One of the reasons for seasonal melancholy is the lack of sunlight. Scientists conducted an experiment on rats - rodents were kept in a dark room for six weeks. The scientists then examined the brains of the test subjects. Some of the brain cells were damaged. Moreover, the so-called pleasure centers, which help maintain a positive attitude, were most severely affected.

And if so, do not neglect walks on a sunny day. Ideally, you should walk at least two hours a day. If this is not possible, make sure that your home always has bright lighting. It has been proven that bright light, regardless of the source, improves mood.

Go in for sports

Regular exercise causes the body to produce serotonin - the so-called hormone of happiness, besides, when you exercise, the level of the stress hormone - cortisol decreases. There is another argument in favor of physical education. During training, a person begins to breathe deeply and correctly. And breathing exercises are one of the best sedatives. When you take a deep breath and slowly exhale, carbon dioxide is formed, which has an anti-anxiety effect.

Watch your nutrition

During a period of nervous tension, the need for B vitamins increases five times. Therefore, cereals must be on your menu. Whole grain breads and cereals will do. Just do not try to save time and cook a quick porridge from a bag. The fact is that the speed of cooking is achieved by pre-treatment of cereals with steam, which leads to the loss of vitamins and trace elements.

Set up your daily routine

Sleep is essential for the body to rejuvenate. If there is too little rest, then any irritant will piss you off. Most people get enough sleep for 6-8 hours, but the need for sleep depends on the individual. Finding out exactly how much time you need is easy. Go to bed around 10-11 pm (in order not to violate the correct biorhythms, you need to go to bed no later than 12 at night) and sleep until the morning without turning on the alarm clock. If you wake up feeling energized, then you have slept enough.

Mood or disease?

It is necessary to distinguish the usual seasonal blues from depression. Depression is a serious illness that requires specialist treatment. It's almost impossible to deal with it on your own. Here are the criteria for this disorder.

Symptoms

• Depressed mood, independent of circumstances, for a long time.
• Loss of pleasure from previously enjoyable activities, fatigue.
• Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, anxiety and/or fear.
• Low self-esteem.
• Inability to concentrate and make decisions.
• Thoughts of death or suicide.
• Loss of appetite, marked weight loss or gain.
• Disturbed sleep (insomnia or drowsiness).

To make a diagnosis, at least two main and three additional symptoms must be present, and their duration must be at least two weeks.

Family psychologist, art therapist, business coach Olga Zavodilina:

Go to the museum. Contemplation of pictures relieves nervous tension and improves mood; this method of relaxation is often used in psychotherapy. At the same time, in order to correct the mood, it is not at all necessary to look at pictures with a positive plot. Sometimes a person, on the contrary, needs a dark canvas to give vent to his negative emotions. Therefore, the advice is simple: look at the picture that attracts you at the moment, even if something unpleasant is depicted in the picture. When your state of mind changes, so will your preferences in painting.

Nutrition specialist, medical psychologist, head of the weight loss clinic Elena Morozova:

In moments of bad mood, it is often drawn to eat something sweet. But cakes and pastries are not the most direct way to happiness. The more often we eat sweets, the more we need them to drown out sad thoughts. Thus, a person finds himself in a kind of trap: without sugar, it can be difficult for him to cheer up, and by abusing dessert, he risks spoiling his health and figure.

Doctor of the first category, therapist Irina Vechnaya:

To bring the body into tone, to cope with apathy and drowsiness will help the intake of vitamins and herbal preparations based on eleutherococcus and ginseng. Just keep in mind that these plants increase blood pressure, so they are contraindicated for hypertensive patients.

But to fight the autumn blues with the help of alcohol is not worth it.

The fact is that every glass of alcohol increases the load on the liver. As a result, the brain does not receive the necessary nutrients, but in abundance receives toxins. It is no coincidence that all lovers of strong drinks are irritable, fussy, unable to make adequate decisions. All this is the result of the action of alcohol.

Bad mood, fatigue, fatigue, apathy, frequent nervous breakdowns, increased appetite for some unknown reason - all this can be symptoms of the onset of seasonal depression, which can drag on for several months. And if the “dull time” makes you sad and does not cause any positive emotions, then the situation must be urgently taken under control!

