Depression Risk During Seasonal Transitions – Last Minute

Beware of sunlight during seasonal transitions: It can cause depression

Expert Psychologist Arzu Hamurcu:

“Reduced daylight hours can cause a drop in hormones, leading to depression”

“By keeping a diary of emotions, it can be understood that depression is temporary”

KAYSERI – Expert Psychologist Arzu Hamurcu said that psychological symptoms can be seen in people during the transition from summer to winter, adding, “The decrease in daylight can cause a decrease in hormones and cause depression.”

Expert Psychologist Arzu Hamurcu, who stated that the most important reason for the symptoms is the decrease in daylight, said, “In the summer, a seasonal transition occurs as the warm weather gives way to winter and cold weather. As the symptoms of this seasonal transition, we see many symptoms such as low energy, fatigue, difficulty in focusing, slowing down in daily activities, disinterest, increased or decreased appetite, decreased or increased sleep, which we also see as psychological. One of the biggest reasons for this is actually related to the decrease in daylight. In other words, since the melatonin and serotonin hormones are secreted less, our hormones are affected by this and we can fall into a more sleepy state. We can develop routines where we are more reluctant and our focus of attention is lost. At this point, we say that seasonal depression can be seen in many people, but we can emphasize that it is temporary. This can be a symptom of depression that will last for 2-3 weeks as much as possible. If it is seen for a longer period, it should not be neglected to go to a specialist or doctor and get treatment.”

Hamurcu said that in case of depression, a diary of emotions can be kept and the emotions felt can be noted, and added, “When we look at what we can do at home or outside to overcome this on our own, one of the most important points is to keep ourselves social and active, that is, to return to our routines as much as possible and most importantly, to benefit from daylight. Spending more time in sunny areas as much as possible, benefiting from daylight more, doing regular exercise and eating regularly, keeping our sleep hours at a regular interval will actually make us happier and may cause us to get depressed less. Similarly, a diary of emotions can be kept. This is one of the techniques we recommend and work a lot. What we call a diary of emotions is actually a notebook where we note down what emotions we are feeling during the day. This can also be done at the end of the day. You can keep a small notebook and write in that notebook at that moment. The important thing is to write down what emotion you are feeling and what triggers this emotion and then move on to the next emotion. The thing that will be noticed here is this; these emotions are temporary. We are the sky and our emotions are the weather. “At this point, we actually care about not surrendering to the weather,” he said.