Reading Test I Semester

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SAD
You don’t have to be a genius to know that, generally, most people are more likely to feel on
top of the world on bright, sunny days in the height of summer and down in the mouth on
dark, grey, miserable days in the depths of winter. For a significant number of people,
however, facing up to the winter blues can be a really serious problem. In winter, they suffer
from SAD, or seasonal affective disorder, which is a feeling of extreme tiredness and
depression that is caused by the dark, cold weather. SAD is now widely accepted by doctors
and psychiatrists as a serious medical condition, and it is thought to affect millions of people.
Scientists don’t yet have a complete understanding of how or why some people are affected
by SAD. Although the vast majority of us don’t suffer from it, research has discovered quite a
lot about it. It is believed to have something in common with the hibernation cycle of animals.
A number of mammals, such as bears, fall asleep for the winter, when there isn’t enough food
to eat and it’s too cold and dark to survive outside. As winter approaches, and the days grow
shorter, these animals become increasingly sleepy and slow-moving. It seems that victims of
SAD respond in the same way. They don’t actually hibernate but their bodies behave as if
that’s what they are about to do.
Unsurprisingly, the overwhelming majority of people with SAD live in parts of the world
where the length of days varies greatly between summer and winter, and, although it isn’t
unknown in countries closer than thirty degrees to the equator, it is extremely rare.
Interestingly, people who were born near the equator and decided to move to northern
countries later in life are more likely to develop SAD.
Typical problems of SAD sufferers include feeling anxious and unable to deal with everyday
problems, feeling bad-tempered and very negative about life, falling out with friends and
family, and finding it hard to sleep properly. SAD sufferers often can’t stay awake during the
day and keep waking up in the middle of the night. Not all SAD sufferers have the same
symptoms, of course, and the intensity of how bad people feel varies from one person to the
next.
Historically, the treatment for depression was to use drugs, and, for many years, doctors told
their patients with SAD to take antidepressants. However, now that the diagnosis of the illness
has become much better, sufferers are being treated differently. They are being given ‘bright
light treatment’, using specially designed light boxes that give off a powerful light and trick
the body into believing that it isn’t winter. After four or five days of using one for just half an
hour a day, most sufferers start to feel happier and less depressed.
1 Read the text. Circle the correct answer (a–d).
1 According to the text,
a only people with SAD feel blue during short, wintry days.
b a majority of people get seriously depressed in winter.
c fewer people feel down in the summer than in the winter.
d the number of people with SAD is growing significantly.
2 The text says that most doctors
a have doubts that SAD is really a medical condition.
b have started treating all their patients for SAD.
c believe that SAD has an effect on many people.
d are tired of having to deal with so many cases of SAD.
3 Research has shown that
a most people have some form of SAD.
b we know very little about what SAD is.
c hibernating animals sometimes develop SAD.
d SAD sufferers behave as if they want to hibernate.
4 People with SAD
a almost always live in regions which are quite close to the equator.
b tend to share almost identical symptoms of tiredness and irritability.
c can be very argumentative and have poor, interrupted sleep patterns.
d very rarely live in the arctic regions of the very far north.
5 The current treatment for SAD
a involves constant light treatment for four to five days.
b hasn’t changed much in recent times.
c makes sufferers’ bodies think that it’s summertime.
d has more or less solved the problem.

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