The seasonal shift

By WeightWatchers

Published 7 September, 2017

Weight Watchers reveals the date when the seasonal shift begins to weigh on Brits’ minds… and bodies

September 18^thpredicted as the day when Brits’ lifestyles change
Brits frustrated by the weight of autumn – with 40 per cent of Brits gaining more than 5 pounds
54 per cent agree they are more conscious of their bodies in the summer months – with Brits citing they will ‘just deal with’ autumn winter weight gain in the New Year
Weight Watchers launch expert Guide to Owning Autumn to help Brits maintain healthy lifestyle and mindset during the cooler months

5^th September 2017 – Working with psychologist Professor Geoff Beattie, leading weight management brand Weight Watchers has identified that 18th September is the date when the seasonal shift begins to impact Brits’ lives.

The ‘Autumn Outlook Algorithm’ has been determined by Professor Beattie based on external factors that influence behaviour: weather, nature, light, societal timetables, food, TV, clothing, media, behaviour, mood, exercise, outdoor and time pressures (see Appendix).

Professor Beattie comments: “In meteorological terms, autumn begins on September 1st . Astronomers, on the other hand, date autumn on the basis of the autumnal equinox when night and day are roughly the same length – in the UK, this will occur on the 22^nd September. However, neither of these dates may correspond with our psychological thoughts and feelings that autumn is now starting. There are a number of factors that may influence how we feel about whether autumn has begun.”

The predicted date is supported by consumer research commissioned by Weight Watchers of 2,500 Brits, which finds that two in five (40 per cent) Brits will gain more than 5 pounds during the autumn (44 per cent of men vs. 35 per cent of women). With only one in five Brits (21 per cent) saying they will not put on weight during the cooler months.

Many Brits (43 per cent) are frustrated by the weight that they put on during the autumn months – women more so than men (53 per cent women vs. 35 per cent men). This figure rises to two in three (66 per cent) of mums with primary aged children surveyed. Although 13 per cent of each sample group said they’d ‘just deal with it in January’.

To help counteract the seasonal shift, Weight Watchers has released its Guide to Owning Autumn, encouraging Brits to embrace Autumn and set goals to continue a healthy lifestyle.

The online Guide has been launched ahead of September 18^th and is curated by health, food and wellness experts, as well as social media influencers and real-life Weight Watchers members. It is designed to equip people with tips, tricks, motivation and support to get through a period that is often associated with relaxing healthy habits set during the summer months, when weight-loss is typically higher on the agenda.

Professor Beattie comments: “The transition between seasons can have a major effect on our psychological state, including our mood, our behaviour and our patterns of thinking. All of which can result in changes to our behaviour; from what we reach for to eat, to our propensity to exercise, which can result in an increase in our weight.'

“Of course, there is also the very positive side to the start of autumn. As summer departs and there is a dip in temperature this provides many people with a sudden burst in energy, free from the sluggishness of summer. This gives many people the push to try new things with added zest.”

As we transition into autumn, many believe there is less pressure to keep their weight down because they can wear layers and baggier clothing (32 per cent gen pop and 53 per cent mums). This is in contrast to the warmer months, whereby more than half (54 per cent) are more conscious of their body because it is on show more – rising to 68 per cent of women and three quarters of mums (76 per cent).

Two in five (39 per cent) say they eat more in the cooler months, with half (48 per cent) turning more regularly to comfort foods and more takeaways (19 per cent), and drinking more alcohol (19 per cent). Just one in five (21 per cent) disagreed with the statement that they felt less motivation to go to the gym or workout during the cooler months.

With the change of season coinciding with the end of summer holidays – for adults and children alike – Professor Beattie comments: “The end of the school holidays signals the end of summer for many people, and not just families with children. This has an immediate effect on psychological aspects of most of our lives in a number of very obvious ways – time becomes more structured, traffic in cities can become more hectic with the school rush leading to higher levels of stress, and there is now less free time available to do social and recreational activities.”

For mums in particular, their own health is often put on the backburner at the expense of busy family schedules: three in five (58 per cent) say that their child’s routine impacts their own ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle, with half (48 per cent) saying they find it hard to find the motivation to exercise around their child’s busy schedule.

Zoe Griffiths, Head of Programme and Public Health at Weight Watchers, comments: “For many Brits, the shift in season will bring with it a change in outlook – a recognition that maintaining a healthy lifestyle is going to be more difficult. Our research found that to keep track of their health and fitness in the cooler months, Brits want access to cheaper healthier foods, guidance on healthier foods and on fitness, as well as support from friends and family.

