Introduction
Whenever I hear the word autumn blues, it takes me back to literature class, where Shakespeare, Frost, and Keat expressed their feelings about autumn. Being a predecessor of winter, people view autumn as the beginning of sadness and depression.
Therefore, the rainy season paves the way for the autumn season. You will see gloomy and dull faces all around the streets. The essence of red and gold hue that takes over the sky following the redness of leaves does not set out well for everything.
Further, as autumn sets its sights, days become shorter, and dwindling daylight often impacts people's mental health and disrupts their way of living. In simple words, it is called Autumn blues.
It is one of the classic illnesses that mostly occurs in young people with seasonal disorders, and their mental wellness runs as per the development of climate.
Hence, our today’s focus and concern will be on autumn blues and ways to mitigate the issue to ensure that people feel good and cheer up as they will have more time with the stars at night.
What Are Autumn Blues?
A classic gloomy day comes out of the poem of Robert Frost, evoking a mournful setting where days are dull, and nothing but the aroma of grief and sadness surrounds the atmosphere. This explains the occurrence of Autumn blues.
Blues depict seasonal affective disorder, whose symptoms range from fatigue, irritability, stress, listlessness, sad mood, and temporary depression. Usually, the reason represents the lack of joy in how a person interacts with the other person.
Further, the lack of bright lights and cold weather often makes people feel sad and affects their mood and approach to daily life.
Along with mental health, autumn blues also affect people's physical health, ranging from weight gain to digestive problems and altered appetite. Following this, there is muscle tension and ravenous cravings.
The low feeling lasts up to two to three weeks, allowing the person to adapt and cope with the surroundings. Even some experts call it seasonal depression or winter depression, leaving the reminiscence of old times when autumn was considered a sign of long and hard winters.
What Are The Causes Of Autumn Blues?
The change in season changes how nature functions with the outer world and affects how humans interact with time and space.
You will find that the start of autumn usually brings a shift in hormonal balance in the body, which majorly affects how we approach our daily life.
Here is how it happens -
The Release Of More Sleep Hormones
Often your sleep cycle gets adjusted with climate change, as external changes include the shift in outer temperature from hot to cold and also changes in brightness. Thus, blocking the interplay of melatonin and cortisol.
This interplay is why you stay cheerful throughout the day because of their balance in how those hormones, as mentioned earlier, lock horns. Hence, if melatonin increases, then the chances of feeling tired increase.
Therefore, making you feel sleepy throughout the day.
Also, a lack of light takes center stage during the dark season, leading to a rise in melatonin levels in the body, making you sleep for more hours. In other words, it is nothing but a normal afternoon in Newcastle.
Further, to produce happy hormones, your body needs to convert melatonin into serotonin to make you cheerful. And this just doesn’t happen in Autumn.
Decrease In Vitamin D Levels
Vitamin D is closely linked with your mood, as it contributes to the normal immune system and allows it to function properly. In this regard, you need a certain amount of vitamin D daily to ensure you are active in life.
One of the best possible ways of getting Vitamin D is sunlight, which directly comes into contact with the skin and helps uplift the mood by releasing happy hormones. Instead, that function as autumn brings clouds of darkness.
Thus, people feel low and even contract temporary depression, which affects their mental and physical health.
It is even reported that during October and March, there is a high rate of people suffering from a vitamin D deficiency, resulting in poor skin development and mood swings.
Changes In Everyday
You must have seen in the movies and also in the books how people viewed seasonal changes, especially from summer to winter. Generally, people associate winter with hardships and dry seasons, as there are no blossoms and harvests.
Thus, making life more difficult for people to live.
Winter changes people's social life, as you will find most of your friends indoors and spending more time at home. This increases alienation and feeling of loneliness, which is harmful to young kids and older people.
Further, you will likely exercise less with no social life and no outside time, and your resistance against combating stress decreases. Thus, it reduces people's self-confidence and restricts the release of happy hormones.
Fun, hanging out with friends, and playing under the open sun are important for everyone, as they affect our mental and physical health and mood.
Therefore, autumn brings melancholy and a feeling of grey, further increasing as it paves the way for winter and thus begins the era of hardships and darkness.
So, to ensure that you can combat the autumn blues, I will suggest some tips and tricks to help you fight the situation.
Tips To Fight Autumn Blues
As discussed earlier, what causes autumn blue? For every issue, humans have a solution to combat. Humans have a miraculous power to find solutions for a multitude of problems. Thus there are ways for you to fight the season change.
As October isn’t far away, and dark lords will soon take over the sky and the weather, here are a few things you can do -
Tip 1. Take Cold Showers
You might view me as a crazy guy who thinks of taking cold showers in winter. But there is a reason for it. It is attached to mental and physical health.
