Every year, when daylight savings ends, I swear all of our brains just shut down. The sun is gone by 5:30pm, motivation goes with it, and suddenly I’m questioning all my life decisions while eating Cup‘Noodles alone in the middle of the night. (Middle of the night, or 7pm? Hard to tell sometimes…)
Turns out there actually is science behind why so many of us feel this way. It’s called Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. Ironic, huh?
SAD is basically our brain’s natural reaction to less exposure to sunlight. As the days get shorter your retina sends less signals to the part of your brain that controls your suprachiasmatic nucleus, a.k.a. your internal clock, your sleep, energy, and mood, are less regulated. When this clock gets out of sync, your melatonin levels spike, making you exhausted all the time, and your serotonin levels drop, making you drained and sad for no apparent reason.
Don’t worry, your seasonal depression is a totally natural phenomenon. Notice how most other mammals hibernate in the winter time? Seasonal depression is your body “preparing for winter”. Even though we don’t need to any- more, this gloomy, drowsy state is still our body’s natural response to conserve energy during the darker months.
The most common treatment for SAD is actually light therapy. Usually people use sun lamps that are about 10,000 lux, which is about 20 times brighter than average indoor lighting.
Lucky for us, we live in California. So if you’re ever severely down in the dumps, force yourself to go for a 20-30 minute walk. I know it’s hard, but it’s truly one of the best things you can do.
When your retina picks up that light and sends signals to your brain, your circadian rhythm can reset and calm your melatonin production.
The sun might be going down earlier, but it will come back up, and so will we. Seasonal depression may be our body’s way of asking for rest, but it’s also proof that we are all connected to something bigger: the rhythm of the planet itself. Also remember that nothing lasts forever, and these feelings will go away.
Take care of yourselves, see y’all next issue.
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