“With food, activity and wellbeing deeply engrained in the Weight Watchers philosophy, we have designed the new Guide to Owning Autumn to provide motivation, support and easy-to-follow guidance to help members and non-members throughout the cooler months.”

The Weight Watchers Guide to Owning Autumn is available online and will be updated regularly throughout the autumn months. The Guide will include easy home workouts for cold days, budget-friendly healthy recipes, tips for accessible mindfulness and more. For more visit: https://www.weightwatchers.com/uk/our-guide-to-owning-autumn

– Ends –
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Notes to Editors

About Weight Watchers International, Inc.
Weight Watchers International, Inc. is the world’s leading commercial provider of weight management services, operating globally through a network of Company-owned and franchise operations. Weight Watchers holds more than 32,000 meetings each week where members receive group support and learn about healthy eating patterns, behaviour modification and physical activity. Weight Watchers provides innovative, digital weight management products through its websites, mobile sites and apps. Weight Watchers is the leading provider of paid digital subscription weight management products in the world. Weight Watchers offers a wide range of food products, publications and programmes for those interested in a healthier lifestyle.

Weight Watchers was ranked number 1 in U.S. News 2017 Best Diets Ranking for Best Fast Weight-Loss Diet, Best Weight-Loss Diet, Easiest to Follow and Best Commercial Diet Plan. U.S. News & World Report is the global authority in rankings and consumer advice, offering rankings of 38 diet plans across nine categories. To calculate the rankings, U.S. News consulted an expert panel of top nutritionists, dietary consultants and physicians specialising in diabetes, heart health and weight loss.

Appendix

Autumn Outlook Algorithm
Professor Geoffrey Beattie
Edge Hill University

We know that the seasons have a major effect on our psychological state, including our mood, our behaviour and our patterns of thinking. But when do the seasons actually change from a psychological perspective? When does summer end and autumn begin in terms of how we think and feel? Autumn, marking the end of summer, heralds winter and darker, wetter and colder days ahead and for most a major change in lifestyle, but can we work out exactly when we feel it starts? Here I try to provide an attempt at an answer in terms of some of the factors that might influence this.

In meteorological terms, autumn begins, of course, on September 1st as each season is defined on the basis of a three-month period. Astronomers, on the other hand, date autumn on the basis of the autumnal equinox when night and day are roughly the same length. In the UK, this occurs on the 22^nd September. But neither of these dates may correspond with our psychological thoughts and feeling that autumn is now starting. There are a number of factors that may influence how we feel about whether autumn has begun. These can be grouped into a number of different categories. I offer a suggestion about the relative importance of each one with a weighting factor to calculate the psychological start of autumn taking into account these weighting factors. This, of course, is subjective, and will vary from one person to another, but there, nevertheless, may be some general features that are rarely considered.

Weather (‘wea’, weighting 7): The weather clearly influences how we feel about whether autumn has started or not. In 2016, temperatures were high in September and we had something of an Indian summer with autumn, in many people’s eyes, apparently delayed. In 2017, on the other hand, August has largely been wet with many people complaining that summer finished much earlier this year. Specific weather features which seem to influence people’s perception of the arrival of autumn would be the first frost of the year, a chill in the air at night, wind strength, amount of rain etc. The interaction of some of these features, for example, wind and rain are likely to be very significant.

The weather is very important psychologically, and it does have an important influence on both mood state and behaviour. Mathew Keller from the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics and Barbara Fredrickson from the Department of Psychology, the University of Michigan and colleagues writing in Psychological Science in 2005 reviewed some of the evidence on the effects of changes in the weather on human mood and cognition. They considered research which demonstrates that exposure to sunlight immediately improves both mood and cognition, and also the evidence that artificial sunlight generated by a very bright light can also improves mood and serotonin level (this, of course, is the basis for treatment for Seasonal Affective Disorder). They conducted original research to test whether spending time outdoors is an important factor in how weather influences us - the problem being that as the weather worsens we spend more and more time indoors, so any mood effects could be attributable to either or both of these factors (weather/time outdoors) acting alone, or in combination. Their conclusion was 'both the amount of time people spend outdoors and the season moderate weather's effect on mood and cognition.' When the weather was good those who spent more time outdoors (more than 30 minutes a day) had more positive moods, but those who spent less than 30 minutes outside had more negative moods when the weather improved (presumably wishing they themselves were outside). For those who spent more than 30 minutes outdoors, better weather was associated with better memory (with higher digit spans, which is the number of digits that people can repeat immediately after hearing a string of digits) and more flexible patterns of thinking.

Daniel Lagace-Seguin and Robert Coplan from Carleton University writing in the Canadian Journal of Research in Early Childhood in 2001 reported that weather also has a significant effect on the mood on children's mood state, with clear implications for the family as a whole. Interestingly, one of the strongest effects they reported was for wind speed, stronger winds were associated with less positive emotional state.

