Winter depression causes. Depression in the winter. Why does the disorder occur?

Do not let seasonal mood disorders spoil your life. Discover expert-approved strategies to help you survive the winter months and comfortably wait for the heat.

What is seasonal affective disorder?

If you suddenly notice a decline in strength and mood immediately with the onset of autumn, you are not alone. Seasonal affective disorder - a kind of winter depression - can be a serious problem. Nevertheless, there are quite effective ways to help cope with such a condition. The problem is common; according to statistics, every fifth person faces it. The cause of the disorder is hormonal imbalance: a lack of serotonin and melatonin affects sleep cycles, mood and overall well-being. It affects your life throughout the day, you feel sleepy and mood swings. Even if you have not too pronounced symptoms and you just do not like winter, you need to pay attention to ways to improve your mood. They will greatly improve your well-being.

Create an action plan

If you feel in the autumn and winter months not in the best way or understand that you had a depressed mood in the previous year in the winter, you can probably imagine the features of this situation. Be prepared in advance, surrounded by support, having decided what strategies have helped you cope before, considering how exactly you have a disorder. However, even if winter has already arrived, it’s not too late to start building an action plan, the main thing is to really start working on your well-being.

Try to move more

Numerous studies have shown that regular training helps relieve depression almost as effectively as prescription drugs. Not surprisingly, training can help prevent symptoms of seasonal affective disorder. Exercise stimulates the production of dopamine and serotonin, neurotransmitters that provide good mood and well-being. This helps to stabilize the emotional state, to cope with mood swings and depression. You do not need to be keen on a marathon runner or ride a bicycle often, just move. Do what you like and make you feel good. You can work with a trainer if you need support, but home workouts and daily walks would be a good choice.

Speak out

If you know that you are prone to experiencing symptoms of seasonal affective disorder, you can contact a psychologist before the start of winter. Schedule regular visits - a psychologist can be a great source of support. He will be able to help you develop the optimal strategy for you to deal with unpleasant symptoms.

Stay in touch with others

The key to dealing with seasonal affective disorder can be constant communication with others. Do not succumb to isolation - this way you will only feel more depressed. Decide who you are comfortable with communicating with and be active. Studies show that people with a large support group are better at changing behavioral tactics. Arrange with friends that you will spend time together in different pleasant activities, especially in winter. It will change your mood for the better and fill you with energy.

Do not believe everything you hear or think about

Instead of letting negative thoughts and doubts absorb you, try replacing them with happy thoughts. Studies have shown that happy memories increase the level of serotonin in the brain. If old thoughts come back, try to consciously switch to a good mood. The more you practice, the better you will succeed - you can control your mood and your thoughts.

Listen to music that cheers you up

Let your body move to the music. Swing, relax your hands, move the way you want and how much you want. Give in to your favorite music and dance. If you want to sing along, do it without thinking! It doesn’t matter if you don’t get into the notes. Let the music cheer you up.

Try light therapy

This may seem strange, but a light therapy device that emits light that resembles sunlight can be extremely helpful in controlling the symptoms of seasonal affective disorder. Theoretically, this type of lighting will help neutralize the effects of winter weather and will stimulate your circadian rhythms, suppressing the production of melatonin, which causes drowsiness.

Start keeping a positive diary

When you feel the symptoms of depression, it can be difficult to pay attention to the good things in your life. That is why experts recommend keeping a diary. Try every day to find three things that make you thankful, as well as three things that you love in yourself or that you aspire to. This will help restore the balance between positive and negative thoughts.

Do meditation

You can also try meditation to calm your mind and deal with anxiety and depression. Studies have shown that conscious meditation even increases the level of serotonin, a hormone that provides a feeling of pleasure. Meditation teaches you to shift attention from fussy thoughts to calm, which is very important.

Avoid potential triggers

It is easy to succumb to an occupation that brings short-term relief, and then only exacerbates depression. For example, stay away from alcohol, do not overeat, do not watch episodes of drunkenness. All classes are pleasant in moderation.

Stay in the sun

Maybe the sun does not warm in winter, but it still provides vitamin D, so a walk on a sunny day will enhance your mood. Lack of natural light is the main cause of seasonal affective disorder, therefore, it will be logical to try to maximize the amount of sunlight that you receive during the day.