1. More light

One of the main causes of autumn depression is the lack of bright colors in nature, as well as the lack of sun and light. There are statistics that in autumn and winter depression, at least in a mild degree, occurs in every second inhabitant of the Earth. In the Scandinavian countries, it is proposed to fight it with the help of light therapy, for which special heavy-duty lamps are used. Light therapy rooms (sometimes also called phototherapy) began to appear in some Russian clinics. A more affordable and easier alternative is daytime walks (especially if the sun is shining outside). But those who want to stay alert and in a good mood should refuse to watch TV at night or sit at a computer in a dimly lit room: constant dim lighting, especially at odd hours at night, causes desynchronization of life rhythms, and also stimulates increased production of TNF protein, which causes. So sleep, as expected, at night, and in the morning and evening, try to ensure that the lighting is sufficient.

2. More delicious food and anti-depressant products

Among them are turkey, bananas, whole grain bread and sour-milk products.(contain the amino acid tryptophan, a precursor of the good mood hormone serotonin, and turkey is also rich in amino acids that increase the body's anti-stress resistance); spinach (a good source of folic acid, a deficiency of which is found in about a third of those suffering from depression); dried apricots (it is rich in magnesium that helps us), chocolate and cocoa (they also contribute to the production of serotonin). Do not forget to drink a sufficient amount of liquid: an organism suffering from a lack of moisture cannot be in good shape. And keep in mind that according to the observations of nutritionists, depression can also be triggered by tasteless and monotonous food.

Alexey Kovalkov

nutritionist, host of the programs "Food by the rules and without", "Family size"

Serotonin is an important biologically active substance and hormone, it increases physical activity and sociability, improves emotional mood. In addition to foods rich in tryptophan, serotonin synthesis requires a certain amount of carbohydrates. So it turns out that lovers of sweets (within reasonable limits) are more positive people than those who completely avoid eating them.

3. Less "depressive" food

Give up fast food, free products and convenience foods, eat less fried foods. A joint study by scientists from the Canadian Research Center Canadian Obesity Network and the Spanish University of Navarra (Universidad de Navarra), which lasted six years and in which more than 12 thousand people took part, proved a direct relationship between the foods we eat and our mood and mental state. With the wrong diet with a lot of trans fats, the risk of depression increases by 40% or more. And vice versa: with a sufficient amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the diet, the main source of which is vegetable oils and marine fish, the likelihood of depression is less. Keep in mind: everything that contains margarine also falls into the category of harmful products rich in trans fats (primarily ready-made pastries, since margarine for baking can contain up to 40% of these fats).

4. Avoid drugs

Be careful with antidepressants and, moreover, do not "prescribe" them yourself. As numerous scientific studies show, they are useless in the fight against seasonal autumn depression, as they treat the effect and do not eliminate the cause. It is better to drink tea with mint in the evenings - a natural antidepressant, which, moreover, normalizes sleep. You can also take lavender before bed.

5. Rest and relax

If it becomes completely unbearable - make sure that a little summer appears in your life. If possible, take a vacation or time off and go to warm sunny climes for a few days, go to a spa for some exotic aroma massage, or start growing flowers: according to scientists, even a small home “greenhouse” on a windowsill of two or three plants (most importantly - flowering) can prevent depression.

For information on how you can relax after work, see the story:

6. Buy yourself a new bag

And the point here is not only the magical power of shopping therapy, which is familiar to almost every woman. As follows from the recently published results of a study by scientists from the National University of Singapore (National University of Singapore) and the University of Hong Kong (University of Hong Kong), the constant carrying of a heavy bag negatively affects our subconscious and mood: the physical sensation of a “heavy burden” inevitably leads to "heaviness" in the soul. Therefore, in order to avoid autumn depression, we lay out everything superfluous and switch to a smaller and lighter bag!

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If with the onset of autumn mood swings become more frequent, an unstable, psycho-emotional state, mental retardation, drowsiness began to appear, this means that the person was overtaken by autumn blues. The latest research results from scientists from the University of Oregon have shown that more than 90% of people experience significant changes in their well-being as cloudy autumn days approach.

Autumn blues in most cases is not a disease, it is often a normal reaction of the body to the rejection of cold and lack of sunlight. It manifests itself in the fact that often you don’t want to do anything, loved ones are annoying, everything is seen in gray, the mood tends to zero.

