When sunlight is scarce in winter and depression begins to creep in ...

Here is one of the first books I read on this subject...

Of course, it cannot be said, that depression can only appear with cold and dark weather, but it is one of the contributing factors. It occurs for a variety of reasons and is due to a combination of several factors. Here is a list of possible reasons:1) Negative thoughts, that cause bad emotions, which cause toxic stress hormones to flow.2) Unhealthy food, that destroys the bacterial balance in the gut. Foods like wheat, sugar, dairy products, coffee, red meat and ready-to-eat foods (when they contain additives) cause acidity and mucus(slime) in the body. Mucus is porous like a sponge and collects everything harmful inside it, that causes a variety of health problems. Because a large proportion of well-being hormones are produced in the gut, unhealthy food may result in the inhibition of well-being hormones production. In addition, coffee and energy drinks or black tea can act like whipping a tired horse and can cause anxiety.3) Lack of sleep - People's need for sleep varies depending on, for example, age and lifestyle. People with healthy lifestyle need less sleep, while unhealthy lifestyle burdens the body and people need more time to recover their energy supplies at night.4) Overload - When a person does something, that he likes, overload is less likely. But with hard and not fulfilling work it happens often, because it produces stress hormones instead of welfare hormones.5) Inheritance - Many diseases can come along with genes, but genes expression, either positively or negatively, is highly dependent on lifestyle.6) Lack of movement - sports helps body to get used to stress. After, and even during physical exercise, hormones of well-being begin to flow. Physical active movement causes the brain cells regeneration. Symptoms of depression include problems with concentration and memory due to very slow renewal of brain cells.7) The use of drugs, other chemicals and substance abuse damages the body's pH balance, poisoning the body and senses, and interfering with brain functioning. For example, it prevents the brain from creating synapses and interrupts them, which makes thinking disturbed. When the body is full of poisons, various diseases arise and again the production of welfare hormones is disrupted.Symptoms of depression:1) Sleeping problems - Normal sleep is long and deep sleep, with not many dreams or without them. Sleeping problems can begin with having a no more restful deep sleep and more and more intense dreams, and eventually with temporary or permanent insomnia, when the person does not even fall asleep. These symptoms begin to disappear with the improvement of depression.2) Problems with appetite - it can either disappear - so, that food tastes like sawdust, or you may experience unexpected wish to eat sweets or overeating.3) Sadness - As the well-being hormones are produced not enough or not at all, even a vacation to warm island does not seem a good thing and produces not even the slightest pleasure - on the contrary, going out from home is quite unpleasant. In addition, there may be unexplained crying and hysteria. Stressful situations can seem insurmountable.4) Anxiety is a situation, where a person feels fear usually for no particular reason, and depending on the size of anxiety, the feeling can be very bad, the person might be shaking and feeling sick, have a feeling, that he can't get out of bed, feel weakness. Agoraphobia is a fear and anxiety about leaving home and communicating with others, which is one of the most common phobias as a symptom of depression. In addition, panic attacks can occur, that have 4 stages. Symptoms of a panic attack include anxiety, nausea, weakness, palpitations, feeling of fainting to really fainting, which may be brief or prolonged, cold sweat, dry mucous membranes, trembling, breathing difficulties.5) Apathy, mood swings, nervousness, worrying, loss of desire to live etc.These are the most common symptoms I have gathered from my own and others' experiences and books, but of course there are many more symptoms, that can be read in the book above.

Now the most important part - treatment

1) Controlling thoughts - because negative thoughts generate negative emotions and command the production of stress hormones, we need to practice checking and changing our thoughts.

2) It would be good to exclude the aforementioned foods as well as hydrogenated vegetable fats, eat mostly fresh food, seeds, drink lots of water to get toxins out of the body and take supplements:

1) Pro- and prebiotics to support the balance of bacteria inside our gut.

2) Vitamin c (liposomal), which removes toxins from the body and strengthens the immune system as depression is accompanied by constant cough, rhinitis, digestive problems, inflammation of mucous membranes, constantly moving pains and more.

3) Magnesium, because it is one of the substances, that we cannot get enough from food. In addition, you could take vitamin D and iodine and, depending on the individual, maybe something more we do not get enough of.

4) Maca powder, that provides vitality, balances the hormonal system, and supports the nervous and immune system.

3) Drinking soothing herbal teas and take herbal sedatives if you have a nervous and difficult time, or if your depression is already very profound, then one more thing left to do is talk to a psychiatrist, who is most likely to prescribe antidepressants and sedatives and sleeping pills. Tranquilizers and sleeping pills should be taken with caution as needed, antidepressants for at least 6 months. Some antidepressants are there to replace the well-being hormones, that should be produced by gut, but a healthy diet and lifestyle will require the body to take over the production again after the end of the tablet cycle.4) Various relaxing therapies - massage, relaxing breathing, meditation, yoga, gymnastics. The book above also contains a tutorial on how to breathe during a panic attack and relaxation exercises with muscle tightening and relaxation.5) Physical exercise such as sports is a great cure for depression. Initially, when you are week and have no power, you can start with, for example, smaller walks in nature and later increase your movement to an hour of active daily exercise with interval training.6) Sufficient sleep, that a depressed person may need much more than a healthy and happy person. If you can not fall asleep, then the above mentioned exercises are appropriate and relaxing, where you breathe deeply and tighten and relax each muscle for about 20 minutes.7) Walks outside, especially in nature is soothing and relaxing and contributes to the production of well-being hormones.8) Creative activities have the same effect as being in nature.In this blog I have recommended many books, that talk about health, sports, medicine and psychology, but I have not yet written a review of a book by Matt Haig "Reasons to Stay Alive", that tells about experiencing depression. I recommend reading this, and I will be reflecting the book here soon.Depression can be a one-time disease, but by about half of people it tends to recur. The above mentioned preventive and supportive therapies are usually sufficient to control the disease, but if you feel unwell and nothing seems to work, then first aid is again antidepressants and tranquillizers along with the rest of the treatments and change of lifestyle. So once taking the pills is over, you are already feeling well and it is usually enough to continue with a healthy lifestyle, which includes sports and relaxing therapies. As the tablet therapy contributes roughly 50 percent to the treatment, and the remainder of the treatment is a healthy lifestyle with all the tips, that are mentioned above, people who use pills only and no other treatments, tend to heal more slowly or not to heal at all. And if they get well, the sickness can come back easily.