People with seasonal affective disorder may find it easier to cope with the shorter winter days thanks to habits formed due to the pandemic.
- The advice given during the first confinement on good eating, sleeping and physical exercise habits to adopt has offered a driving guide that allows us to better approach winter.
- Good habits such as a healthy diet, regular physical activity, and a consistent sleep pattern can help fight seasonal disorder.
- Light therapy can help with seasonal depression.
The new confinement has a big difference compared to the first: it takes place in winter. Diminishing light and shorter days are all factors that lead to seasonal affective disorder, or seasonal depression, in some people. This year, these disorders could be less serious than the previous winters because of the habits already taken during the first confinement which mean that this more gloomy period should be crossed with less anxiety.
Take time
The first confinement would have served as training to better tackle winter. “This has certainly been the case for a certain percentage of the population“, says Craig Sawchuk, psychologist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota (United States), to the American media Healthline. The latter believes that the advice given during the first confinement on good eating, sleeping and physical exercise habits to adopt offered a guide to conduct that allows us to better approach winter. “These are all the things that help us feel better at all times in our lives.”, he continued.
Angela Thoreson, therapist at the Mayo Clinic, believes that the period of confinement has brought good habits such as taking the time to reflect and modify your lifestyle. “People had to slow down and take stockshe pleaded to the American health media. Seasonal depression is like any other mental health problem. The first steps are lifestyle changes.” Exercising more, eating better and connecting with family and friends in new ways are all good habits that she thinks help reduce winter anxiety.
Do light therapy
To relieve anxiety symptoms during this end-of-year period, the two researchers offer several solutions. They consider that one should not hesitate to get help and to consult. Limiting media exposure can help avoid anxiety, they share. Finally, they also propose, for those in whom the lack of light leads to depression, to turn to light therapy. A meta-analysis published on September 18, 2019 in the journal Sleep Medicine Review revealed that this therapy is as effective as medication in treating depression.
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