Go on vacation

There is a good reason why many people prefer to go on vacation in the winter. This is especially important for people living in cold climates. Holidays in a warm country will help you remember that summer will come one day when you return back to winter.

Stick to your usual schedule

The feeling of fatigue can lead to the fact that you want to give up some daily activities and start to sleep more. So you only isolate yourself! Do not succumb to painful feelings and adhere to the usual schedule. This will help you maintain a normal lifestyle.

Think About Antidepressants

If you have a serious seasonal affective disorder, you should consider taking antidepressants. These medicines will restore the chemical balance that determines your mood and emotions. Taking such medications is completely normal, so you should not be ashamed of this at all. It is important and necessary to seek help if all other methods of dealing with seasonal affective disorder simply do not help you.

Depression has become a modern disease of mankind. All often, psychologists are faced with the need to help people eliminate depressive conditions that often occur seasonally. So, winter depression becomes frequent, the main reason for which is considered a lack of sunlight. It manifests itself in the usual symptoms and needs treatment.

Specialists of the online magazine site say that people are increasingly suffering from the effects of winter depression. They feel tired and irritable. A person in a depressed state feels distracted, he overeats, feels a lack of energy and is socially isolated. Doctors should be consulted if the symptoms of depression last for more than two weeks, suicidal thoughts also appear, hopelessness is experienced, or there is a decrease in the quality of life at work or in the family sphere.

Winter depression is due to three main factors that become common during this period:

Lack of sunlight.
Vitamin deficiency.
Exhausting diseases, such as infectious respiratory diseases.

You should help yourself to get rid of winter depression. The main recommendation is frequent walks in the fresh air, which a person should regularly do in the daytime. You should also eat well, exercise and communicate with nice people.

What is winter depression?

In a separate category, seasonal manifestations of depression are distinguished. What is winter depression? This is an affective disorder that occurs in the winter and is manifested by impaired mental activity and emotional depression. Many may recall such conditions when in the morning you don’t feel like getting out of bed, there is a “wolf” appetite because it is damp and cold outside.

Winter depression is marked by a decline in strength that is difficult to recover. A person becomes emotionally depressed, he does not have any desires and does not generate energy.

All people are affected by winter depression, regardless of age and gender. However, the peak occurs at 18-30 years of age, when a person is acutely aware of the differences in strength and energy. In any case, if you do not eliminate the depressive state, then you can bring to the occurrence of complications:

Social isolation.
Suicidal thoughts and actions.
Problems at work, school or home.
Dependency development: drug.

Each person experiences the symptoms of winter depression in their own way. In some, they appear in full force, significantly interfering with a full-fledged life, while others only partially remove a person from balance. It is worth noting that winter depression can pass after the onset of spring, and can last longer, which also depends on the degree. If it is impossible to cope with depressive symptoms on your own, then the help of a psychologist is offered.

Since winter depression is a quarter of life, you should find ways to eliminate it. This will help the analysis of the causes of winter (seasonal) depression.

Causes of Winter Depression

Since we are talking about a specific period of the year, we should find out why depression does not occur in summer and not in autumn, but in winter. The reason for the winter depression, scientists note the lack of sunlight, which is observed in short days and the need for a person to spend daylight hours in closed (office, factory) premises.

A light ray hits the retina of the eye, from where a signal is sent to the brain. If there is not enough sunlight, then a small amount of serotonin is produced in the brain - the hormone responsible for raising the mood, generating energy and eliminating drowsiness.

In winter, a person feels sleepy. This is due to a lack of sunlight, which allows the brain to produce a large amount of melatonin - the hormone of calm, which makes a person lethargic and sleepy. This, of course, does not affect a person’s ability to fully eat and provide themselves with warmth and shelter. However, it is during this period that a person cannot take an active life position, which is similar to "hibernation".

Other biological causes of winter depression are:

Temperature drops, their sharp decrease.
Slowing down metabolic processes.
Infectious diseases that are common in the winter.
Avitaminosis.