Causes

Autumn blues is often noted in the personalities of suspicious, overly responsible, pedantic, impressionable people. More often fixed in women than in the representatives of the stronger sex. This period is characterized by general depression, instability of mood, drowsiness.

The reasons for the occurrence of the described condition can be the decrease in daylight hours, the predominance of rainy and cloudy weather, cooling and the associated hypothermia of the body, a genetic tendency to mood swings and obsession with bad feelings, stressful conditions, somatic pathologies, metabolic disorders.

Often, the autumn blues in a schoolchild is a consequence of the growing up of the baby, excessive criticism and strictness of education from adults, which led to this state of health. The described ailment can appear after mental or physical overstrain, being in extreme situations, after serious injuries.

Symptoms of the autumn blues

For this condition, various combinations of intensity of symptoms are possible, namely:

- instability of the emotional state;

– changing established behavior;

– violation of cognitive functions;

- lack of desire to work;

– a decline in interest in any activity;

- unwillingness to maintain social contact, or vice versa, the desire to attract to their problem because of poor health;

– decrease in the quality of work;

- fussiness;

- inability to concentrate;

- incompleteness of actions;

- irritability;

- bad sleep at night

- dissatisfaction with oneself, others;

- early rises and sleepiness during the day;

- exactingness, criticality;

- night sleep with awakenings;

- difficulty falling asleep;

- changes in taste preferences;

- the appearance of irrational;

- an internal dialogue in which a person analyzes his actions.

How to deal with autumn blues

There is no universal advice on how to get rid of the autumn blues. In each case, it is required to select a treatment regimen, taking into account the severity of the symptoms, the characteristics of the genetic history (presence of depression in relatives), concomitant diseases, personal interpretation of sensations, and general health.

Most experts are convinced that an independent analysis of the usual way of life will allow a person to understand where the failure occurred and eliminate these negative phenomena by making adjustments to the daily routine.

Autumn blues and melancholy must be met with a smile. This is just a bad mood, which will certainly change over time. And in order for this to happen as quickly as possible, we recommend that you listen to specialists (psychologists, psychotherapists, therapists) who give the following recommendations:

- it is necessary to revise the daily diet, make up for the deficiency of vitamins, protein foods and minerals, abandon diets for weight loss;

- beware of emotional stress;

- you should eat foods that stimulate the synthesis of serotonin, which include bananas, fish, fruits, nuts, dairy products, dark chocolate, vegetables, dates;

- it is important to monitor the replenishment of vitamin D, which is found in fatty fish, cheeses, seaweed, butter, chicken yolks;

- give preference to freshly prepared juices from carrots, beets, oranges, and not drinks containing caffeine;

- include herbal teas in the diet (thyme, St. John's wort, wild rose, linden);

- Eleutherococcus tincture, lemongrass, ginseng will help to adapt to rainy weather in the fall;

- you should not resort to strong strong drinks, they will only exacerbate this condition;

- it is important to remember that physical activity in a state of blues is simply necessary. Only physical activity will allow a person not to get stuck in his condition;

- daily walks in the fresh air will fill the brain with oxygen and improve well-being;

- the autumn blues will recede if you organize jogging in the forest zone, in the park, participate in a football tournament, hike in the mountains, swim in a natural reservoir;

- well-being can change dramatically after visiting a bath or sauna;

- yoga, fitness, wushu, shaping, aerobics can also help to cope with the blues;

- it is important to make the most of the daylight hours: get up with the first rays, go to bed early, do not stay up after midnight;

- autumn blues will not withstand the following rule: out-of-town cycling after the clouds dissipate;

- it is required to pay sufficient attention to artificial lighting due to the reduction in daylight hours;

- a solarium can help in maintaining a good mood in the fight against the autumn blues;

- observe the daily routine;

- have dinner no later than two hours before going to bed;

- do not mentally strain before going to bed;

- exclude horror films and thrillers from evening viewing;

- it is important to equip the bed with a quality mattress and a comfortable pillow;

- ventilate the room before going to bed;

- observe the temperature regime within 20 degrees of heat;

- taking a warm coniferous bath before going to bed will calm the nerves and restore peace of mind;

- drink tea from sedative herbs at night (melissa, mint, chamomile, oregano);

- creativity can restore a good mood, so in inclement weather it’s better not to sit at home and be sad, but go to a museum or theater and enjoy exhibits, paintings or actors there;

- it will be appropriate to communicate with cheerful people, and hone your sense of humor with them;

- in case of severe symptoms, it is necessary to seek medical help from a psychotherapist, only a doctor will select an adequate program of pharmacological therapy. It will not be superfluous and a course of psychotherapy, which allows you to identify the real causes of the autumn blues.

