For a handful of people winter puts a smile on their face and puts them into a good mood, but for so many more the winter days will darken your mood. According to a clinical psychology professor at Columbia University, Michael Terman Ph.D, the lack of light can lead to a case of the blues.
- Activity is Sparked by Light – That morning sunlight beaming through your window and reaching your eyelids will activate the millions of light receptor cells located in your retinas. Included in those are the ipRGCs (intrinsic photosensitive retinal ganglion cells), which provide your brain with a morning jolt.
- The Looming Dark Side – On those drab winter mornings if your internal alarm that’s driven by light can run hours late. When the signal finally arrives it can take too long for dissipation of the melatonin. The end result – you are hardly awake as you nap through your morning barely functioning.
- Signals Reaching the Brain – Your ipRGCs send signals to the your brain’s suprachiasmatic nuclei, which is your circadian clock. It switches off melatonin production, which is your sleep hormone. However, there are other impulses that take a different path, which sends out a message to produce the hormones that tell the brain you need to be alert.
- The Winter Blues Arrive – Lack of energy is annoying enough during the winter months but add the lack of light and it just gets worse. That’s because the lack of light causes the raphe nuclei neurons to reduce serotonin production, known as the ‘feel good’ neuro-transmitter. This in conjunction with changes in your brain’s norepinephrine and dopamine levels and you have the makings for a case of the blues.
- Early Evening Workouts Can Improve Your Mood – By the late part of the afternoon your suprachiasmatic nuclei begins to think it is time for bed and so it asks for more melatonin. After weeks go by, you can find yourself affected with seasonal affective disorder or SADs. A workout early in the morning can increase your serotonin and improve your mood.
- HGH Supplement – Taking HGH supplements like Genf20 Plus, Genfx and Sytropin have a number of benefits. One of those benefits is helping you to sleep better another is helping with depression and anxiety. In 1996 a team of Swedish scientists found why HGH replacement makes so many people feel good. They learned it acts on the brain just like an antidepressant, raising the level of the neurotransmitter B-endorphin, known as the “brain’s opiate.” HGH also lowers the level of dopamine, linked to feeling agitated. A 1998 report showed that depressed men have a marked decrease in HGH secretion during the first three hours of sleep as opposed to non depressed controls. Indeed, higher levels of HGH induced a more restful and sounder sleep.
Winter days don’t have to darken your mood with the right tips.
