Imagine this: waking up in the dark, working in a poorly lit indoor office, and going home in the dark. Not really a stretch of the imagination, is it? When we don’t or can’t get outside and into sunshine, we’ve essentially had no circadian stimulation. Sometimes for weeks on end. Add to this navigating the holiday gauntlet, pre- and post-holiday exhaustion, and New Year’s resolutions made (and maybe broken), and it’s not hard to see where the winter blues and seasonal affective disorder come from.
It’s midwinter, halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. To me, it’s the “dark before the dawn.” Yes, we’ve made it through the darkest weeks of the year, but their effects still linger, especially here in Holland, where the winters can be so gray that “the light level never reaches the amount or the dose that is required to instruct your circadian rhythm.”
Light reaching our eyes activates neurons that help set our circadian rhythm. This limited daylight makes it hard to match our body’s clock to the Earth’s natural day-night cycle. From Scientific American:
Our bodily rhythms are set by light. Your internal bodily clock can get out of sync with the real time when, say, you travel east to west and light exposure is shifted. That also happens with the shortest day of the year because your light exposure in the summer is four to eight hours earlier than in the winter…So right now we’re not getting the daylight signal until hours after we have to get up to go to school or work, which feels horrible and is unhealthy for our circadian rhythm. And so you have this delayed onset of the circadian stimulus, which is supposed to tell your body through the eyes and a specialized brain structure that it’s time to start activating [transcribing and translating] a set of so-called clock genes that are basically like a secretary of all cells and tell other cells when to do what.
… All cells have circadian rhythms. If you don’t get enough light because it’s winter, the immune system dampens. You stop making immune cells—T cells, macrophages—that you need to fight infections at certain times of the day. Less light means a less functioning immune system and lower resistance to infection.
Light plays a dual role in regulating our neurotransmitter hormones: more light increases serotonin, while less light increases melatonin. Serotonin helps stabilize mood and promote a sense of well-being, while melatonin makes us sleepy. More light = happier, less light = low energy. Light reaching our skin, particularly ultraviolet B rays from sunlight, synthesizes vitamin D, which is crucial for bone development, immune function, and possibly mental health. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with symptoms of depression.
Which is perhaps why the first few days of February are significant in many cultures and religions: it is when humans start wondering whether spring will ever return. There are many traditions and holidays around the world that share this light-seeking impulse. February 1st or 2nd is the feast of Imbolc (there’s even a full festival in Detroit!), which is also celebrated as Candlemas or St. Brigid’s Day. America observes February 2nd as Groundhog Day, a tradition passed on by German immigrants in Pennsylvania: in Germany, a badger is used to predict the coming of spring. February 3rd is Setsubun in Japan, which commemorates the beginning of spring. The primary theme of Setsubun (which I’ve written about before) is cleansing the home and community of negative energy and inviting positive energy in. Even Chinese New Year is also called Spring Festival (even though it is still winter for most of China) because the holiday looks forward to spring.
The time of year marks the renewal of life, as we see it peeking through the snow and hear the earth’s creatures stir. But it’s really a reawakening of the circadian clock.
Here in Michigan, we’ve gained about 50 minutes of daylight in January. In February, it will be over an hour, and in March, almost an hour and a half. But what can we do to offset these symptoms of winter blues in the meantime? (Lack of light affects everyone differently! If you’re really struggling with symptoms of depression or SAD, please talk to your doctor; there are therapies and medications that can help.) The best way to handle the shortest, darkest days besides lighting candles or throwing soybeans outside to ward off evil spirits is, not surprisingly, the same advice as always:
- Get outside (daily if possible, even a short walk)
- If you can’t get sun, try a light box
- Exercise (try this 8 1/2 minute Joy workout!)
- Social connection
So basically, take a walk with a friend (or friends) outside. And if there’s no sun, maybe get a happy light. Additionally, you can try maintaining a healthy sleep schedule and eating a nutritious diet, including increasing your intake of foods rich in vitamin D, such as salmon, tuna, and fortified dairy.
Meanwhile, the day is getting longer everyday for the next 5 months… Take a moment to remind yourself of your successes, even if they are simply surviving day to day.
