It was in 1984 that Doctor Normann Rosenthal, a South African psychiatrist demonstrated the link between light and depression. A discovery then inseparable from the invention of light therapy. Seasonal depression is therefore due to the production of melatonin, which is a hormone, the sleep hormone. As the days get shorter, melatonin builds up and becomes a bit more active. She was born when there is not much light.
It is therefore important to sleep at night, to allow it to function well. During this less luminous period, one feels more tired; we fall asleep faster. In short, we are a little disturbed; and then, the psychological side is not to be neglected.
At the start of winter, we are like nature: less flamboyant.
In the southeast: spared by the seasonal depression?
One might think that indeed being in this beautiful sunny region allows us to avoid seasonal depression. Well no! Imagine that the contrast is greater than in a country in which there would be less light and would be more accustomed to gray days. So let’s be attentive to the first warning signs of seasonal depression.
When to worry? When the state of intense fatigue, low morale lasts more than a week. We can have the urge to eat fatty, sweet etc…. We feel tired as soon as we wake up, we lack the energy and the desire to do things…
You have to bug out, go out, clear your mind, walk (even in the rain!); do not hesitate to see a hypnotherapist, a shrink, or do yoga.
Take every positive moment that comes your way.
Develop small positive thoughts: like planning what you are going to do for a day with your family, during the end of year celebrations. You have to find areas of interest.
Manufacture pleasure and therefore pleasure hormones. Then it becomes a marvelous wheel, a marvelous production of positive hormones which obviously will completely come into conflict with the infernal wheel of negative hormones.
Sitting down with a book (positive!), listening to music is good for morale! And on this subject – it is scientifically proven – Don’t Stop Me now by Queen is THE song that makes you happiest. it incorporates the three musical ingredients of happiness, namely positive lyrics, a tempo of 150 beats per minute and notes in major key to loop and put in your playlist right away.