Health Information Blog

People often wonder if there is any correlation between their exposure to the light in the morning and their mood for the whole day. The answer to this question is undoubtedly “yes, it does have a lot of affect on your mood for the whole day”. You all must have heard of the term “winter blues”, it implies to the condition when you feel low and gloomy all day long. It is very common for all of us in winters to get out of the bed in the morning, and there is a general feeling of depression for the whole day.

This type of seasonal changes in mood is due to the lack of light, commonly known as Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD syndrome. If you wake up in the morning when it is still dark, you are taken over by the gloomy mood; if the darkness continues, the mood only worsens. People feel low and depressed in the winters more, because the days are shorter and the darkness of the night leaves its affects.

On the other hand, have you noticed how a bright sunny day can suddenly lift your mood? The bright sunlight outside, with the noise of the birds chirping and people going out there, daily business seems to make the start of a day a much happier affair. People certainly complain less about having to get up early in the morning during summers.

Medical research has shown that, irrespective of the SAD syndrome, the mood of the people is affected by the amount of exposure to light. Studies show that the more exposure you have to light, the more you feel gay, and less exposure to light makes your mood gloomier.

Normally, days in winters start when it is still dark and damp outside; in the same weather, you get ready, and go to your office/college/school. Once out, you normally wait for the lunch break to go out and have something to eat; this is one time when you have the chance of some exposure to the sunlight, but it usually happens that you get so busy in work that the time for the lunch break ends. Therefore, when you finally get free and are set to get back to home, it is already dark again. With such a routine, you hardly get any proper exposure to the daylight; you actually miss it.

Nevertheless, there is a solution for this as well; some options can be looked in to. You can opt for light therapy to avoid the gloominess. At the start of the day, you get a full spectrum light therapy, which is an alternative to the sunlight. It has been used quite successfully for treating the SAD syndrome.

One other option is light boxes, and visors with the body clocks; they work in a manner to synchronise your sleeping and waking up routine, with the natural reaction of your body to the sunrise and sunset. The light comes up every morning just like the normal sunlight, increasing gradually, and your body responds to it automatically.

These options are very useful, but are expensive as well, so another alternative can be the use of lamps and tube lights to lighten up your surroundings. Avoid turning off all the lights at night. The reason behind this is that it would make up for some of the day light that you have missed.

Rosana Horowitz is an health expert. She is helping people in getting out of depression and she has recommended many products like lumie to get-up on time. You can use it for time management. For more details visit http://www.bodykind.com.