Greetings, dear friends! Even the most cheerful person can find himself in the grip of overwhelming melancholy. Its cause may be tired routine, severe disappointment or rainy autumn weather. It’s worse when sadness suddenly overcomes you for no apparent reason. Time begins to flow more slowly, but a person still manages to do much less useful things.
Finding yourself in such a situation, it is important to know how to get rid of melancholy so as not to waste precious time on meaningless blues. Today we will look at 12 effective ways to quickly regain your good mood. But first, let’s figure out why people are sad and why this condition is dangerous.
Why does sadness arise?
There are quite a few reasons: loneliness, misunderstanding from dear people, a feeling of one’s own unfulfillment, strong disappointment in something or a feeling of loss. There is a certain internal background, even if it seems to a person that melancholy arose for no apparent reason. He may feel misunderstood or unloved, perhaps he has given up on a long-held dream, having come to the conclusion that it cannot be fulfilled.
Longing arises from the feeling that something we desire is not available to us: the opportunity to be with a loved one, self-realization or the fulfillment of an old dream. Sometimes you can even yearn for romantic moments spent with a person for whom your feelings have long faded. Thus, melancholy is the awareness of the unattainability of spiritual comfort.
"Autumn" symptoms of depression
In addition to the standard symptoms of autumn blues, there are also a number of specific features characteristic of this time of year: mood and general condition noticeably worsen in bad weather and with a noticeable decrease in daylight hours.
Federal News Agency / Elizaveta Akimova
At the same time, the symptoms of autumn depression in women and men, although similar, are still slightly different.
What does sadness lead to?
In the Russian language there is an outdated expression “I feel sick”, which implies intense melancholy, from which even one’s well-being deteriorates. This insidious feeling can really affect health and even lead to chronic diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to find a way to get rid of melancholy at the first signs of its appearance.
Melancholy should not be confused with ordinary sadness. Fleeting sadness may arise from a minor upset. Melancholy is a dangerous state. Plunging into a state of melancholy, a person risks significantly aggravating his own situation and falling into prolonged depression.
Symptoms of autumn blues
- Constantly low mood.
- Feelings of sadness, anxiety or guilt.
- Decreased interest in the outside world, loss of motivation at work.
- Apathy, indifference to surrounding people and phenomena.
- Feeling hopeless and losing the ability to experience joy.
You should be wary if at least three of the above symptoms are present and if the depressed state is especially pronounced in the first half of the day, and after 16 hours there is a noticeable improvement.
How to get rid of melancholy: 12 ways
To regain a normal mood, you will need methodical work on both your mood and physical health. Melancholy is usually accompanied by decreased levels of endorphins. Their production can be improved in several ways, including healthy sleep, exercise and entertainment. To quickly get out of a state of melancholy, regardless of its causes, follow the 12 recommendations proposed below.
Regain your strength
Ordinary overwork may well be the main cause of melancholy. If you have worked for a long time without taking a vacation and have depleted your body's reserves, even a small upset can plunge you into a state of depression. The most effective way to recuperate is to rest with a change of scenery. A trip outside the city and a good entertainment program will help to “reboot” the brain and recover.
Start following a daily routine
Healthy sleep, timely nutrition, morning exercises and exercise are the most important elements of a proper daily routine. Create a schedule and start sticking to it. Train yourself to go to bed on time and sleep for at least 7 hours (and no more than 8). In the morning, be sure to do exercises and have breakfast, and constantly drink water in small portions.
Become a better person
Self-development is the most profitable way to spend your free time. By developing your personal qualities, you will not only become a better version of yourself, but also significantly improve your mood, because this process is very inspiring.
Play some sports
Sports exercises are great for invigorating and improving your mood. While at home, you can do a few squats or push-ups, pump up your abs, or stand in a plank at any time. These exercises get the blood pumping, don't require much effort, and can be done without equipment.
But the best sport that does not require special equipment is daily jogging. Running is a natural state for humans, so it does not cause difficulties even for unprepared people. If you need the appropriate environment for discipline, sign up for a gym or swimming pool.
Try extreme entertainment
A great way to get rid of boredom is a parachute jump. You can go to the mountains or take part in river rafting. There are also less extreme options: skiing, ice skating, roller skating, and skateboarding. The main thing is to bring more movement, bright and unusual impressions into your life.