Thus, ideally, in order to overcome the described state and avoid a bad mood, one should find out the reason that forced him to develop and work specifically with it. If you can’t cope with the autumn blues on your own, then it would be advisable not to delay and seek help from specialists.

Doctor of the Medical and Psychological Center "PsychoMed"

Autumn is traditionally associated with rain and sadness. But it seems strange to experience longing when the sun is shining outside the window, and the wind is playing with the same “sunny” foliage that has fallen at your feet.

But is it so strange or is there an explanation for such a state?
And is it possible to make the autumn blues recede and allow you to enjoy this wonderful time of the year?

Where does the autumn blues come from: reasons for a bad mood

The main sources of longing that overcomes us in the autumn months are the following circumstances:

Short daylight hours. Hormones and neurotransmitters responsible for good mood and vitality are produced mainly during the daytime. Accordingly, the longer the day, the better the mood. As the sun lingers less and less in the sky, the tone also decreases.

Avitaminosis. It is generally accepted that during the summer we replenish our reserves of vitamins, and therefore in the fall they do not threaten us with a deficiency. But this is true only for fat-soluble vitamins that are "stored" in the body. And water-soluble vitamins and minerals (in particular, B vitamins, magnesium, potassium - responsible for the functions of the nervous system) are quickly washed out. Especially quickly these substances leave the body in the heat, when we consume a lot of fluid and sweat - not only excess fluid is excreted through the skin and kidneys, but also the substances we need.

The habit of moping. This is the most paradoxical and at the same time - a common cause of autumn melancholy. Many people believe that it is normal to fall into apathy as autumn approaches, and that it is even romantic to some extent. Having adjusted themselves to this “wave”, they can really feel a sharp decrease in vitality, noticing the first fallen leaves and hearing the cry of migratory birds.

chronic diseases. Together with a decrease in air temperature and a decrease in the length of daylight hours, many chronic diseases can worsen. Deterioration of well-being inevitably entails a deterioration in mood.

These reasons are the most common, but not the only ones. So, for a student or schoolchild, a sharp change in habits can become a source of autumn blues. The lack of a daily routine in the summer, when you can sleep until noon, and the need to get up early with the start of the school year can cause constant fatigue and blues.

How to cope with the autumn blues: simple ways

Just because autumn blues are normal doesn't mean they shouldn't be dealt with.

A slight correction of the daily routine will increase the duration of sleep and help to cope with drowsiness in the morning. But there are several "active" ways to forget about autumn sadness and fatigue.

Light up the sun at home

You can’t save on lighting in the fall. Replace light bulbs in the apartment with more powerful ones, lamps with "cold" white light - with "warm" yellow. Add zonal lighting, for example, put a floor lamp near your favorite armchair or sofa or hang a wall lamp - this will add coziness to the room, and you - a sense of harmony.

Make autumn beautiful

Even if it’s raining outside the window, and slush is in your soul, this is no reason to dress in inconspicuous clothes and look at the “dull” world. Match your favorite coat with a bright neckerchief and gloves, surround yourself with colorful interior details and see that autumn can turn into your personal fairy tale.

And for those who are fond of handmade, it is enough to look around: sunny pumpkins, late autumn flowers and other gifts of nature will allow you to decorate the interior with amazingly beautiful compositions. And the process of making decor will bring no less pleasure than the result.

Cook tasty and bright

Autumn is not the time for diets. The body struggles with drowsiness and fatigue, and it needs strength for this. Make sure that the menu has enough "healthy" fats (vegetable oils, fatty varieties of sea fish) and protein (sour-milk products, eggs, meat and poultry). And take the time to beautifully decorate the dish and set the table. Such a meal will bring not only gastronomic, but also aesthetic pleasure and will cheer you up.

