Saving in the Fall and Depression - Essay Sample

Introduction

Seasonal depression is a major global problem that affects close to 1.6 billion people around the world (Hansen, Sonderskov and Hageman 346). For decades, psychologists have been unable to find the root cause of seasonal depression, but lately, they have identified daylight saving as the possible cause of seasonal depression. Daylight saving is the practice of adjusting the clock forward or backward to realign with the seasonal shift in sunrise and sunset. Daylight saving in the United States starts on the 2nd Sunday of March, which is summer and ends on the first Sunday of November, that is autumn. As a result, daylight saving in the fall refers to the practice of moving the clock behind by one hour during the first weekend of November. Initially planned as a tool for energy conservation, daylight savings have been observed to affect people's mental and physical health, hence causing researchers to conduct studies on the health effects of daylight saving. Daylight saving during fall can cause depression due to the reduced exposure to sunlight, interference with the circadian clock and inactive lifestyle.

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Sunlight

Daylight saving time during fall is accompanied by fewer sunlight hours for the inhabitants of the Northern countries. The residents of countries affected by seasons usually adjust their clocks by moving one hour from the afternoon to the early morning leading some people to benefit from an extra hour of sleep. However, researchers from Aarhus University Hospital think that the extra hour in the early morning is not beneficial since most people stay indoors in their early morning hours (Horowitz par.9). According to Ostergaard, "many of us are either in the shower, eating breakfast or sitting in a car or bus on the way to work or school. When we get home and have spare time in the afternoon, it is already dark," (Horowitz par.9). The reduced access to sunlight has a significant impact on people's mood. Strickland from CNN describes the sun's light as a "natural zeitgeber" which stimulates the brain and the body's senses (Strickland n.p). The human body has adapted to respond to darkness and sunlight by being inactive and active. The reduced exposure to the sun's rays means that the majority of people dwelling in the Northern and Southern hemispheres of the world have a sluggish and unmotivated feeling that eventually develops into depression. However, the people in the Southern regions are less likely to experience seasonal depression because they experience more sunlight than the North. For the Northern dwellers, the one time that they could get a chance to be exposed to the sunlight is in the evening, which is short because of early darkness. As a result, dusk setting in at 5:00 pm could cause the brain to be inactive by preparing to sleep, hence causing most people to go to bed early and wake up late, which further deprives their bodies of the little available sunlight. Daylight saving causes people to adjust to such a schedule, which leads to, increased cases of depression or seasonal depression.

Circadian Rhythm

The second way daylight saving can cause mental health issues is by interfering with the circadian rhythm (Strickland n.p). The circadian rhythm is a 24-hour cycle in the physiological processes of living organisms such as plants and animals. Although circadian rhythm is usually endogenic, external means such as temperature and sunlight influence the cycle. In humans, the circadian rhythm determines the sleeping times and even eating patterns. As a result, the process plays a part in brain wave activity, cell regeneration, production of hormones and other biological processes. Daylight saving during fall works to alter the number of time humans in the respective regions are exposed to sunlight. Few hours of exposure to sunlight could mean more sleeping time for humans.

An alteration of the circadian rhythm also means altered feeding patterns and brain wave activity. The two factors have the potential to cause depression especially if it is prolonged for an extended period. More sleeping hours provides little time for regular brain wave activity. Although the effects may not be evident during the first few weeks, an accumulation effect could lead to a severe lapse in brain activity. On the other hand, more sleeping time also translates to shorter feeding time. It means that the people have to space their meals close together. Food is one of the fundamental aspects of the human body. Popa and Ladea indicate that nutrition has a role in depression management (415). The authors say," production of neurotransmitters needs adequate amounts of nutrients," (Popa and Ladea 415). As a result, a change in the feeding habits could have a profound effect on the stress or depression management capabilities of the individuals. Separate meals spaced close together could provide the body with insufficient time to absorb the nutrients or process the food. That leads to the state where there are inadequate nutrients for the production of neurotransmitters. On the other hand, nutrition could be affected if the diet or feeding habits do not adjust to the change in lifestyle. The daylight saving could mean that people spend more time sleeping than in other seasons. As a result, the food they consume fails to adjust to their change in lifestyle.

