What is it and what causes it
Spring exacerbation is a collective term that refers to changes in the body during the first warm months.
There is no such concept in medical reference books: an exacerbation is usually understood as a complex of symptoms such as mood swings, drowsiness and depression. Mood changes occur due to the fact that the body gets very tired during the winter: as a rule, we do not get enough sunlight, and our food is not particularly rich in vitamins. With the arrival of warmer weather, the body, exhausted by the cold, is subjected to additional stress and begins to urgently adapt to new environmental conditions: increased temperature, changes in pressure and increased daylight hours. This process may not be easy.
This is what can cause seasonal exacerbation.
Changes in melatonin production
Melatonin is a hormone that controls our circadian rhythm, that is, it synchronizes the body's functioning with the time of day. When sunlight hits the retina, melatonin production decreases and increases in the dark. This gives the body a signal that it is time to sleep.
With the arrival of spring, daylight hours become longer, the amount of melatonin decreases, and we tend to sleep much less. Changes in biorhythm and adaptation of the body to a new regime lead to problems with sleep and provoke poor health - the internal clock needs time to get used to new conditions.
Lack of vitamins and minerals
After a long winter, we often experience a deficiency of vitamins and minerals, because during the cold season we tend to eat heavy carbohydrate foods. In addition, the choice of vegetables and fruits in winter is quite scarce. Therefore, we meet spring with a weakened immune system, and it is more difficult for the body to adapt to the change of season.
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Aerobic exercise
I would like to be dishonest by telling you that without good old physical activity you can lose weight successfully and for a long time. But I won't. I am afraid that if this problem can be solved, it will be at too high a cost. The essence of aerobic exercise is, first of all, that you consume more oxygen while moving, as a result of which fat is “burned.” In addition, metabolism is stimulated, endorphins are produced, tone increases - what can I tell you!
However, not all women agree to jump, sweat and pant during the corresponding classes in the fitness club. I understand, so I recommend paying attention to modern mind body techniques, which also have a beneficial effect on metabolism, strengthen the muscle frame and teach proper breathing. For example:
Pilates
is a system that got its name in honor of the German doctor, coach and athlete Joseph Pilate. Since Pilates was originally developed as a rehabilitation technique, it is absolutely safe and has virtually no contraindications. However, do not think that doing the exercises will be easy and simple for you! After all, they are aimed at stretching and working out the deep muscles and joints, so that at the end of the workout you will feel how even those muscles you didn’t even suspect existed “woke up”. This effect brings Pilates very close to yoga, because it’s not for nothing that both make the body work “from the inside to the surface” plus a general meditative mood.
PorDeBras
is an original training program that incorporates much of the ballet “class.” Elements of dynamic balance have a beneficial effect on posture and coordination, stretching and flexibility exercises make ligaments and muscles more elastic and joints more mobile. All this is very important for feeling a harmonious, trained body. So imagine that you have the posture and habits of a ballerina. The initial and final parts of the training generally resemble a ballet exercise, which brings special aesthetic pleasure to the practitioners. It is ideal to attend a dance class after PorDeBras - the feeling of tone returns to you noticeably and without extra effort.
BodyFlex
is the original method of an American, mother of three children, Greer Childers, accessible to everyone who is completely far from sports, dance and other body shaping systems. The program is based on the principle of burning fat deposits and building muscle mass through special aerobic breathing combined with a sequence of isometric, isotonic and stretching poses. If you perform these exercises for 15 minutes every day, you can quickly lose excess weight and reduce excess volume, restore active performance and excellent tone. Adherents of this technique claim that the extra centimeters of volume simply “melt” before our eyes. Moreover, for exercise you only need a secluded space and an open window (breathing exercises are ineffective without fresh air).
If desired, these lessons can be easily found in file-sharing resources on the Internet. The main thing is not to be lazy and exercise several times a week.
In the second part of the article, I will talk about manual and hardware techniques that will make the weight loss process especially effective.
Tags: physical activity, healthy lifestyle, fitness, figure, weight loss
What symptoms should you pay attention to?
You experience a loss of strength, become irritable, and get tired quickly. I constantly want to sleep, apathy appears. Headaches or dizziness occur. All these are the consequences of body fatigue after a long winter and adaptation to new weather conditions.
But sometimes the reason for poor health is much more serious: all these signs may indicate a special type of depression, seasonal affective disorder. The disease usually manifests itself in the autumn-winter period, but can worsen in the spring.
Seasonal depression differs from spring exacerbation in that it is much more severe. Its symptoms include:
- depressed state for a long time;
- loss of interest in things and activities that previously brought pleasure;
- lack of energy;
- irritability and tearfulness;
- difficulty concentrating.
Insomnia, loss of appetite, weight loss, and increased anxiety may also indicate seasonal affective disorder.
Details matter
Hair is another way to freshen up your look at minimal cost. There are a lot of options! You can experiment with new hairstyles, curl romantic curls, or add accessories (currently ribbons, headbands, hairpins, pearls and rhinestones are top of the list).
