On October 30th ends Daylight Saving Time. The last Sunday of this month, at 3 a.m., all European Union countries set their clocks forward one hour ahead of Standard Time. The institutions justify the winter schedule on energy saving, but what are its consequences in our internal clock?The age group who suffers the daylight saving time the more, as well as children, are the people over 50 years, who reflect a greater irritability and bouts of insomnia. However, experts suggest that the biological clock tends to be set in two or three days.
According to statements by Mayer Hillman, a professor emeritus at the University of Westminster, compiled by the magazine Entrenosotros, "studies show that people are happier, more energetic and less prone to get sick in the long and bright days of summer, while its humor tends to lower-and states of anxiety and depression to intensify, over the short, gray days of winter. "
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders includes a condition called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), commonly known as winter depression. The chapter devoted to this at Wikipedia summarizes SAD symptoms as difficulty getting up in the morning, a tendency to sleep and eat too much, with particular interest in carbohydrates, which leads to weight gain. Other features include lack of energy, difficulty concentrating and withdrawal from social and family life.
In Volume 317 of the journal Science, the journalist Yudhijit Bhattacharjee reported that several experiences with small groups of psychiatric patients order to correct circadian abnormal rhythms with the light exposure, the intake of melatonin pills and sleep deprivation, can help treat the disorder and benefit patients with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's.
As indicated in the report, exposure to sun is one of the most effective therapies in the treatment of this sadness associated to less hours of daylight . Thus, one of the most promoted advices among the people of the North is to spend a sunny holiday in the South during the winter. In Go & Care we make it easy: spend a few days off in the Mediterranean, looked after by top professionals.
More information:
http://www.britebox.co.uk/sad-study.php?page=latitude
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/18/health/18mind.html?em&ex=1198213200&en=a955503f665508cf&ei=5087%0A
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/science-news/2006/properly-timed-light-melatonin-lift-winter-depression-by-syncing-rhythms.shtml