Winter becomes the period when a person is most sentimental. The failures that appear appear catastrophic, and the inability to spend time the way one wants it causes a feeling of uselessness and loneliness. Stress does not leave a person in the winter, who can experience them not only on the psychoemotional level, but also on the physical.

The following categories of people fall into the risk group:

Middle-aged women.
Aged people.
Lonely faces who are keenly feeling lonely during the winter holidays.
People from 20 to 40 years old.

Signs of Winter Depression

Winter depression is individual in every person. The strength of the symptoms and their duration may also vary. However, signs of winter depression should be identified, so that with their continued presence it is possible to seek medical help on time.

Signs of winter depression:

Emotional sphere:

Aggravated irritability.
Feeling of despair.
Gloomy, depressed mood, longing.
Loss of attraction and interest in activities that previously brought moral satisfaction.
Feeling of guilt, hopelessness, futility.
An agonizing sense of misery.
Loss of ability to experience positive emotions.
Decrease in self-esteem.
Increased anxiety and stress levels.
Lethargy, a feeling of “leadenness” of the legs, deterioration of well-being.

Physiological symptoms:

Partial or complete decrease in libido.
Obvious eating disorders: gluttony or unwillingness to eat. A person may start to eat a lot of sweets or become addicted to alcohol.
Loss of energy tone: a noticeable feeling of weakness, loss of strength, increased fatigue under stresses that are familiar to a person.
Sleep disturbance, when a person often wakes up or sleeps for a long time, but does not feel that he has rested, which requires additional time for sleep.
Decreased ability to solve stressful situations, decreased performance.
Digestion, decreased immunity, a tendency to the appearance of infectious diseases.
Joint pain.

Behavioral Symptoms:

Isolation from surrounding people.
The desire for loneliness, retreat.
Decrease in empathy.
Conflict in relations with others.
Emerging problems at work, at home, in school.

Cognitive sphere:

Difficulty in making decisions.
Decreased concentration and focus.
The emergence of ideas about their own futility.
The presence of depressing and gloomy thoughts.
Memory impairment.
Suicidal ideas.

The duration of symptoms of winter depression varies in each person. Usually it begins in late November and ends in late March. It passes gradually or against the background of hypomania, hyperactivity:

With hypomania, the symptoms of depression gradually disappear without obvious changes in mood.
With hyperactivity, a sudden change in mood, agitation (agitation) is manifested.

A rather unpleasant, but mild form of winter depression is hidden. It is noted by such signs:

Fatigue.
Lethargy.
Impaired appetite and sleep.

Some may ignore the symptoms of winter depression, but they recur every time the winter comes. In order not to spend a quarter of your life in a depressed state, it is necessary to resort to various treatment methods.

Treating Winter Depression

Since the main cause of winter depression is a shortage of sunlight, the main focus of treatment is light therapy. For her, fluorescent lamps are used, which greatly exceed the intensity from conventional lamps. Even on the street on a rainy day there is more light than in a well-lit room. That is why it is recommended to use lamps with a brightness of 2500 lx in the winter.

Light therapy can be carried out both as a treatment and for the prevention of winter depression. It will be sufficient to stay in such lighting for at least 30 minutes daily for at least 2 weeks. Already after this period, a person begins to feel energetic and cheerful.

Other treatments for winter depression are:

Hiking on sunny days.
Nutrition, which should be fortified.
Making morning exercises.
Connecting additional physical activity or sports.
Using a bright lamp in the bedroom as an imitation of daylight.
Compliance with the correct regime of the day and rest. Get enough sleep, but do not pour.
Communication with nice people, visiting interesting places and places.
Surrounding yourself with bright and cheerful colors and things, avoiding gloomy tones.
Passion for himself with various hobbies during the winter to distract from gloomy thoughts.

You should not be afraid to consult a psychologist if the symptoms of winter depression last more than 2 weeks. Only in this case can we talk about the pathological development of the condition, which must be subjected to specialized treatment. It rarely includes medications (antidepressants). Often, everything is limited only to the conduct of psychotherapy, which helps in eliminating psychological or emotional problems.

