles · Updated · UCLA Health · Jun 26
Summary
Summer seasonal affective disorder can bring anxiety, irritability, low energy, poor sleep and sadness, even though SAD is more commonly linked to winter.
Longer days can disrupt sleep cycles and routines, while heat, humidity, social pressures around summer activities and possible genetic factors may help trigger those mood shifts.
A steady daily schedule is a first-line step: keeping sleep, meals and exercise consistent, using blackout curtains and avoiding heat stress can help ease symptoms.
Cognitive behavioral therapy also has evidence behind it, offering a structured way to identify and change thought patterns that worsen seasonal mood swings.