A more radical, but most effective way is fresh hair coloring. Balayage, shatush, coloring, natural highlighting, soft natural or extremely bright colors - the current trends have something to offer you!
A new manicure will help create a spring mood in your look. Graceful flowers, stones, feminine patterns, cheerful inscriptions, twigs and leaves will come in handy. In spring manicure, delicate pastel shades come to the fore. Even a monochrome finish, carefully created at home, will refresh your look.
If you have a decent collection of different polishes, you can create trendy multi-colored nail art. The main thing is that the participating shades are harmoniously combined with each other. To do this, you can choose representatives of a light or pastel palette, or create a spectacular gradient from nail to nail.
Interesting: The best banana masks for facial skin
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Who is at risk
If you fall into one of these categories, be especially attentive to your condition.
People with chronic diseases
In spring, it is much more difficult to resist pathogenic bacteria due to a decrease in the body's defenses, a lack of vitamins and minerals, and mood swings. All this causes exacerbation of chronic diseases, such as sinusitis or cystitis. It’s worth mentioning allergy sufferers - spring is especially difficult for them.
Emotionally unstable people
If you know first-hand what emotional burnout and frequent mood swings are, be careful - these conditions may worsen in the spring.
People with mental illness
This can be either a manifestation of seasonal depression or an exacerbation of other diseases, such as bipolar disorder.
How to make this period easier
If you are one of those people who struggles in the spring, try the following methods.
Maintain a sleep schedule
With the arrival of spring, you may suffer from insomnia or, conversely, excessive sleepiness. Therefore, it is very important to establish your routine: adequate sleep will help tidy up the nervous system and adapt to longer daylight hours.
Get outdoors more often
Due to the fact that in the spring we receive more sunlight, more vitamin D is synthesized in our body. It strengthens the immune system and helps fight depression. Effects of vitamin D - just what we need in the spring.
Don't forget about physical activity
Regular exercise reduces stress levels and improves your mood.
Contact your doctor promptly
If you notice that your condition has worsened and the symptoms of spring exacerbation or seasonal depression interfere with your usual lifestyle, go to the doctor immediately. Only he can choose the right treatment and help you get back on your feet.
How spring affects the psyche and who is at risk
For many years now, there has been an opinion in society that with the arrival of spring, mentally ill people experience a “spring exacerbation”, during which all the symptoms of their mental disorders appear more acutely; inappropriate actions of acquaintances and strangers are usually attributed to this. But is there really such a thing as a “spring exacerbation”? How does it manifest itself and why? Are only mentally ill people susceptible to it, or does the change of seasons affect everyone in one way or another? Zhanna Zholdybaeva, deputy director of the Almaty Mental Health Center (CHC), answered these and other questions in an interview with a Zakon.kz journalist.
— Is it true that with the arrival of spring, all the symptoms of illnesses begin to manifest themselves more acutely in mentally ill people?
— First of all, it must be said that mental illnesses, just like any other, have a seasonality. And it is during the spring-autumn period that all diseases, both mental and somatic, worsen. All this is connected with internal processes that occur in the body and have a certain cyclical nature. In addition, in the fall, bright summer gives way to duller colors, cloudy weather, rain turning into snow, and fluctuations in atmospheric pressure become common. And all this leads to the fact that a person may have a feeling of melancholy and anxiety for the future. And in the spring, this can probably be associated with vitamin deficiency and changes in hormonal levels. For example, serotonin, that is, the so-called “pleasure hormone,” is produced in us under the influence of sunlight and in winter its amount in the body decreases noticeably.
In general, during periods of changing climatic seasons, the human body is exposed to a certain stress, which can lead to a change in mental state. And against this background, all these processes are intensifying. Thus, since the beginning of October, the number of patients and their hospitalization in our hospital has increased significantly. In early spring, such dynamics are also observed.
— Are there any prerequisites for the exacerbation of mental illness and how does this manifest itself externally?
— Of course, all psychopathologies and categories of patients are different, but clinical manifestations of any mental illness usually do not appear immediately, but gradually. Psychiatrists even have such a concept as “alarm bells,” that is, symptoms that, first of all, should be paid attention to and which indicate that an exacerbation of the disease, its relapse, is about to occur. First of all, this is sleep disturbance, loss of appetite, mood swings and increased symptoms of autism, when the patient seems to withdraw into himself. That is, the person, even as our patient, was sociable and cheerful, and then suddenly relatives or others notice that he has become withdrawn and uncommunicative. His emotions become dull and indistinct, as if blurred. Anxiety may appear or worsen. And already at this stage, it is very advisable to seek help from specialists, and not wait until he already has pronounced symptoms in the form of delusions or hallucinations. Typically, hallucinatory or delusional disorders join the symptoms listed above a little later, but treatment in this case will be much more complex and lengthy.
“Apparently, we are talking about some serious mental pathologies here.” But now, as your colleagues have repeatedly noted, the accelerated pace of life, competition in all spheres of life and other similar reasons lead to the fact that even quite healthy people exhibit various neurotic and other mental disorders. Do these conditions also get worse in spring or fall?