As per the latest reports, cold showers are productive in nature. They can counter tiredness and boost your energy. Thus, keeping you active throughout the day. Further, there are reports of fewer cases of illnesses and less sensitivity to colds.
That is why, you will see in Denmark, mothers keep their children outside and make them sleep in the cold to build their resistance to coldness. And this has proven a productive method, with Danes's children being more healthy and physically developed than other children.
Scientific research states that cold water activates the nervous system, which releases stress hormones, including Cortisol. It helps people to wake up and instigates blood circulation in the body. This enables you to get ready for the day and become active.
Further, cold showers will help you fight against dry skin, often caused by hot showers.
Tip 2: Chocolates And Flowers
This is a different approach to counter autumn blues, as it is associated with mood swings and poor mental health. Therefore, flowers are a good way to mitigate the situation.
Flowers have a great way to cheer someone up and boost someone’s mental health. They tend to exude happy hormones, which in turn release satisfied hormones in persons. Thus, blossoms will act as a better way to counteract your mood swings.
Further, flowers also bring a beautiful aroma, instilling positivity and providing a sense of peace. That is why lavenders are often used as aromatherapy, as they help people to improve their mood and stress levels.
Further, shades of tulips and dahlias add a sense of calmness to one’s mood and alter their gloominess. Also, there is Jasmine, whose therapeutic abilities can relieve stress, anxiety, and depression.
Besides, there are chocolates, which have a major effect on releasing positive emotions in people. Hence, choose dark chocolates as they can boost the production of feel-good chemicals, endorphins.
For this, the best choice will be dark chocolate with 85% cocoa, as it restricts the occurrence of negative mood.
Therefore, in the coming October to March, if you ever feel gloomy or even get a sense of depression. You can visit the website of My Global Flowers. These people specialize in flower and chocolate delivery.
I have used their services to send flowers and chocolates to my friends and believe me, it not only made them feel good, but I also felt a sense of happiness. It is because I knew I did something good.
Tip 3: Embrace The Winter
As Ned Stark stated, "Winter is coming,” therefore, it is time to protect yourself and embrace the change occurring in the outer world.
See, embracing the truth and the reality is a good way of fighting mental health. Hence, when the winter comes, take some time off from the world and just relax.
Look after yourself. You can just slow down and recharge your batteries, so when spring follows, you can sing, “Here comes the sun.”
Additionally, winter has a brilliant way of helping them reflect on themselves, their occurrence, and their deeds, allowing them to grow for the coming summers.
So, when the winter comes, just look to stay inside and try to discover and develop something about yourself.
Tip 4: Leave Social Media
This is the best advice I can give to you right now. As you see, social media can affect your mental health and instigate negative emotions in you.
Hence, what you can do is, when the days are long and rainy, it is better to keep social media afar and focus on other things. It can be reading a book. I suggest you reach horror or maybe a thriller, as it will excite you.
Yet, if you are not into books, then you can opt for a good cinema or maybe a series to relax at home. Make a new recipe with seasonal recipes, and just enjoy the cozy winters. You will see that the world is much better than you thought it to be.
Your life will move on from the colors of Ari Astra and choose the bright lights of Wes Anderson. A sudden shift in mindset will allow you to adapt to cold weather and say goodbye to Autumn blues.
Tips 5: Cuddling And Laughter Is The Best Medicine
As Karl Marx said, the modern world is driving itself into alienation, and people have a scarcity of laughter. This leads to poor heart health and the inclusion of negative thoughts in the mind.
Thus, scientists, today stress the fact that laughter is good for health. An average person should laugh for at least 18 mins per day. This will ensure they have a bright mood and good physical health.
Other than that, there is cuddling. People often forget the power of physical touch and how it positively impacts one’s mood and mental health. That is why it is advised to people that cuddling with a friend, family, or pet can release oxytocin.
Hence, releasing this hormone can make the individual more calm, confident, and relaxed, fostering a sense of well-being.
So, if you are ever feeling low, you can ask your family or friend to cuddle with you, boost your mood, and foster good mental health.
Further, you can go for a walk or do a home workout, which will help you to combat stress and anxiety. It helps release serotonin and endorphins, clearing your mind and acknowledging the change.
Thus, you are just one step away from keeping Autumn blues at bay. So, just get out of bed into your running shoes and embrace the cold winter.
Winter Is Coming
In the end, we can say that autumn blues come due to the presence of dark lights, cold weather, and falling leaves. Therefore, to combat the seasonal disorder, you can look to exercise in the fresh air, laughter, sports, flowers, and chocolate.
And see the results yourself.