Feeling overwhelmed? The late spring is to blame

2023-04-23 17:05:00

Pharmacist Goda Papaurelytė of “Gintarinės vaistinės”.

Overwork or burnout – these are the states that people name more and more recently. According to specialists, late spring and working from home can become the cause of a psychological health crisis.

According to psychologist Rosita Pipirienė, February is considered emotionally and physically one of the most difficult months of the year, and the situation is made even worse by late spring – then people’s depressing condition lasts longer.

“In the spring, there is an aggravation of exhaustion, overwork and even physiological diseases that are related to psychological exhaustion. Why is this happening? Because man is a part of nature. Naturally, the body is exhausted after the winter, sick with viruses, and such a relapse is also very dangerous emotionally. All emotional energy and resources are then devoted to maintaining the physiological body. For example, huddling to walk because it’s cold. Instead of dedicating vital energy to creativity, joy of life, love, it is used to maintain the body and avoid “falling out”. I always tell patients to remember that your psychological resources are doing a tremendous job trying to keep the body healthy both physiologically and psychologically,” she comments.

Go to nature

When talking about how to prepare for this period, the psychologist says that, first of all, you should beware of overwork and burnout that comes with it, you should sleep enough, eat well and be in the fresh air more.

“The main thing to do is to catch spring in nature. It is like therapy – we have to see the blossoms unfolding, because the blossom itself is life, the greatest concentrate of energy. Because of this, when spring comes, people run to the forest to see fireflies and snowmen. If there is no forest near you, then buy flowers that spread and soak them in the room. It is important to spend as much time as possible in nature – it is not necessary to exercise very actively, you can go out and smell how the earth, grass and buds smell like new”, advises R. Pipirienė.

According to her, the worst thing is that the mental load in the spring both when working and studying just increases – new projects, payments, etc. begin. Although a person is not yet ready for it either physically or psychologically.

“Not returning to physical work also contributes to increasing complaints of exhaustion – a person does not even go out to the car, does not pass through fresh air and cannot breathe in the smell of spring. When a person works from home for a long time, he does not even feel the recovery of nature, so how can he physically recover himself? The human psyche still remains in the apathy of winter. Working from home is convenient, you can work from anywhere in the world, but you need to be very careful with it. If spring were early, 50 percent these exhaustions wouldn’t even exist,” the psychologist is convinced.

He asks for valerian preparations

Pharmacist Goda Papaurelytė of “Gintarinės vaistinės” agrees, saying that she also feels an increase in people complaining of emotional problems. More and more people visiting the pharmacy are looking for preparations for stress, anxiety and insomnia.

“Young people are not inclined to talk about problems, few people talk about what causes stress. When asked about stimuli, the most common answer is that there is little that does not cause stress these days. Work and the military situation in the world are mentioned most often. And why don’t people talk to us about such problems? Because it’s in a hurry. It’s rare that when you come to a pharmacy, you want to stay there for more than 5 minutes. When they see a long queue, they don’t even go to the pharmacy anymore and prefer to order medicines online at home. Usually, patients ask for an effective preparation to help overcome stress, insomnia and anxiety. It is often mentioned that many preparations have been tried, nothing helped, they ask for “something stronger”, she says.

The pharmacist adds that sales of valerian preparations have increased significantly, as they are still the most popular and best known among patients – they help to calm down, fall asleep faster and improve the quality of sleep.

“Valerian should be used with caution, however, as its effects are quite strong and when used in higher concentrations every day, it can cause headaches or dizziness in some people. In addition, valerian is not recommended for pregnant and lactating women,” points out G. Papaurelytė.

For those experiencing stress and anxiety, the pharmacist primarily recommends herbal preparations such as passionflower or ashwagandha – these are natural anxiolytics that have a stress-relieving effect.

“It is also possible to choose complex supplements, in which you can find the extracts of the mentioned plants and others, such as gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), magnesium, vitamin B6 or 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP). However, you should not rely solely on the drugs purchased at the pharmacy, as lifestyle has a very large influence on dealing with psychological problems”, notes G. Papaurelytė.

In small steps

According to the pharmacist, the most important thing is to change the lifestyle in small steps, and the most important thing is to find stress triggers and try to eliminate them.

“People who experience anxiety are more prone to a sedentary lifestyle, so you can start with increased physical activity – if you use public transport, get off a stop or two earlier, go for a walk around the residential area in your free time, or start going to classes after choosing an interesting sport. During physical activity, you relax, and the released happy hormones improve your mood. Breathing exercises can also be used to reduce anxiety – the latter method is quite popular at the moment,” she says.

According to G. Papaurelytė, nutrition is also an important factor in the development of anxiety and stress, so it is advisable to eat regularly and include more fiber-rich food. A higher amount of energy obtained with quality food will give more strength, a person will not feel weighed down and will feel better during the day. In addition, one should not forget to reduce the consumption of caffeine and alcohol as much as possible.

“Maintaining a constant circadian rhythm is particularly important for human health and emotional state: the body, responding to the routine, adjusts all hormonal activity accordingly, so you should go to bed and get up at the same time throughout the week. In the evening, at least 2-3 hours. before going to sleep, it is advised to give up electronic devices that emit blue light or at least use blue light filters – the concentration of the most important sleep hormone melatonin in the blood increases in response to darkness, so if a person is in light until the moment when he goes to sleep, it is likely that he will fall asleep more difficult”, explains the pharmacist of “Gintarinės vaistinės”.

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