Causes and Characteristics of winter depression
Also known as SAD, winter depression, as its name implies, occurs in some people, especially adults, in winter or in cold weather. This type of affective disorder is characterized by a lack of tone and melancholy. Of course, the main cause is the reduction of hours and intensity of sunlight. While during sunny days, especially in summer, the sunlight can reach 130,000 lux (unit of luminous intensity), in cold weather, especially in winter, it is only 20 000 lux.
But according to scientific studies, the sun hold therapeutic, especially on the nervous system. They contribute to the balance of the biological clock’s natural rights, as they control the appearance of the day and night. Thus, the sun acts on the production of certain human and animal hormones. Among them, the famous serotonin which is nothing but the good mood hormone in humans. Thus, in winter, some people are prone to a feeling of melancholy. They have the moral decline, at the same time lack of energy. Their quality of sleep also tends to degrade. Indeed, serotonin triggers the production of melatonin, which is nothing but the regulator of the sleep cycle. When the secretion of serotonin is disrupted, this leads consequently a sleep disorder.
How to prevent winter depression
To maintain its tone, to be more efficient in its operations, maintain her libido, improve the quality of his sleep, in short to fight against winter depression, there are some solutions. To begin, let the sunlight invade his house as much as possible. Then learn to accept the time remaining gray average 1 hour per day outside the home. Also, maintain your energy through physical activity, without excess, which could be harmful to the heart that supplies already naturally efforts to fight against the cold.
The group activities encourage the sharing of good humor: sledding, is launching snowballs, go to the rink, practice any winter sport. It could also afford a massage winter, as hot stone massage. For those particularly susceptible to this seasonal depression, think about light therapy. As its name suggests, this is a light therapy: the subject is exposed to white light that regulates the activity of the nervous system by sending messages through his light waves.
