Seasonal affective disorder is a reality, confirms the specialists, the dreadful weather modifying our mood and even the level of energy. The good news is that we can counteract the effects of the time on the psychic.
Mohorcete Zilies can put us to the test Photo: Pixabay/Aneesrahma97
If we feel lacking in a vigor and without too much desire to do various things in the days with a dreadful weather, it is not only our perception, but in our body there are certain changes.
“There are studies that show that seasonal affective disorder is as palpable as possible. That is, it is a disorder that appears at the periods of passage, spring, autumn, or in long periods with a mourning weather,” explains the psychiatrist Amalia Săndulescu, for “Adevărul”.
During these periods, the underlying psychiatric pathology can be decompensated in the case of vulnerable persons, but people who have not suffered mental illness may also suffer.
“It is known that the populations living in areas with very rainy, mourning weather, such as the UK or the Nordic countries, have a rather high seasonal affective disorder.
Most disorders mean sadness, apathy, fatigue, loss of interest in daily activities, low appetite for certain foods but increased appetite for foods that increase serotonin, these disorders being correlated with a decrease in serotonin secretion. There are even studies that have been done on mice and have demonstrated the action of weather conditions on the body, the mice exposed to adverse conditions manifesting depression -similar behaviors, lack of socialization, apathy, lack of interest in activities that were currently satisfied.
The simple mood disorders at one point improve when the sun appears. The sunny weather, with optimal temperatures, makes us more cheerful, more involved in daily activities, increasing the will and motivation to the well -being.
How can we compensate for the lack of sun
At the low level of serotonin, the decrease of melatonin is associated and the decrease of the synthesis and absorption capacity of vitamin D, which means, in addition to mood disorders, a poor quality of sleep, for example.
“There are three factors that at one point correlate each with some of what it means to disturb our state of good. What can we do? Let's use the yellow light, find activities that give us a reward. If we cannot do outdoors, at least we know that we are surrounded by people who at some point give us the well -being, that they are friends, that they are a family. There are things that can somehow compensate for this lack of will given by some of the activities that we know gives us well -being. That it is read, that music is listened to, that we can go to a concert, to exhibitions in closed spaces – to keep us from the weather, but at the same time to give us that sensation of pleasure and good that it offers perhaps the good, sunny time, ” the doctor advises us.
We can also resort to an additional intake of vitamin D and magnesium.
Even a chocolate tablet helps, but carefully. “The chocolate piece means release of a quantity of dopamine and serotonin that gives us the well-being. But the idea is not to move on to the other extreme, because, indeed, this condition increases our sweetness. This sweetness is physiological once to I do not know how long.warns the psychiatrist.
When the risk is raised and we need to address the specialist
If we have tried various ways to compensate for the lack of the sun, but the symptoms become quite obvious and annoying it is time to address a specialist and see if the unpleasant weather has precipitated the appearance of a depressive episode or an episode of anxiety.
They are alarm signals certain states that extend more over time. “That is, over two weeks of sadness that does not improve with the rewards we bring extended. OK, I do not want to do too much today, but maybe I can mobilize to go to the concert”, Dr. Amalia Săndulescu says what we could try to get out of the melancholy state.
If you return from the concert more posthumously and it seems to you that you have only wasted the time, without being able to enjoy what you have wanted for so long to do; If you fail to sleep at least six hours a night, and in the morning you wake up tired and you cannot complete your activities; If your appetite has increased (with a weight gain of 5% of your body weight), or, on the contrary, you are facing inadequate, all that persisted for over two weeks; If you have a sad disposition no matter what you do, most of the day, most of the days of the week: if you feel discouraged, hopeless, experience feelings of guilt, moral and material failure and do not make any positive purpose; If you are experiencing difficulty concentrating attention and memory; If a very low self -esteem is reached; If you can no longer find pleasure in activities that brought you a well -being – there are clear signals that a specialist is needed.
“There must be at least five of the symptoms present for a period of at least two weeks, but the essential element that outlines the depressive episode is that all these signs prevent us from being functional at least in a sector of our lives, whether we speak of family, profession, social status, or one of these areas suffers enough so that I am. Most of the time it is that feeling of interior emptiness, emotional anesthesia, that is, there is nothing to enjoy and make me see something positive ”, Describe the doctor what we can face when it is no longer a simple mood disorder.
Anxiety elements may also occur in the form of a permanent anxiety, a feeling of inner fire, a constant anxiety, or panic attacks. If panic attacks appear with a frequency of at least two weeks, the recommendation is to establish a specialized therapy.
“Panic attacks are quite noisy and disturbing and that feeling of imminent death makes us address the specialist even if it is a safe attack. It is usually presented even after the appearance of the first attack. If it is not very intense and there are more people who have read in the specialized literature then I know that there are certain breathing exercises that can help us and they can carry a panic attack, but for this we need to exercise and it is very possible that we do not succeed from the first attempt ”, says the doctor. However, panic attacks can have other causes, anxiety and even depressive-anxious disorders being also encountered in thyroid pathology, which is why the investigations must be extended, and the final verdict must be of the specialist.