You don’t have to talk about any “asylum” or illness until a person is aware of his own condition and wants to correct the situation. Through conversations with a therapist, you can identify all the causes of winter depression. Often we are talking about psychological stresses and experiences that a person in the winter is hard to endure. Only in exceptional cases does a person need medication to relax and rest.

Total

Winter depression does not negatively affect a person who learns to cope with it and takes all actions to resume a normal lifestyle. The result is always achieved successful, since any manipulations lead to positive events.

The prognosis may worsen if a person ignores winter depression. It can pass by itself with the onset of spring and summer. However, with the advent of winter, she will again prove herself. In order not to waste time on unnecessary experiences and feelings, you should help yourself or take advantage of psychological help.

In winter, many people lose their vitality, mood, desire to engage in vigorous activity, and, conversely, the need for food and sleep increases. I want to hibernate like a bear and not wake up until spring. These are manifestations of winter depression, which experts consider as a form of seasonal depression. Often this condition does not begin in winter, but in late autumn, when daylight hours are greatly reduced.

Scientists call it seasonal affective disorder (ATS).

Scientists identify seven symptoms of this disorder. One of them is emotional disturbances: decreased mood, inability to experience positive emotions, apathy, increased irritability, decreased self-esteem. Another is cognitive impairment: difficulty concentrating, decreased memory, decreased intellectual activity.

Also the criteria are fatigue, increased fatigue and drowsiness, increased need for sleep, in which a person does not get enough sleep, hardly wakes up in the morning.

The remaining three criteria are an increased need for food, a craving for flour and sweets, which leads to a set of extra pounds; reduced immunity, increasing the frequency of colds and other diseases; avoidance of social contacts, reduced need for communication, desire to stay at home. In winter, in severe frosts, it can also rise, which people are prone to in any season.

However, as experts at the Scientific Center for Mental Health RAMS write, exploring this problem under the leadership of Dr. Vladimir Medvedev , for the diagnosis of seasonal depression, it is necessary that depressive episodes recur for three years in the same season and pass the same way with the onset of the next season.

Women are much more likely to suffer from this condition than men, at least in the sample of subjects suffering from ATS, which was studied by researchers, there were 76 women and 21 men. The complex of symptoms observed in the majority included “an increase in appetite with craving for sugary and other carbohydrate-rich foods, weight gain, increased sleep duration and daytime sleepiness in the absence of a sense of relaxation”. At the same time, there were also atypical forms of ATS, in which appetite and sleep were reduced, and body weight fell. Moreover, these atypical forms were the most severe forms of depression.

The main causes of winter depression, experts consider hormonal changes under the influence of a decrease in daylight hours.

Because of this, circadian, diurnal, body rhythms disagree with external conditions. In winter, the secretion of melatonin (a hormone that is produced in the dark) is disrupted and less serotonin is produced (a neurotransmitter that affects our emotions and mood to a large extent).

It is believed that up to 10% of people in a population are exposed to seasonal depression, usually it appears after 18 years.

Women suffer from it more often than men, due to increased emotionality.

According to specialists from the Belarusian State Medical University, who study this problem in medical students, 16% of girls have had ATS, and another 23% have a weak (subsyndromal) form of its manifestation. Among male students, only 6% had a mild form of ATS. Interestingly, winter depression was more pronounced among students living in a dormitory than among students living at home.

The influence of personality type on a predisposition to seasonal mood swings recently studied by Polish experts from the Institute of Applied Psychology in Krakow. They argue that winter depression is more common in women. This condition contributes to a greater neuroticism of the individual, as well as the quality that psychologists call the avoidance of harm. This refers to the type of person who avoids dangers and unpleasant situations and prefers to act passively in response to a threat. More often, less socially active individuals, introverts, suffer from winter depression.

The most important question is how to deal with winter depression?

According to most experts, Russian and foreign, the best in its treatment is light.

Light therapy can be carried out in clinics, in special boxes in which patients are irradiated with high-intensity visible light.

But you can fight winter depression on your own. For this, experts give some advice.

Spend more time outdoors, even in cloudy weather. Even in the absence of the sun, the level of lighting on the street is higher than indoors.

