How Changing the Clock Back Benefits Our Mental Health

Around the same time every year, many countries around the world change their clocks back an hour.  During the fall and winter months, changing the time makes the dark evenings come sooner giving us an extra hour of sunlight in the morning rather than in the evening which most people may not find all that useful.  However, research and studies have suggested and proven otherwise.  This extra sunlight in the mornings - mornings in specific - has been linked to unseen advantages that can help boost our brains and mental health.

When light is absorbed and detected by the retina, this information is not only relayed to our brain where we process what we are looking at, but it is also reported to the internal body clock located deep in our brains.  The internal body clock sits in the hypothalamus where the endocrine system and hormone secretion are regulated.  We are unaware of this process because it does not affect our vision or how we see objects.  When light is detected by the internal body clock in the mornings within the first thirty minutes of waking up, the brain drives the secretion of the hormone cortisol up.  Cortisol is also known as the stress hormone because of its powerful effects on the mind and body.  The cortisol secretion within the first thirty minutes of waking up is the greatest compared to any part of the day, but is actually even more when we wake up with light.  The lighter the mornings, the greater the burst of cortisol secretion which in turn creates a better foundation to start the day with.

According to previous research, individuals affected by seasonal affective disorder (SAD) tend to have a lower amount of cortisol when waking up in the dark fall and winter months than those not affected by the disorder.  This study was compared to a group of people not affected by changing seasons as well as the same individuals in the summer months.  Although those affected by SAD have the lowest amount of cortisol secretion in the morning during the winter months, the amount of cortisol secretion was able to increase with the aid of artificial light.  This proves that having lighter mornings will increase cortisol secretion and improve our function throughout the day.  The cortisol burst in the morning has also been linked to a larger capacity to learn and function with specifically goal-setting, decision-making and planning.  

I enjoyed reading and studying this article because this was a topic II have never considered before.  I have always known that we set our clocks back an hour in the fall and move it an hour forward in the spring, but never thought anything of it.  It is interesting that something we have been doing for many years has actually had more unseen health advantages than what we understood in the first place.  The research of cortisol levels and the amount of light in the mornings has discovered valuable information that could be used to help individuals in society that suffer from SAD and other related disorders.