Average temperature for September decreases slowly across the month in the U.K. In 2016, there was a small but consistent change in the middle of the month from the 17th onwards. From a weather point of view, it might be reasonable, therefore, to conclude that autumn effectively starts a few days later on the 19th September (with variability from year to year).

Given the effects of weather on mood, activity and time outdoors, it would seem reasonable to consider these three related factors separately in formulating the equation to work out when autumn starts. The season may influence how we feel and act, but it also works the other way around – how we feel (mood) and act (activity level, being outdoors) will also influence how ‘autumnal’ or ‘summery’ the day feels. In my book ‘Get the Edge: How Simple Changes Can Transform Your Life’ (Headline), I reviewed some of the evidence that exercise is indeed one of the most effective ways of elevating mood state.
Nature (‘nat’, weighting 5): Various aspects of the natural world are powerful signs of the approach of autumn. Many people think that the first blackberries are a good sign of autumn, although they can often start to ripen in July. Others see trees losing their leaves as the most significant sign of autumn, or certain species of birds starting to migrate. These all happen at different times. Again, from a psychology perspective, there are potentially different signs operating here, in more complex ways. When it comes to trees losing their leaves, we would potentially need to weigh up the effects of strong winds visibly blowing the leaves of trees, trees becoming barer in terms of leaves, leaves accumulating on the ground, the cracking sound as we walk on dry leaves, as all potentially important but separate symbols of autumn.

There is going to be significant variation depending upon location in the UK. but when it comes to the obvious signs of nature changing, autumn likely starts towards the end of the month (25^th September).
Light (‘lig’, weighting 7): The autumnal equinox occurs on the 21st September, three weeks after the meteorological start of autumn and represents the astronomical start of autumn. It signals shorter hours of daylight and is a very powerful indicator of the start of autumn and winter approaching. This is likely to have a major psychological effect because of the relationship between light level and mood. Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is a combination of biological factors and mood disturbances, display a seasonal pattern and this typically occurs in the autumn and winter with remission in the spring and summer. Estimates of the prevalence of Seasonal Affective Disorder do vary but some sampling procedures suggest that it can affect 10% of the population in northern latitudes. Rosenthal et al. 1984 writing in the Archives of General Psychiatry explain that many people who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder report hypersomnia, overeating, and the craving of carbohydrates, so this disturbance in mood clearly influences other aspects of our behaviour including activity and eating. Research has shown that treatment using bright environmental light which is capable of suppressing the hormone melatonin can alleviate the depressive symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder. Rosenthal et al. (1986) writing in the Journal of Neural Transmission outlined the hypothesis that the hormone melatonin mediates the relationship between light level and the mood disturbances shown in Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Start of autumn according to perceived light level – probably shortly after the autumn equinox (24^th September).
Societal timetables (‘st’, weighting 6): in 2017, most schools officially start on the 5^th September. The end of the school holidays is a major indicator of the end of summer and the beginning of autumn for many people, and not just families with children. This has an immediate effect on psychological aspects of most of our lives in a number of very obvious ways - time becomes more structured, traffic in cities can become more hectic with the school rush leading to higher levels of stress, and there is now less free time available to do social and recreational things. Of course, this is also confounded with the end (for most) of the holiday season and there is now less to look forward to in the coming weeks – while Christmas still seems like a long time off. Holidays produce a positive elevation in mood state for a period after they finish but the more positive mood state starts to return to normal after a few weeks. The fact that back-to-school adverts start a number of weeks in advance of the new term commencing is often a sharp reminder that the 'summer' is relatively brief and already coming to an end, and acts as a pre-signal of the start of autumn.

From a societal timetable point of view, autumn would be perceived as starting on the 7^th September, as the new school term starts.
Food (‘f’, weighting 4): Our diet of course changes between summer and winter and autumn marks the transition. In summer, we tend to consume more fruit and salads, even though fruit 'in season' is becoming a thing of the past. In summer, supermarkets are also stocked with barbecue equipment, encouraging us to eat out in the fresh air. Advertisements for Christmas produce start earlier and earlier in the autumn, with reports of some supermarkets stocking Christmas foods, like mince pies with Christmas decorations, in the first week of September.

