Do you feel sad and melancholic? It's not you, it's autumn's fault

[Inkriql]

WITH THE BEGINNING of autumn, not only do the days get shorter and the weather invites you to stay at home. We also tune into a different mental station, with its advantages and disadvantages. As clarity decreases, we feel a need for recollection, which in creative personalities can coincide with a time of great fertility. After a summer full of stimuli from the outside world, perhaps even with some remarkable trip, it is time to process the experience and give it a new meaning and direction. This is the season of the poets, but also the one of the new academic projects and the talks in the heat of a hot teapot.

Autumn is the time when ideas mature in an environment of serenity and reflection. However, it is also the time of melancholy. Numerous scientific studies have shown the close relationship between light and mood. In fact, it is estimated that in large cities half of the adult po[CENSORED]tion feels a decrease in their energy with the arrival of autumn, in addition to losing interest in social activities. When it affects the normal functioning of our life it is called seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and is characterized by a state of lethargy or even depression. In a study carried out by the Baker Research Institute of Australia, it was shown that reducing solar clarity affects many people in the production of serotonin, po[CENSORED]rly known as the happiness hormone because of its incidence in psychological well-being when it presents a optimal level in neural circuits.

Without suffering a severe APR, the downturn that alters a large number of individuals is mitigated as we adapt to the reduction of light and weather changes. To accelerate this acclimatization, there are a number of measures that will help us fight the autumn blues or the melancholy of autumn. In addition to making the most of the moments of sunlight to go outside, as well as avoiding dark environments using artificial light, another guideline would be to increase physical activity, precisely to raise serotonin levels.
Do you feel sad and melancholic? It's not you, it's autumn's fault
Gorka Olmo

Beyond these two shock measures, the best way to fit the current station is to make friends with it, embracing introspection from a positive point of view. It is not about isolating oneself from the world, but about cultivating our interior to share the fruits with others.

A magnificent example of this deep autumnal spirit - although with a winter aftertaste - is the documentary recently starring Ryuichi Sakamoto entitled Coda. Having been diagnosed with a serious illness, the Japanese composer shares the intimacy of his home and his artistic projects, such as the rescue of a piano in Fukushima after the tsunami, in addition to recalling his musical career.

This vital or retrospective flashback is a typically autumnal activity. The last days of the year, winter calls for new projects, lists of purposes for the future. It is a time of renewal, just as autumn is the season of memory.

"Melancholy is the happiness of being sad," said the writer Victor Hugo, and the truth is that the "autumn leaves" we collect at this time can provide us pleasure while understanding and gratitude for what we have lived.

As long as it does not become a habit that occupies our entire mental space - as in the case of someone caught in the loop of remembering old battles -, melancholy gives us a greater appreciation of the moments lived, some of which only now We are able to value in all its greatness. It is time to see old photographs and put songs that have the ability to make us relive those past episodes. When it does not become chronic, it is a state of mind that awakens memory and allows us to recognize the best of life.

However, there are two possible attitudes from this revival. Passive melancholy causes us to remain anchored in memory and nostalgia, without going beyond. You can install us in the consciousness of the lost, of the good times that will not return. Therefore, it is a passage to sadness and immobility. On the contrary, active melancholy uses the treasures of the past, the dead leaves of summer, as a springboard for future happiness. It reminds us that we can recreate moments of this beauty and intensity, as long as we commit ourselves to live energetically now, planting the seeds of good memories of the future every day.