Live for today
Melancholy usually overcomes people living in the past. Some people constantly replay old mistakes in their heads, allowing themselves to be tormented by the pangs of conscience. Others yearn for happy circumstances that they cannot return. In both cases, memories make people unhappy and plunge them into a state of melancholy. The best way to be happy today is to focus on the present and not think about the past.
Review your diet
Proper nutrition involves a wide range of products. Make sure your diet includes fish and seaweed, nuts and seeds, oatmeal and other grains, cheese and dark chocolate, fruits and berries. Regular consumption of these products will improve the condition of the nervous system, which will also affect your mood.
Change your image
Dramatic changes in appearance can improve anyone's mood. Get a new haircut, update your wardrobe, find a way to look more stylish and attractive. Changes will be felt almost immediately. You will notice that people look at you differently. This will not only improve your mood, but also add self-confidence.
Diversify your life
Growing up, we lose our childhood thirst for new experiences and fill our lives with familiar things: work, hobbies, everyday life, monotonous leisure time and standard entertainment. Add bright colors - do something unusual. Go to a cafe or dance, spend the whole day off in the park, go to a water park with your children or friends, visit a museum or watch a new movie.
About despondency, melancholy and laziness
The Optina elders warned against despondency, melancholy, and laziness.
The Monk Ambrose wrote about despondency: “Despondency means the same laziness, only worse. From despondency you will weaken both in body and spirit. I don’t want to work or pray; you go to church with neglect; and the whole man weakens.”
The Monk Barsanuphius described this state as follows:
“Like a plague, like some kind of mental illness, despondency and melancholy attack everyone, life becomes unbearable, you don’t want to do anything.”
Causes of despondency and melancholy
The Monk Ambrose explained in detail what causes despondency, and recalled the words of the holy fathers about melancholy as a spiritual cross:
“Melancholy, according to the testimony of Mark the Ascetic, is a spiritual cross sent to us to cleanse former sins. Melancholy also comes from other reasons: from offended pride or from something that is not done according to our wishes; also from vanity, when a person sees that his equals take advantage of
greater benefits; from difficult circumstances that test our faith in God’s Providence and hope in His mercy and all-powerful help. But we are often poor in faith and hope, and that’s why we languish.”
The elder explained that despondency, this difficult spiritual cross, is made up of inconveniences that surround a person and prevent the fulfillment of what he wants:
“This is one of the difficult spiritual crosses that are sent to those who want to be saved and sometimes to those who do not want to. Your melancholy is made up of inconveniences that surround you and prevent you from achieving what you want.”
The Monk Anthony wrote that the cause of despondency may be a lack of prayer and spiritual reading:
“You pray to God little and rarely read, I regret that, because you have time for everything else, but you don’t have it for prayer and reading. This is why you feel despondency and melancholy, and anxiety about your unknown, and distrust. And when you remain in prayer more often and place your sorrow in everything on the Lord God and trust in His all-powerful help, then He will calm your soul.”
A vicious circle arises when a person who has abandoned the rule of prayer and spiritual reading loses grace, becomes despondent and can no longer force himself to pray or read spiritual books.
“How inevitable autumn and winter are…”
The Monk Ambrose wrote that despondency and spiritual melancholy are inevitable, just as autumn and winter are inevitable:
“You complain about spiritual darkness. To this I answer you with the words of the Monk Macarius of Egypt, who says that the human body is created from the earth, and for the earth to produce fruits, it requires not only spring and summer, but also autumn and winter and not always clear weather, but also rain alternately. If the weather was always hot, then everything would burn; if it always rained, then everything would rot. Also, not only strong winds are needed, but at times even storms to carry rotten and infectious stagnation of air into rotten places.”
Dejection and melancholy are heavy for the human soul, like shocks, but without shocks a Christian cannot bear spiritual fruit:
“Such shocks are necessary for a Christian man wearing an earthen body with which his immortal soul is connected. Without such shocks, a Christian not only cannot bear spiritual fruit, but can perish from being lifted up, which is what happened to the fallen angels. So, it is better for us to humble ourselves in the face of our weaknesses and shortcomings, asking for mercy from the Lord through His only mercy.”
How to deal with despondency, melancholy, laziness
Is it possible to fight despondency or just endure it like a spiritual cross? The Elders of Optina explained that one must fight despondency through feasible labor, psalmody and prayer. If the despondency does not go away or only weakens somewhat, then you need to be patient.