Finally, the circadian rhythm has a part to play in influencing the hormones. It could either increase or decrease the production of a particular hormone hence leading to alteration of the moods. Since sunlight has a direct effect on the circadian rhythm, the creation of hormones could be directly proportional to the duration of exposure to sunlight. Hormonal imbalance is one of the leading causes of depression. The understanding of brain activity in the scientific world is still premature, but scientists have identified a group of hormones released during stressful events. They describe these group of chemicals as group hormones and have pointed them out as the potential cause of depression. As a result, overproduction of stress hormones due to alteration of the circadian cycle could potentially trigger an episode of depression.

Those at the most risk of developing depression associated with daylight saving are those who have experienced episodes of depression in the previous seasons. If a person had bouts of depression during the last fall, they are likely to experience the same when the next season hits because they associate that period with depression. The memories of the previous daylight saving are enough to trigger a chemical response, mostly associated with anxiety, that would cause distress. As a result, seasonal depression becomes a recurrent event.

Inactive Lifestyle

As mentioned earlier, people would spend a few more hours sleeping during daylight saving in fall than they would in the rest of the year. As a result, they are likely to develop depression emanating from living an inactive lifestyle. They wake up later than usual which hardly allows them enough time to participate in exercise activities that would improve their physical activity. During the evening, darkness sets in early and they get discouraged from going for walks or evening runs. As Mills describes it," the lack of daylight in the evening can be quite unsettling once Daylight Saving Time comes to an end," (Mills n.p). The period of adjustment has the capability of leaving the individual more tired than usual. If the symptoms persist for a long time, then that may be an indicator of the onset of seasonal depression. As a result, the people who become physically inactive develope depressive behavior.

Recommendations

Hansen et al., and Sarani, from Psychology Today, have offered a few suggestions on how to deal with seasonal depression coming from daylight saving during fall. According to Serani, an excellent way to prevent seasonal depression would be to learn about one's circadian rhythm (Serani par. 10). Since the cycle is affected by sunlight, one can set out to master their rhythm to prevent them from interfering with the process. Gaining an understanding of one's sleeping time, feeding habits and brain wave activity allows them to maintain the cycle even during the daylight saving hence reducing the chances of developing depression.

Also, psychologists also recommended checking of a person's health to ensure that they are in good health condition. Illnesses such as hypoglycemia could mascarade as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Therefore, psychologists recommend health check-up before the daylight saving in fall to prevent such confusions. Also, people with SAD have exhibited sensitive biological clock that easily gets disrupted by low sunlight. People with sensitive biological clock should consider adapting artificial sunlight. The artificial sunlight could compensate for the deficient hours of sunshine and ensures that the person's body clock remains intact. However, as much as one should be quick to embrace technology to aid in their body clock, they should desist from using technological gadgets a few hours to bedtime. Blue light, produced by technological gadgets such as mobile phones, laptops, and television sets are higher than that in natural light. As a result, the use of technological devices before bedtime prevents a person from having a restful night because the blue light interferes with the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin.

Daylight saving during fall creates longer nights, which has caused psychologists to encourage people to spend more time outside to make up for the reduced hours of sunlight. Rather than spending the extra hour sleeping, the people could maintain their normal wake up time to allow them to catch the extra hour of the sun. Usual house chores such as running errands and grabbing the mail can be accomplished separately to increase the amount of time a person spends outside. Also, the population could utilize tricks such as parking further away from stores to improve their walking distance. Part of this time should also be spent on exercising.

Finally, psychologists recommend for people to keep a sleep schedule (Strickland n.p). According to Dr. Robert Oexman, from the Sleep to Live Institute, "Waking to sunlight will make it easier to get going, as opposed to the dark mornings many of us have been experienced that make it more difficult to shake off that sleepy morning feeling," (Strickland n.p). Since the daylight saving during fall cause people to wake up an hour later than they usually would, they are more likely to wake up to sunshine. The sleep schedule will also help with maintaining the circadian clock.

Conclusion

Psychologists have speculated on the connection between daylight saving during fall and seasonal depression for quite some time. It has been impossible quite to point out the connection area between the two. However recent studies by scholars such as Hansen et al., shinned the light on the possible factors that connect daylight savings during fall and depression. One of the main factors identified is the reduced duration of exposure to sunlight which affects the people's mood and causes them to spend most of their days gloomy. The second one is the circadian rhythm which controls the body's physiological processes. Then there is the inactive lifestyle that emanates from the altered schedule which leads to anxiety and depression. Fortunately, people could deal with the seasonal depression by exercising and participating in outdoor activities during those months of daylight saving i...