Eat balanced. You should consume more complex carbohydrates and reduce the intake of sugary foods, and do not forget about vitamins, especially C, A and D.

Useful vegetables and red fruits (dried apricots, red peppers, beets), containing nutrients that help to overcome depression. Dark chocolate will help to increase serotonin levels.

Finding time for physical activity. Exercise at least 30 minutes three times a week, but preferably more.

Lead an active social life, keep in touch with people, diversify everyday activities.

Doctors strongly do not recommend alcohol as a means of combating autumn-winter spleen.

This will bring only a temporary improvement in mood, but not a lasting effect. A prolonged abuse will respond to serious health problems.

Often mood swings are closely related to weather conditions and seasonality - winter depression occurs in the coldest time of the year, representing an affective disorder with emotional malfunctions of a depressive nature and impaired cognitive functions. The disease manifests itself suddenly - in the morning you do not want to get out of bed, the desire to go even to your favorite job completely disappears, the body wants to rest and eat.

Winter depression occurs regardless of age, but more often the disease falls into the time period of 18-30 years. The danger of this condition, as, indeed, of any other depression, is possible complications in the absence of treatment - we are talking about suicidal tendencies, social exclusion, the formation of drug or alcohol addiction, problems with work or school.

Quite a lot of people face the phenomenon of winter depression

Depression in winter is formed under the influence of numerous factors, temperature changes and weather changes, seasonal exacerbations of cold-related pathologies, lack of oxygen in the body, and diminished daylight hours do not work best. Influential causes are divided into:

biological - lack of light entering the retina, increased production of serotonin and decreased melatonin;
psychosocial - lack of emotional pleasures, which leads to the development of a sense of uselessness, hopelessness.

Scientists are sure that it is sunlight that gets on the retina of the organs of vision that contributes to the production of serotonin. It is this substance that is responsible for the formation of a good mood, so that with its insufficient level you can forget about the rainbow perception of the surrounding world. However, in winter, the production of melatonin by the human brain, which is called sleep hormone, automatically increases. It contributes to the development of drowsiness, has a calming effect on the body and causes lethargy.

As for psychosocial factors, the onset of winter is an endless series of holidays. Under normal conditions, a person on such days experiences an emotional upsurge, accepting and presenting gifts, attending parties and being in pleasant company. However, in the case when the desire is available, but there is no way to satisfy it, discomfort and a feeling of discontent, loneliness, which can flow into a more serious problem.

As medical statistics show, the problem is usually observed in people aged 20 to about 60 years, with more cases occurring in a time period of 20 to 40 years.

Of great importance is gender - winter depression in women is observed several times more often than in the stronger sex. Perhaps the cause of women's vulnerability lies in their increased sensitivity.

You should also consider the region of residence - northerners are more likely to suffer from this disease than southerners. At risk are lonely people with life dissatisfaction.

Women suffer from winter depression more often than men

How the problem manifests itself

When a person develops winter depression, the symptoms are quite numerous, which, however, does not mean the presence of absolutely all the signs in the clinical picture. The list includes:

Feeling of hopelessness and futility, guilt and depression, unwillingness to do anything, despair, loss of self-esteem, inability to experience joyful emotions.
The growth of tension, anxiety, irritability.
Problems with memory, the appearance of indecision, the inability to concentrate on anything, the decline in intellectual activity.
Sleep problems - despite its duration, it is not possible to restore strength, there is a need for a day's rest, awakening causes difficulties.
A deterioration in well-being is noted during the day - lethargy and a desire for constant sleep appear, apathy develops, a constant lack of energy, limbs “fill up with lead”.
Even non-burdensome stresses cause fatigue, decrease or complete disability, and the inability to cope with stress.
A person is prone to overeating, seeks to include in the diet as many sweets, alcoholic beverages as possible.
Malfunctions of the digestive processes, joint pain, impaired immunity, decreased libido are observed.
When it comes to children and young people, problems of social behavior arise.
Victims avoid communication, tend to create conflict situations, communication with others is difficult, hence the subsequent problems with loved ones, work colleagues, friends.