Rev. Leo to the question “How to get rid of the oppression of the spirit of despondency?” answered like this:
“You are probably drawn to him by your own will. If you leave self-discipline and begin every undertaking with God’s blessing, then with the blessing you will reap peace of mind and other fruits of the Holy Spirit. If you completely abandon your will, you will never feel the oppressive darkness of despondency.
...Despondency haunts everyone; even in great people it destroys the saving fruits of sobriety. But in a simple and true novice this should not take place. Whoever has denied himself with trust in God, why will he become depressed? In such an enemy, weapons will eventually run out.”
In response to a letter about melancholy and despondency, Elder Leo advised asking God for help, praying, being patient and not being idle:
“What to do with this, you need to endure, pray to God, ask for help from Him, do handicrafts and not be in idleness, from which not only boredom, but also many vices come.”
The Monk Anthony taught to warm up your spirit with spiritual reading, the memory of eternity, and prayer:
“You complain that you are restless in spirit and absent-minded. In this case, you should not relax at all, but warm up your spirit, either with spiritual reading, or with the memory of eternity, or with a prayer, albeit short, saying to the Lord: “Gather my scattered mind, O Lord, and humble my hardened heart with Thy fear and have mercy on me!” For we are not strong enough to do anything without God’s help; we can’t even deal with flies, let alone invisible enemies.”
The same spiritual medicines were prescribed by the Monk Macarius:
“...I offer advice against despondency: patience, psalmody and prayer.”
The Monk Ambrose also advised using work and prayer, patience and humility to combat despondency. As was his custom, the elder instructed his children with apt and figurative sayings:
“Boredom is despondency for a grandson, and laziness is a daughter.
To drive it away, work hard in action, don’t be lazy in prayer, then boredom will pass and zeal will come. And if you add patience and humility to this, you will save yourself from many evils.” The Monk Ambrose taught when we are despondent to think that we are not worthy of anything better, which immediately makes us feel relieved from the battle:
“When the blues come, don’t forget to reproach yourself; remember how much you are guilty before the Lord and before yourself, and realize that you are unworthy of anything better, and you will immediately feel relief. It is said: many are the tribulations of the righteous; and: many wounds for sinners. Such is our life here: all sorrows and sorrows; and it is through them that the Kingdom of Heaven is achieved. When you are restless, repeat more often: seek peace and get married.”
Elder Ambrose also offered to help with sadness, melancholy and despondency by reading the letters of St. John Chrysostom to his spiritual child Deaconess Olympias:
“To help you get rid of unaccountable sadness, I advise you to read the letters of St. Chrysostom to the Olympiad... If you are able to apply what is written there to your circumstances, you will receive great spiritual benefit.”
The Monk Joseph wrote to the despondent child:
“Abstain from absent-mindedness and idle talk by working with the Jesus Prayer, and save yourself from despondency by crying over your sins.”
Elder Barsanuphius instructed to drive away despondency in every possible way and tell your spiritual mentor about it:
“You need to reproach yourself for your weaknesses and humble yourself, but in every possible way drive away despondency and relaxation. No matter what happens, you don’t need to be discouraged, but tell the elder everything.”
Don't give in to temptation
Sometimes a person, tormented by despondency, even refuses to visit the temple of God and receive communion under the pretext of his unworthiness. This should not be done under any circumstances. This is a demonic temptation. The Monk Macarius instructed the despondent man, who wrote that he was unworthy to receive communion:
“You complain of despondency and hopelessness, due to which you consider yourself unworthy of priesthood and communion of the holy mysteries. About this, as much as I could, I personally talked with you and now I will say for your consolation: who would dare to consider himself worthy of such great service to the majesty of the glory of God and communion of His most pure mysteries of body and blood?
The elder recalled the words of Saints Basil the Great and John Chrysostom:
“When the great men and saints Basil the Great and John Chrysostom, not with the edge of their tongues, but with the feeling of their hearts, cried out to the Lord, the first: “We know, Lord, that I unworthily partake of Your most pure body and Your honorable blood”; second: “We know that you are not worthy, but come under my roof,” then what can we say or think about ourselves?
Such advice was given by the Optina elders to combat despondency, melancholy and laziness. It is useful to always have the instructions of the Optina elders at hand and re-read them if necessary.
You need negative ions!
