Expectations: the sun, ringing drops, buds swelling on the branches, outfits that become lighter and shorter every day. Reality: a piercing wind, a jumping thermometer, slush underfoot. This alone can cause spring depression. Or not? Is there really a spring blues, and if so, how to deal with it?
BACKGROUND
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) was first discussed by scientist Norman Rosenthal back in the 1980s. Depression, which occurs every year at the same time of the year, for example, in autumn or spring, immediately became the subject of discussion. Books and articles were written about her, methods of therapy and prevention were selected.
However, not so long ago, psychologist Stephen Lobello of Auburn University (Alabama) and his colleagues found that perhaps there is no SAD. In any case, after analyzing the data of a large-scale survey of the population conducted in 2006, they did not find a relationship between depression, the season and the length of daylight hours. Read about it in the article Seasonal Depression Doesn’t Exist?
However, not everyone agrees with the researchers. Psychologists and psychotherapists identify three main causes of seasonal depression:
• heredity, individual experience, past traumas,
• poor living conditions, unsettled life,
• problems of the surrounding world as a whole.
Read more about this in the article How to get out of seasonal depression.
SPRING INSIDE
Given the volatility of the weather, especially in the middle lane, in the spring we especially often look at the thermometer and closely monitor the weather forecasts: the long-awaited warming is often followed by a sharp minus. But it is equally important to understand what begins to happen in our body with the advent of spring.
For many, spring is the season of allergies, endless colds, SARS and, of course, beriberi. The consequences of the latter are weakness, loss of strength, apathy, decreased concentration and performance, problems with sleep. If there is no strength to rejoice in spring, most likely, the body lacks vitamins. About which ones and how to choose them, read our article Time to drink vitamins.
In addition, during the winter, with its incessant holidays and feasts, toxins accumulate in our body. The most harmful of them are those that our body produces itself.
But there is good news: what has been accumulated for more than three months, you can get rid of in three weeks. The Spring Detox Program will help with this: cleansing without fanaticism.
LISTEN TO MOZART, EAT GERNCIES
The beginning of the calendar spring is not at all a reason to run to the pharmacy for medicines. Psychologists are sure that it is possible to cope with seasonal blues with “folk” means.
So, it is worth limiting the use of paracetamol (it has a pronounced anti-euphoric effect) and introducing yogurt, gherkins and sauerkraut into the diet, listening to Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos K 448 more often and … indulging in a little madness.
To learn how all this will help to cope with seasonal affective disorder, read the material Funny recipes for the autumn blues.
Finally, spring is a time of renewal, change, “general cleaning”, not only in an apartment or house, but also in the head. Shaking up the wardrobe, it would be useful to “shake up” the harmful thoughts, attitudes, prejudices that interfere with life, and then, perhaps, the blues will recede by itself.