Typically, signs of pathology occur with the advent of each winter period, starting from the last days of November, and end in late March. Symptoms of a winter depressive state disappear on their own with the beginning of the spring period, and this can occur gradually or rapidly, in parallel with hyperactivity or hypomania.

In the first case There are sharp mood swings, anxiety, short periods of hyperactivity.

In the second - there are no mood changes. Only the amount of sunlight entering the body determines the speed with which symptoms disappear.

A person with depression is not communicative

In addition, a latent form of the disease can develop, when fatigue and lethargy, problems with sleep and the digestive system are mainly observed. Despite the fact that the disguised form is not as dangerous as obvious, it is also not a very pleasant condition.

Disease Treatment - Daylight and Physical Activity

A natural question arises of how to get rid of winter depression or to significantly alleviate the condition. And since the most common cause of the development of the disease is a lack of light, it is first necessary to try to cope with this factor. Moreover, the effectiveness of light therapy is approximately 85%:

Frequent walks are required for 30 to 60 minutes, but if you have to be indoors, it is better to be closer to the window.
Healthy sleep is important - a night's rest should begin before midnight and should last at least eight hours.
For fast and increased supply of daylight, it is recommended to conduct phototherapy or light therapy.
A good solution is to purchase special full-range lamps - they provide an intense influx of daylight. You will need to turn them on daily at least for a period of time from half an hour to an hour and a half - to work or read under this light. In addition to lamps, you can buy an alarm clock that will simulate the dawn, gradually increasing the power of the glow.
You can try to lengthen the daylight hours - remove the obstacles in the way of the rays in your home.

If depression occurs in winter, what to do secondarily - increase physical activity, of course, within reasonable limits. In the process of any workflow, you should take periodic breaks or change the type of activity with an interval of 45 minutes. You should move constantly, physical activity and exercise allow you to increase the production of serotonin, which positively affects the emotional sphere of a person. Exercise is desirable outdoors - fresh air plus invigorating procedures reduce the intensity of malaise.

Exercise Is The Right Way To Deal With Depression

How to eat and how to achieve emotional comfort

When winter depression develops, what to do besides light therapy and adjusting physical activity is to reconsider the diet. Proper nutrition is an excellent source of energy, improves mood, well-being, and avoids the problem of gaining excess weight. To compensate for the lack of vitamins, it is required to consume increased amounts of vegetables and fruits of fruit trees.

To supplement vitamin D, the menu should include:

Fatty fish, which include salmon and mackerel, herring and sardines.
Egg yolk, which should be consumed several times in a seven-day period.
Vegetarians are recommended to replenish the missing tofu fish with walnuts.
Shown meat (especially turkey), beans, foods enriched with B-vitamin.
The diet should include cilantro, bananas.
Also, the correct menu involves the use of dairy products, cheeses.
The diet should be supplemented with Omega3 complexes and vitamins A, E, D.
You should replace simple carbohydrates with complex ones - the menu includes cereals, boiled potatoes, nuts and pasta from durum wheat varieties.

In addition to the correct menu, it is necessary to ensure a comfortable state in terms of emotions, which will quickly fix the problem. Pleasant meetings with close people, good friends, an exciting hobby, travel to interesting places will help.

As an additional treatment, you can take baths with healing herbs, with the addition of essential oils before a night's rest - such procedures will help get rid of stress and fatigue accumulated during the day, and relieve stress.

Bananas in the diet help cheer up

Planning is another effective option to get rid of a depressed state. You can think about summer vacations, about the upcoming planting season. The garden divorced on the windowsill will add enthusiasm.

It does not hurt to reconsider the wardrobe, adding bright colors to it, the same applies to the environment - this kind of chromotherapy is a significant factor in a positive mood in the winter.

“Winter Depression” is not a joke, it is an official term. Photo by zky-one.tumblr.com

There is such a term: “winter depression” is a psychological condition in which people have a sense of hopelessness, guilt, increased anxiety, irritability, apathy and lethargy. And even joint pain. And all this - grows with decreasing day length.

At the same time, people suffering from such symptoms feel good in other periods of the year, but everything repeats every winter: in the interval between September and April - just in the darkest time of the year.

