Your body depends on getting enough sunlight every day to function properly. Nature designed you that way. Our ancestors lived outdoors every moment of their lives. They hunted meat, fish and fowl. They ate, worked, gathered, celebrated, worshipped and mourned under the sun. So your cells, organs, bones and tissues evolved to rely on sunlight.
But just before the turn of the 20th century, our living conditions changed. It started with the invention of the light bulb, which gave us an artificial way to generate light. The industrial revolution soon followed, and people started migrating to the cities and working indoors.
Merry Christmas!
Did you ever hear that suicides increase on Christmas? Well, how about some good news? It’s just not true. I looked it up in every database I could find. And, well … it’s a myth.
But it is true that when Christmas rolls around, and the days are shorter, your bodily rhythms get out of kilter, and you may experience Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD syndrome. SAD is what we used to call the “winter blues.” Even here in sunny Florida, the days aren’t quite as bright or as long, and we start feeling the effects.
The thing about SAD is you may not even know you have it. You just know you feel a little down. And the added stress of the holidays can add to the problem…