Can The Amount Of Light In The Morning Affect My Mood For The Day?
Rosana Horowitz | December 25, 2009A common question is whether the amount of light in the morning can affect the mood of a person for the day? The logical and truthful answer is “Yes, it can”. “Winter blues” is a common enough term and refers to the constant low energy one experiences during the course of a day, in the cold weather. Feeling depressed, low energy, overweight, and literally forcing yourself out of bed in the mornings throughout the short days of winters can be extremely taxing.
Seasonal Affective Disorder, better known as the SAD syndrome, is exacerbated due to the lack of light. When you wake up in the morning while it is dark and dreary outside, it can damper the optimistic, naturally cheerful, disposition of an individual, especially if such conditions prevail for a certain period. In winters, people suffer more, because the days are so much shorter, and the continuous darkness can really take its toll.
You must have noticed that you have a generally happy and lively mood when the day is bright and sunny. The day becomes happier if it starts with the normal hustle and bustle of the day and the sounds of the nature. People do not generally complain much about getting up in the morning during summers.
Many medical studies have confirmed that the amount of exposure to the sunlight affects the mood of a person, which may cause SAD. This means the more the exposure to the light, the merrier the mood would be, and vice versa.
The day in the winters starts when it is still dark, and you leave for office/college/school in the same dark hours of the day. There are some chances of getting some sunlight during the lunch hours, which is usually just an hour; but even then, you get so stuck up with the work at times that you miss this opportunity as well. Therefore, when you are off from work and are heading towards home, it is dark again, and you have missed out the chances of getting some sunlight.
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.
Light boxes and visors are also helpful along with body clocks – these work by using the natural reaction of your body towards sunrise, and sunset, in order to help synchronise your awake/sleep routine. Every morning, the light comes on very gradually, just like a normal sunrise, so that your body responds to the slowly increasing amount of light around you, subconsciously.
If the above-mentioned tools are too expensive, you can just better light up your surrounding with more lamps, and tube lights turned on. Do not turn off every light in the house before going off to bed; keep your room semi lit. The idea is to subject yourself to more light for a sunnier day.
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.
