[1557] in Depressing_Thoughts
Re: reality fault
whycare@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (whycare@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Sat Oct 13 20:37:04 1990
You might be suffering from a mild form of seasonal affective disorder
(SAD) which may result from your decreased exposure to sunlight light
intensities (>=2500 lux; normal indoor lighting supposedly ranges from
250- 500 lux; anyone know how to convert wattage to light intensity or
is there no correlation between the two?) due to shortening of the
daylight hours in the northern hemisphere since the autumnal equinox
(September 22 or 23). Light that hits your retina decreases the amount
of melatonin that gets secreted into your bloodstream from your pineal
gland and this causes the suppression of sleepiness, decreased
alertness, and slowed reaction time, which are induced by the presence
of high levels of this hormone. Fall/ winter tends to prolong the
daily dark period, and for some people this causes hypersomnia,
irritability, decreased alertness, and slowed reaction time such that
the effects are rather noticeable. The hormone may also decrease the
transmission of serotonin to the postsynaptic neuron causing a
prolongation in your craving for carbohydrates.
See Scientific American, January 1989.
Don't know of any more recent developments on the subject, though they
must certainly be there.
