Lihua Sun, a student from China who moved to Finland for graduate studies, noticed a trend in Finland. He began to see that at different points of time, people became moody. His hypothesis was that it had to do with the change of seasons. For his graduate studies in Finland, Sun noticed a change in his moods after his 14 years living there. His study was to take brain scans of mu-opioid of healthy volunteers to see how much of the chemical was visible in the scan. He noticed that the mu-opioid was more visible during the hours of sunlight. In contrast, the mu-opioid was least abundant during hours of no sunlight.
What you can conclude from this is that the spikes in mu-opioid cause changes in mood. Sun noted that studies have shown that suicides have peaked during hours of long sunlight and long darkness. This shows that mu-opioid needs to be exposed to humans in moderation. The paradigm of prolonged darkness causes depression can now be stated as false, since depression can be noticed from prolonged sunlight as well. We must be careful about our moods during the Summer and winter, due to the long lasting sun and moon.
A Key Brain Chemical Fluctuates With The Seasons, New Study Finds (forbes.com)
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) - Symptoms and causes - Mayo Clinic
Wow, very fascinating. It does make sense when you think about it. The long lasting sun and moon cause an increase in depression which can lead to suicide, as sad as it sounds. Great article choice, very interesting!
ReplyDeleteThis article really spoke to me. I am noticeably more pleasant when it is sunny and warm outside. In my experience, a lot of people feel depressed during the dark winter months. I really enjoyed reading about the mu-opiod receptor that fluctuating depending on the season. Really fascinating information here.
ReplyDeleteWell isnt this true. I always said since I was little that the seasons change my ood and have an affect on my health. When it is sunny and warm out I am more bubby then usual but sometimes the winter gets me and I am lazy and tired. It is nice to see that I isnt just me that feels this way.
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