Morning Sun Is Good For You - And For Those Around You In The Winter

Main Category: Depression
Also Included In: Mental Health
Article Date: 05 Dec 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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More than half of the population show some lowering of mood in the winter due to lack of bright light.

Dr. Simon Young at McGill University has shown that some of the beneficial effects of bright light work through the serotonin system.

He has also shown that average daily exposure to bright light in the winter in Canada is less than half an hour.

Greater exposure to bright light over short periods of time (e.g. a morning or afternoon) can be associated not only with better mood but also more agreeable and less quarrelsome social behaviour.

Did you know? Health Canada estimates two to three per cent of the population, or between 600,000 and one million people, suffer from the worst and most debilitating form of winter blues - known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

The CIHR is the Government of Canada's health research funding agency, and is involved in׃

-- Supporting the work of more than 11,000 researchers and trainees in universities, teaching hospitals, and research institutes across Canada

-- Developing high-quality people, excellent science and training the next generation of health researchers

-- Funding research that improves Canadians' health, health care system and quality of life

-- Fostering commercialization, moving research discoveries from academic setting to the marketplace

-- Allocating 94 cents of every dollar directly to fund Canadian health researchers

Source
David Coulombe
Media Relations
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
http://cihr-irsc.gc.ca

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