— Unfortunately, various neurotic and neurosis-like disorders also worsen during these periods. This mainly affects people who have suffered traumatic brain injuries, with a history of hypertension syndrome, vascular pathology, etc. In our practice, there have often been moments when a person had not previously turned to specialists for help and a certain mental disorder or even a disease occurred in a hidden, latent form. And usually the manifestation of these disorders occurs precisely in the autumn-spring period. Although stress may also be the impetus for this, regardless of the time of year. As a rule, such patients develop a state of melancholy, their mood decreases, depression increases, and most often, this leads to a “nervous breakdown” or suicidal behavior, and can even end in suicide.
— That is, the arrival of spring or autumn can also influence seemingly healthy people, forcing them to commit inappropriate actions?
— Practically healthy people do not behave inappropriately. However, everything that happens to our body, including hormonal levels, the presence of some somatic pathologies, a combination of external factors, which can even include weather conditions and fluctuations in atmospheric pressure, how we perceive ourselves, the world around us and those around us - all this affects our behavior. Therefore, various behavioral disorders depend specifically on our psychological state.
— You said that this could lead to suicide attempts. Can such a person pose a real danger to others?
— In general, we cannot assume that all the patients who are registered with us are under treatment, and those that have not yet been identified are dangerous to others. They can be dangerous only during an exacerbation of the disease. But again, exacerbation occurs individually for everyone. That is, if before a person was sociable and talkative, but during a period of exacerbation he becomes, on the contrary, withdrawn, anxious and depressed, then, of course, he is more likely to pose a danger to himself than to others. If the patient has already manifested delusional disorders, hallucinations, and psychopathic-like symptoms, then under the influence of some voices he hears or for delusional reasons, he may commit some absurd acts, including showing aggression. But again, if these symptoms are not directed at others, then such a patient, even in a state of psychosis, does not pose a danger to anyone.
— Have there been any cases in your practice when mental patients, during periods of exacerbation of the disease, showed aggression towards strangers on the street or in public transport?
— In my practice there was only one such case. Then the patient hit a small child on the street who was walking with his mother. As it turned out later, this man was not registered and had never consulted a psychiatrist before, and his relatives and friends either did not notice his alarming symptoms or simply did not seek help. As a result, it ended with the fact that at the moment of exacerbation of the disease, under the influence of the voices he heard, he hit the child and caused him quite serious injury. The man was hospitalized and, as it turned out, had been suffering from a serious mental illness for a long time. But such cases are still quite rare. More often, such patients try to harm themselves during periods of exacerbation of the disease. Moreover, this can be not only suicidal attempts, but also intentional self-harm and injury. For example, in my practice there was a patient who constantly chewed his hands. That is, not nails, but fingers.
— In general, the probability of meeting an aggressive mental patient on the street, although small, exists. And what should you do in such cases?
— First of all, relatives or friends of a person who exhibits the above symptoms, indicating an exacerbation of the disease, should consult a doctor. And not when he has already developed a clinical picture in the form of delusions and hallucinations, but when the first changes in behavior occur. Because it is at this stage that it is easier to stop acute conditions and not lead to the manifestation of symptoms of the disease itself. If you meet a person on the street who is clearly behaving inappropriately and is showing aggression, then the most important thing is to talk to such people very calmly. If you see that he senses a danger supposedly emanating from you, feels anxious, believes that everything is against him, then you can try to let him understand that there is no danger. But again, all this should be said in a very calm tone and in no case should you be rude towards him. Try to show goodwill and calmness, not only with words, but also at the level of facial expressions and gestures. Usually, when the patient sees this, he calms down. The best thing to do is not to come into contact with such people at all and immediately call a psychiatric ambulance or the police.
— Is it possible to protect yourself from spring-autumn emotional disorders on your own when the first “alarm bells” occur, and what needs to be done for this?
“The most important thing is that a person must assess the situation correctly and understand that something wrong is happening to him. If he constantly feels some kind of restlessness, anxiety, his sleep is disturbed and his appetite has decreased, then he must draw certain conclusions from this. Most neurotic disorders occur due to exhaustion of the nervous system and, accordingly, to begin with, to restore it, you need to start taking some kind of restorative drugs. Most often, B vitamins and naotropics are recommended for this, that is, medications that improve cerebral circulation. They are sold in pharmacies without a prescription and are most often prescribed by neurologists and therapists. If these drugs do not produce any results, then you should resort to mild tranquilizers and antidepressants. But they can only be prescribed by an appropriate specialist. Previously, only a psychotherapist or psychiatrist could write a prescription for them, but now this can also be done by general practitioners who have completed special advanced training courses specifically for the diagnosis and treatment of neurotic-level disorders. True, such specialists are not yet available in all clinics in the city, but we are constantly preparing new ones, and I hope that in the near future such medical care will be available in all district clinics at the place of attachment. If light tranquilizers and antidepressants also do not bring positive results, then the person already needs to contact psychiatrists and undergo a more complete diagnosis and an appropriate course of treatment.
Vladimir Demidov
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