Possible Connections Between Seasonal Depression and Less Exposure to Sunlight
January Issue of Harvard Health Letter Explores the Issue
Lack of light is often blamed for SAD, but the precise way in which fewer hours of and more angular sunlight cause depression in SAD sufferers is still depated by doctors and health researchers.
Researchers theorize that the indoor lighting used in later autumn and winter months might be too weak to stimulate the visual light receptors of SAD sufferers; or they might get "out of phase" with their natural biological rhythms so that they have to be up and about when their brains and bodies want them to be in bed; or that they might have imbalances such that brain processes influenced by serotonin and dopamine are interfered with when there is less light than there is in the spring and summer.
Sometimes light therapy works to help SAD sufferers, but Harvard Health concludes that antidepressants may also help some others.
Other doctors have reported mixed results with the administration of antidepressant drugs to SAD sufferers.
Research has found that one of the very best things almost all SAD sufferers can do to mitigate their condition is to take a morning walk in the outdoors. The scientific theory behind this is that SAD sufferers need to create more vitamin D than the average person, as they need to increase their production of serotonin and melatonin in the brains more than the usual person does. Exposure to sunlight with its UV radiation stimulates the production of vitamin D, which in turn stimulates the production in the body of serotonin and melatonin.
Fair-skinned people will be able to get sufficient doses of winter vitamin D by being outside for only 45 to 60 minutes. People with darker skin who suffer from SAD may need to be outside for up to three hours.
The reason that fair-skinned people have the skin they do is because they emerged in regions of the world where sunlight was not as prevalent, and as a result had to let more sunlight under the skin and into the mesoderm at one time to take advantage of shorter sunlight-exposure times. Needless to say, the flip-side of that coin is that fair-skinned people have to put on extra protection or make sure to expose themselves less to the sun in regions or seasons of more abundant sunlight.
Original Newswire Source:
http://prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/12-17-2007/0004724100&EDATE=
Published by Brant McLaughlin
I am a Writer driven by endless curiosity and a deep desire to waste time creatively. View profile
Sunlight Lowers Risk for Advanced Breast CancerA new study has found that women exposed to sunlight have a lower risk od advanced breast cancer- Seasonal Depression and Light Therapy in WinterSeasonal depression, often called seasonal affective disorder (SAD), is a depression that occurs each year at the same time, usually starting in fall or winter and
Manic Depression and Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)Bipolar is a psychological mood disorder characterized by difficulty in regulating emotions. The winter months provide an additional challenge to those trying to maintain a stab...- Seasonal DepressionWhat you need to know about SAD (Seasonal Affect Disorder), the cause and treatments.
- Seasonal Affective Disorder and Light TherapyA look at how light therapy can be used to treat the symptoms of SAD. Could light therapy be more effective than medication in helping to combat SAD?
- Seasonal Affective Disorder Treatments Offer a Ray of Hope to SAD Sufferers
- How to Tell If Your Seasonal Depression is Really SAD
- How to Counteract Seasonal Depression
- Photo-Periodism: How Plants Respond to Sunlight
- Seasonal Depression
- Polymorphous Light Eruption: A Sensitivity to Sunlight
- Sunlight May Reduce Risk of Multiple Sclerosis