Food seems to closely correspond with school term, and ‘back to the routine’, therefore, autumn is probably perceived in terms of food as starting towards the end of that first week of school, around 10^thSeptember.
TV (‘tv’, weighting 4): this is a major influence on the structure and organisation of family life (even with the widespread use of personal tech like tablets, phones, game consoles and computers) and, of course, a significant incentive to stay indoors: autumn is the season when all the television networks launch their new series (e.g. ‘Great British Bake Off’, ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, ‘The X Factor’). The summer season of repeats comes to an end and television programming changes. Many of the new series are trailed well in advance. A number of the new series most years are food related, including this year 'The Great British Bake Off' which starts on August 29th. New Autumn schedule begin around 8^th September, thus signalling the start of autumn.
Clothing (‘clo’, weighting 4): the beginning of autumn is often a time of uncertainty about what to wear as the weather and light start to change and the colours of nature change. We think that the seasons influence how we dress, but again it works both ways - once we start dressing differently this has a significant subconscious effect on how we think about what we can and should do. Once we start wearing layers of clothing or thicker clothing (and boots instead of sandals, jumpers instead of t-shirts), this affects our behaviour. It also affects how we think about our body - it is now less visible and therefore not necessarily at the forefront of our mind in terms of planned exercise.

Research by Hamilton and colleagues from the University of Loughborough reported in the Annals of Human Biology in 2008, which involved studying adults in the UK wearing pedometers and recording daily step counts, demonstrated (as one might well expect) that amount of activity decreases significantly in the winter compared to the summer with autumn necessarily marking the transition in our activity levels.

In terms of clothing, autumn would appear to be closely linked to school/work activity and therefore start early, say the week after the start of term, around the 13th September.
Media (‘med’, weighting 3): how the media represent the current season is likely to be a significant influence on our behaviour and emotions, and not necessarily at a conscious level. The media can influence our attitude and feelings towards the seasons (and help denote which season that we’re in) through the types of ads run on television, through the nature of television programming itself, and through various types of symbolic representations of the seasons, in terms of the types of food that are advertised, the decline of hay fever and allergy medicines to be replaced by cold and flu remedies, ads for school clothing, comfort food featured in cookery shows etc. There is also the importance of linguistic factors with the labelling of the new ‘autumn’ TV schedule. All of these symbolic factors can influence how we think about the seasons and the beginning of autumn. Again, linked to school/work cycle, autumn probably begins on the 6^th September.
Behaviour (‘beh’, weighting 7): all of the factors so far have significant psychological effects on us as individuals, as time becomes more pressing with the holidays over and schools starting, as we start to feel the chill in the night air, as it starts to get dark earlier, as new series begin on the television, as we start to pack our summer clothes away, as we are reminded more and more in the media about the new season and as our positive mood begins to return to normal after the holidays, we make many individual choices about going out less, perhaps exercising less, being less sociable and seeing friends less, staying in more and watching television. Our own habitual behaviour has a profound effect on how we think and how we feel and this behaviour in turn, in response to all of these external factors, some meteorological, some astronomical, some cultural, some symbolic, plays a major role in terms of our perception of seasons, and the timing of when exactly autumn begins.

I would suggest a slight lag here between the school/work change and behaviour, with autumn beginning in terms of some behavioural changes about two weeks after school starts (20th September).
Mood (‘mood’, weighting 7): our mood state, influenced by many of these other factors, does change for many people between summer and winter, the first hints of this change in mood state will be in the autumn, and help to define the season. This is probably most closely linked to light level, weather and activity, and therefore autumn probably begins around the 21^stSeptember.
Exercise (‘exer’, weighting 6): our exercise level may start to change in autumn to produce the summer/winter differences reported. This is probably linked to time constraints of school/work and the fact that it gets dark earlier (likely perceived start of autumn 23^rd September).
Outdoors (‘out’, weighting 5): Time spent outdoors starts to decrease with work and school back, changing weather, and less light in the evening. Autumn probably begins around 24^th September.
Time pressure (‘tp’, weighting 5): autumn is much less relaxed than summer and sets constraints on a number of aspects of behaviour. This is clearly linked to school/work patterns. Perceived start of autumn: 15^th September.

The formula was devised on the basis of a desktop review of psychological literature to identify the factors that influence our psychological judgments about the start of autumn, and then giving each of these factors a possible individual start date. Each factor was then weighted in terms of judged relative influence, again guided by the extant psychological literature. The final outcome was the weighted average of the 13 individual dates included in the equation

The psychological transition to Autumn is a function of all of these 13 items, some (subjectively) weighted as more important than others.

Autumn Outlook Algorithm =

Σ [date (d) x weighting]
Σ [weighting]

= [7 x (dwea + dlig + dbeh + dmood)] + [6 x (dst + dexer)] + [5 x (dnat + dout + dtp)] + [4 x (df + dtv + dclo)] + [3 x (dmed)]
Σ (weighting) = 70

= 18^th September