DGUtley
03-16-2021, 06:06 AM
Why sunlight affects our mood... (https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/daylight-saving-time-sunlight-mood-science)
This winter was rough. Terrible things continued to happen (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/02/10/us/coronavirus-winter-deaths.html), combined with the fact that it was dark. Sunday’s flip feels almost like a miracle. We sprang forward, allowing for an extra hour of daylight against the backdrop of an increasingly vaccinated (https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/cdc-fully-vaccinated-guidelines-explained) world. Winter will always be darker than summer — we can’t change Earth’s axial tilt. But we do have some control over the amount of daylight we’re exposed to. Daylight Saving Time (https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/daylight-saving-time-sunday-2020/amp) (DST) was first formally implemented in 1916 by Germans (https://www.inverse.com/article/23309-heres-why-we-have-daylight-saving-time), and came to the United States two years later.
The bipartisan-backed “Sunshine Protection Act” argues a permanent DST would improve mental health, public health, and public safety, citing the research (https://www.inverse.com/science/5-ways-life-would-be-better-if-it-were-always-daylight-saving-time#:~:text=DST brings an extra hour,moving to year-round DST.) suggesting these benefits would occur. In other countries, governments are trying to ban (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/governments-worldwide-consider-ditching-daylight-saving-time/) seasonal clock shifts altogether — no DST, just pick a time and stick with it. Ultimately, time is a construct and one singular fact remains: The Sun affects our brains, and in turn, our mood. Why is this? — According to research published (https://www.jneurosci.org/content/41/6/1265) February in the Journal of Neuroscience, the answer links back to how daylight interacts with opioid receptors in the brain.
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https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/daylight-saving-time-sunlight-mood-science
This winter was rough. Terrible things continued to happen (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/02/10/us/coronavirus-winter-deaths.html), combined with the fact that it was dark. Sunday’s flip feels almost like a miracle. We sprang forward, allowing for an extra hour of daylight against the backdrop of an increasingly vaccinated (https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/cdc-fully-vaccinated-guidelines-explained) world. Winter will always be darker than summer — we can’t change Earth’s axial tilt. But we do have some control over the amount of daylight we’re exposed to. Daylight Saving Time (https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/daylight-saving-time-sunday-2020/amp) (DST) was first formally implemented in 1916 by Germans (https://www.inverse.com/article/23309-heres-why-we-have-daylight-saving-time), and came to the United States two years later.
The bipartisan-backed “Sunshine Protection Act” argues a permanent DST would improve mental health, public health, and public safety, citing the research (https://www.inverse.com/science/5-ways-life-would-be-better-if-it-were-always-daylight-saving-time#:~:text=DST brings an extra hour,moving to year-round DST.) suggesting these benefits would occur. In other countries, governments are trying to ban (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/governments-worldwide-consider-ditching-daylight-saving-time/) seasonal clock shifts altogether — no DST, just pick a time and stick with it. Ultimately, time is a construct and one singular fact remains: The Sun affects our brains, and in turn, our mood. Why is this? — According to research published (https://www.jneurosci.org/content/41/6/1265) February in the Journal of Neuroscience, the answer links back to how daylight interacts with opioid receptors in the brain.
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https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/daylight-saving-time-sunlight-mood-science