Winter depression can begin at any age, but the most common period for its development is considered to be 18-30 years old. Experts believe that the depressive state is caused by a small amount of sun in the winter season, therefore this phenomenon is extremely rare in countries where the number of sunny days does not change with the change of season.

Changes in weather affect about 40% of the world's population, but in the form of depression it appears in about 10%, for example, in European countries this figure is 5-7% annually. At the same time, women suffer from this ailment almost 2 times more often.

Consider the second main question: how to get rid of winter depression?

Light therapy fights one of the main causes of winter depression - the light in life becomes much less (especially in the northern regions: greetings to residents of St. Petersburg, Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and other northern cities!)

Light therapy: back to a joyful life

In Moscow, the duration of sunshine on an average December day is no more than 2 hours. The room in the autumn-winter period of light is 300 times less than on the street on a bright sunny day. In this regard, those who have the opportunity, try to visit warm countries to replenish the energy emanating from the sun.

Light therapy is considered a natural method of getting rid of depression, with which you can significantly improve the condition. Moreover, even in the days of the USSR, the prevention of health with the help of light therapy was mandatory for the inhabitants of the north.

Lighting for lamps for light therapy ranges from 2500 to 10,000 lux, which is equivalent to sunlight on a summer day. For a therapeutic effect, 2 weeks is enough, and the result of the session is felt after several days of treatment.

Lamps can be used even during operation, setting them at the right distance from the computer screen (during a treatment session, the lamps are usually placed at a distance of 30-40 cm from the patient). For the success of treatment, it is recommended to conduct sessions in the morning in order to “recharge” with energy for the whole day.

Previously, light therapy was available only within the walls of medical institutions due to the high cost of lamps, but today, a home lamp for light therapy (as in the photo) can be purchased at many stores independently and used at home.

However, treating depression with this method requires a doctor's prescription. In some cases, side effects can occur from light therapy: nervousness, irritability, insomnia, nausea.

Training as getting rid of winter depression

Sport is a great way to get rid of winter depression. A number of scientific studies have shown that regular exercise improves mood.

During one of the experiments, more than 1000 participants suffering from depression were involved. They were divided into 3 groups, the first of which was treated with antidepressants, the second - 3 times a week went in for sports for 30-40 minutes, the third - combined both methods.

After a few months, the condition of all participants in the experiment improved, but after 10 months, 40% of the participants in the first group and 30% of the participants in the second group returned symptoms of depression, the third group showed better results - the return was about 10%. In other words, the presence of sport in the lives of people prone to depression reduces the risk of re-development of the disease, and also helps to prevent its development.

Regular physical activity can mitigate the course of depression, and sometimes completely relieve it. Even ordinary walks on the street are a good prevention against winter depression.

Landscape therapy against winter depression

And in winter they can be diversified by skiing, which not only energizes, but also significantly improves mood. Skiing is also called the ridiculous word "landscape therapy" - and we did not come up with this word either. Landscape therapy - raises the mood, energizes from nature, tempers the body, makes it hardy.

These factors together contribute to an improvement in depression during depression. And you can choose your cross-country skiing on this site.

Serotonin: eating the right food

The main source of “joy” is the hormone serotonin, or the so-called “hormone of happiness”, produced by our body from tryptophan (an amino acid, the “building material” of proteins). It can be obtained with food.

These products will help you in the fight against winter depression:

1. Fatty fish. It contains in its composition Omega-3 acids necessary for the full functioning of the body. Due to D and B6, immunity is enhanced.

2. Orange fruits and vegetables. Orange, pepper, apricot are rich in bioflavonoids that improve blood circulation in the brain.

3. Spices. Cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg can not only warm, but also create a peaceful atmosphere. A pinch of spices in a glass of warm milk is enough to feel a charge of vivacity.

4. Bananas. They are taken out separately from the category of fruits, as they contain a unique substance, the alkaloid harman, which is responsible for the emergence of a feeling of euphoria.

5. Legumes. Due to the content of B vitamins, the nervous system improves, mood improves and sleep is normalized.

To prevent the development of winter depression, try to be outdoors as often as possible, eat foods containing fatty acids, get enough sleep, and generally live more in a bright (in all senses of the word) atmosphere.