But if no methods and means help to cope with the blues, consult a doctor. Under the autumn blues, various diseases and conditions can be masked, from hormonal disorders to depression and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Photo: Vladimir Nikulin/Rusmediabank.ru

It's autumn now, it's gloomy, cold and damp outside. Of the entertainment for ordinary people, there are only books and TV (if you can afford to break away in mid-November to Mexico on a sunny beach, then you can no longer read), going to the cinema and to a pizzeria on weekends, chatting with friends, usually online . Of course it will come very soon. New Year, and the mood will improve dramatically, but for now, psychologists give us advice on how to overcome the autumn blues (depression is a disease and is treated exclusively with medication, after a doctor's appointment). I thought, what will happen if we really put all these tips into practice and will the autumn blues remain next to us?

Council the first. Be sure to walk outside for an hour before bed every day. It’s better not to do some household chores and don’t watch a series, but be sure to go for a walk.

The respected author who gave this advice probably lives somewhere in the shady streets of Italy, where in autumn it is warm, light and there is some body of water nearby (for example, Lake Garda). Or maybe the author of this advice lives in a cozy cottage in Sochi and, before going to bed, wanders around his yard, well fenced with a high fence.

Let's move this advice to real life. You return from work at 7-8 pm, it is already pitch dark and rare, and in some places even large sleet cheerfully sprinkles your chilled top. Having cooked dinner at home, checking the lessons of the tomboys, somewhere around 11 pm you scream:
- It's time for me to go for a walk! I have !

And having sent her husband, frightened to death, to watch TV, you begin to get ready to go for a walk. Putting on a hat and padded jacket (so as not to be robbed), taking with you an ax and a bat (besides being in a good mood, I would also like to stay alive), a bottle of vodka (even if, like me, you don’t drink at all), to keep warm by tying a lantern on your forehead (dark) you, sniffing loudly, go out for a mandatory walk before going to bed. And then you darkly cut circles around the house, lightly swinging your ax (so as not to freeze), dimly illuminating the pavement at your feet with a trembling flashlight. An hour later, exactly at midnight, like Cinderella, you return home. And so every day.

The next day, you read in the News, "on Mira Street, apartments have fallen in price four times, because of a strange person with an ax walking around the yard at night."

Psychologists turned out to be right: there will be no trace of the blues, either for you or for your neighbors.

Go to any social place and meet new people: share your problem and let them help you

You go to the neighborhood grocery store and start sharing. First, approach the seller sitting at the checkout and, having pushed aside the still live line, stick to her ears.

It seems to me that I have . My body aches, my teeth itch, I'm in a bad mood, and I have a rash on my chin. I don't think anyone loves me.
- Yes, why love you, you tattered cat! - shout already tired, stunned and sweaty buyers at the checkout. - Go for a walk for an hour before going to bed! - they are already yelling, at the limit of their voice capabilities.

The psychologists turned out to be right: there was no trace of the blues, and the man stopped drinking from the bus stop and left for Tibet, as he was sure that he had met face to face with the devil himself.

: especially those who have been on a diet before

This is advice so advice! A feast for the eyes! In short, you go to the store and buy everything that you could not afford before: cakes, rolls with jam, sweets, pies and donuts. Then come home and sweep it all away in one evening, munching loudly with pleasure. The mood will noticeably improve, especially when a week later your face is covered with acne from sweets, after two weeks you won’t fit into any jeans, and after a month your teeth will fall. And just in time for the New Year, you will come up in all its glory: a cheerful, cheerful barge with bad skin and the remaining two front teeth.

Psychologists turned out to be right, what an autumn blues now, now it’s just tin looking at you from the mirror and eating up another bun.

Keep smiling

Morning, gloomy tram passengers sniffle and cough, the conductor sells tickets, a flea market, and you smile all the time, i.e. all one and a half hours from the moment we entered the crowded tram and until the moment when even the driver escaped from the empty tram to call you an ambulance for psychiatric help.

Having explained to the cheerful doctors that you are just “on the positive side”, you enter the office and, without stopping constantly smiling, go to the boss. He, turning purple in the face, reprimands for the work, and you smile. He is already shouting with a good obscenity: “Stop smiling!”, And you are smiling. The chief fell under the table and wheezed from a heart attack, and you are still smiling, calling the doctors.

The psychologists turned out to be right, everyone is having fun: you, colleagues, but not the boss, and since no one likes management, everyone is satisfied.