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MARQUETTE -- When the light begins to fade, so do many people.

"I was very tired," explained SAD sufferer Mindy Miller.  "I didn't have a lot of energy which usually meant I was a little more withdrawn."

Miller, a Behavioral Therapist at Marquette General, was diagnosed with SAD back in 1998.

"I was in for depression anyway," Miller said, "and what happened was my symptoms went up during the August through March, April months."

Miller, along with more than a half million Americans, suffer from SAD.  Symptoms include less sleep, increased appetite, weight gain, and being socially withdrawn.

"It is regular depression, but usually what people see is a seasonal pattern to it," explained Dr. Cameron Wilcox, a psychiatrist at MGH.  "So when they get to this time of year, November--when the days get very short--that's when people notice it, and it tends to become a pattern.  As you go further north, it gets worse."

Experts believe that light affects your daily patterns and activity level.  With SAD, depression is somehow triggered by the brain's response to decreased daylight exposure.  So, in northern latitudes, like here in the U.P., the risk for developing SAD is greater.

But could the treatment be as easy as flipping a switch?  In some cases, Dr. Wilcox says yes.  To treat mild cases of SAD, psychiatrists oftentimes prescribe light therapy.

"There's some thought that Vitamin D, which you get in your body from sunlight exposure, increases when you have exposure to the light," Dr. Wilcox said.

Miller sits in front of a special light box for a half hour each morning.

"After about a week," Miller stated, "I noticed that the symptoms I was having were lessening.  I had a little bit more energy, a little less time sleeping, a little less weight gain."

For more severe cases, however, treatment might also include therapy and medication.  But for Miller, as long as her light is glowing, so is her mood.