Dr. Michael Terman of Columbia University Medical Center found that exposing seasonal depression sufferers to negative ions could reduce depressive symptoms by 48 percent. This may be because negative ions increase serotonin levels. In winter there are very few negative ions. This is due to central heating, stuffiness, and fluorescent lighting, which produces a large number of positive air ions. The simplest ways to increase the concentration of negative ions are to ventilate the room more often, install a humidifier and an air ionizer.
It's more fun for those who don't sit still quietly
The sad mood that we often experience in winter is associated with a lack of the hormone serotonin in the body.
The days become shorter and less serotonin is produced. Researchers at Princeton University found that rhythmic movements, such as swinging your leg, tapping your fingers, or chewing gum, increase serotonin production. So in winter it’s better to be restless and move more often. It is also worth paying attention to nutrition and adding more foods to your diet that promote the production of serotonin. Dr. Caroline Longmore, author of The Serotonin Secret, suggests paying attention to the following foods: turkey, bean sprouts, asparagus sprouts, sunflower seeds, lobster, cottage cheese, pineapple, tofu, spinach, bananas.
Symptoms of autumn depression in women
- Guilt.
- Yearning.
- Fear, causeless anxiety.
- Increased fatigue.
- Increased emotionality, tearfulness.
- Sleep disorders, insomnia.
- Sudden mood swings.
- Cravings for flour and sweets, which causes women to overeat in the autumn-winter period and contributes to excess weight gain.
Autumn depression can be mild, moderate and severe. You can fight a mild form on your own, but in more severe conditions it is better to consult a specialist. The main criterion here is the presence of criticism of one’s own condition. If you realize that your melancholy is temporary, that it’s just bad weather, that you need to sleep or eat something tasty and everything will pass, then you can control your condition yourself. But if you don’t see any improvement at all, it seems to you that improvement will never come, then it’s better to see a doctor, and not necessarily a psychiatrist right away – you can start with a psychologist or a specialist in neuroses.
Autumn depression in men
In men, autumn depression manifests itself with slightly different symptoms, including the following: anger, boredom, self-pity and irritability. At the same time, men, as a rule, act on the principle of “knock out fire with fire” and try to throw themselves into work at this time. And here, oddly enough, autumn depression can serve them well. Men become more assertive and persistent in achieving their goals, which is usually noted by their superiors and contributes to career growth. The main thing here is not to overpress the spring, so as not to break from excessive loads.
The main thing to remember is that alcohol does not help cope with depression, but only contributes to feelings of guilt, which only worsens the blues. This rule also applies to women.
§3. Conversation with Natasha (Marusya, Anyuta)
Raising the mood with friends is much more fun. The main thing here is to force yourself to dial the phone number. And that's it - off we go! You can describe your depression in general terms and in detail, say what you think about “This”, “This” and “These”, without being shy about epithets. When the conversation gradually turns to her unemployed Nikita (those who are looking for work), her abnormal neighbor Angela and her mother-in-law who has come to visit, you realize that you, in general, are the happiest person! And she needs to improve her mood, not you.
Seaweed will help in the fight against melancholy
Phenylethylamine, found in large quantities in blue-green algae, is an essential mood-lifting chemical. Here's what nutritionist Kirsten Brooks says about phenylethylamine: “Phenylethylamine is the starting compound for some natural neurotransmitters. It stimulates the production of serotonin in the body and prolongs its lifespan. Consumption of blue-green algae as a biological supplement allows you to quickly recover from depression.”
§3. Job
Not homework or creativity, but work, your professional responsibilities, where the end result is very important.
Preparing a package of documents for the client, developing a project, decorating the premises, and finally. The time spent will not correspond to the quality of the final product. The mood needs to be lifted before starting work. In itself, a bad mood is not the end of the world. And anyway, who said that the mood is bad and that others need to do it? It is enough to change your attitude towards him.
Gloomy rainy evening. Or maybe he is mysteriously purple? Pearl gray? Soft lilac? It's up to you.
Author and expert: Alexey Vostrov .
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§15. Bed day (has nothing to do with sex!)
To use this method of improving your mood, you must have enough free time - at least half a day. Better - day. Having previously turned off all phones, you sleep, sleep, sleep. As long as possible. The rest of the day you flit between the sofa, refrigerator and TV. Changing clothes (in this case, pajamas) and hygiene procedures are not encouraged. But only one day! The use of the above method of normalizing mood can be combined with points 2, 3, 4, 13.
