Do you want to do nothing, apart from being wrapped up in blankets or in bed, and above all a desire for sweets or carbohydrates that have become incessant in recent times? Addiction to sweets?
Want to fill your pantry with chocolate bars, prepared for hot chocolate, sweets and crap of various kinds? Lack of energy, difficult awakening, so-so mood?

It can all be caused by Seasonal Affective Disorder, also called seasonal depression. And, even if it makes us think of winter, in reality it can also happen in summer, or in spring.
Which is no excuse for four-jawed eating, but it is something we can take into account if our addiction to sweets makes itself felt insistently and out of the ordinary.

In fact, this disorder affects 10 to 20% of the world population , and in particular is felt in winter, also due to the lack of sunlight. The result? We crave high-carb foods, from pizza to chips to the big dessert chapter. Addiction to sweets is in fact one of the most common symptoms, especially in women, who already have a predilection for sweet taste.

SEASONAL AFFECTIVE DISORDER.
Because it causes addiction to sweets.

But how does this Seasonal Affective Disorder create the addiction to sweets? Because serotonin regulates our need for carbohydrates, when we have low levels of serotonin we can feel more sugar hungry, simple.

The cold seasons are those in which the levels of serotonin drop, while in the summer, with more hours of light, we have higher levels of serotonin. According to Dr. Normal Rosenthal, a researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health, “carbohydrates give us energy, and improve the mood of those suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder.” Clearly, this risks aggravating the weight buildup typical of colder seasons.

• How to get out? Let’s see 5 ways to improve the situation right away.

• A little tip concerns the lighting of our homes. From the afternoon, we use warm lights, for example using red bulbs for some areas of the house, those of rest or the sitting area, such as these .
• There are also programs that we can download to adjust the light of monitors and TVs, from cold to warm as the evening arrives, such as Flux.
• Filling up on foods rich in B vitamins and doing daily aerobic activities also help reduce the problem. Turkey meat, legumes, brown rice, barley or rice malt, fish, eggs, ricotta or milk are indicated.
• In the morning we try to stay in environments full of natural light. We open the windows, if possible we go on foot when the weather permits.
• And if that were not enough, we use some melatonin, to be taken already in the afternoon, it could help us to feel the effects of this disorder less. Who can, check the levels of vitamin D with blood tests: if it is low or insufficient, seek a supplement immediately.