[ad_1]
Seasonal depression can easily pbad for a big tiredness coupled with a big general tiredness. People who suffer from it suffer from hypersomnia and gain weight. When this state comes back every year, it's time to consult because it's a real disease. Close to the clbadic depression it is accompanied by sadness of mood and loss of pleasure in doing things.
"Without treatment, the quality of life is badly impacted, people are working on a daily basis, but just right now," says Marie-Joelle Stauffer, a psychiatric nurse at Geneva University Hospitals (HUG). She receives patients in the mood disorders unit where complementary therapies to pharmacological treatments are provided.
Jet lag
A beautiful day of summer floods us with a luminosity of an intensity which varies between 50 000 and 100 000 lux and that of a winter day oscillates between 2000 and 20 000 lux. This very important gap between the two seasons destabilizes our hormonal balances. For the majority of us, the synchronization between our internal clock and the external light quality will be done correctly.
Without treatment, the quality of life is badly impacted, people work on a daily basis, but just right.
Marie-Joelle Stauffer nurse specialized in psychiatry at HUG
On the other hand, 3% of the Swiss population have a proven vulnerability, linked to the lack of light, which will thwart this necessary adaptation. They are literally out of time with the outside elements. But the internal clock regulates the hormones of sleep-wake cycles on a circadian rhythm of 24 hours. Disorders of this biological clock expose, among other things, to increased risks of mood disorders. Depending on the severity of the disease, a cure of light therapy may be sufficient or come in addition to drugs.
Under the lamp
Light therapy will help patients improve their mood, provided that the therapy is conducted in the state of the art. Marie-Joelle Stauffer specifies that a therapeutic lamp dispenses 10,000 lux of intensity, without infrared or ultraviolet, to compensate for the lack of brightness. She warns against "lower-intensity lamps that provide just a well-being effect, but are curative inefficient".
The exposure time is 30 minutes, every morning on waking and not later so as not to disturb the sleep-wake cycle. Light is captured by the retina, reaching the brain. Do not wear sunglbades, but keep a distance and do not fix the light. During the first two weeks of treatment, Marie-Joelle Stauffer lends a lamp to the patient and conducts tests to determine the effectiveness of the sessions. She advises against "venturing alone, because it requires explanations and adjustments".
Good advice
The places where we live and work have an influence on our mood. The luminous reverberation of Lake Geneva or the clear sky at altitude have more positive effects than winter fog. However, the behavior is even more decisive. Overall, in winter we tend to cocoon wrongly. We should instead spend time outdoors looking for daylight, at least thirty to forty minutes daily whatever the weather, gray, rainy, whatever. "The lunch break, locked in the cafeteria, it's just not good!" Exclaims laughing Marie-Joelle Stauffer.
"Mood question, I would not say it was day and night"
Lauriane is a journalist. Thirty years old, she suffers from depression and when the autumn is only gray, its state deteriorates. She lives in the district of Morges, at an altitude that deprives her of the immediate luminosity of the lake and too low to overhang the stratus. She decided to testify to highlight the negligence with which the therapist who treated until the beginning of 2018, has prescribed a cure of light therapy doomed to failure. "I think I took everything he gave me as blessed bread," she says.
In agreement with her therapist, she follows the cure from November 2017 to the end of January 2018, in addition to her medications. He lends him a lamp, with only one and only instruction to expose daily for half an hour, but no more, before 10am.
"I remember the immediate beneficial effect at the very moment of exposure. A sensation close to that of the sun on the face on a beautiful day in the middle of winter. But I never felt that my batteries were recharged at once. Mood question, I would not say it was day and night. "Looking back, Lauriane realizes that the light intensity of her lamp is well below the 10,000 lux recommended.
The young woman would eventually agree to try a new course of light therapy with a quality therapeutic supervision. At the same time, she admits, "I'm a little fed up with trying 12,000 things." Nonetheless, she acknowledges that she feels lighter even just by exposing herself to the light of day. having a cruel conscience that "the depression pushes me more to remain grounded".
Source link
