Don't blame it on the sunshine :The Scientist [9/12/2002]

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by Tudor P Toma

RESEARCH ROUND-UP

Don't blame it on the sunshine

News from The Scientist 2002, 3(1):20021209-02 doi:10.1186/20021209-02

9 December 2002

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the weather can affect our mood, with susceptible individuals developing seasonal affective disorder (SAD) — a depressive disorder associated with increased appetite and hypersomnia that occurs during the winter and wanes in the spring and summer. The mediators involved in these mood swings have been unclear, but in December 7 The Lancet, Gavin Lambert and colleagues at the Baker Heart Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia, show that sunlight level and season influence serotonin turnover in normal human brains (The Lancet, 360:1840-1842, December 7, 2002).


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