Image: Aaron McCoy Getty Images
Several recent studies have suggested that winter-born babies are more likely than summer ones to develop conditions such as schizophrenia, depression and seasonal affective disorder (SAD). One study may help explain why: the amount of daylight to which newborn mice are exposed sets the behavior of key biological clock genes for life.
A group of researchers from Vanderbilt University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham raised one group of mouse pups as if it were winter, giving them eight hours of sunlight a day, and a second group as if it were summer, with 16 hours of sunlight a day. Then they exposed them to either the same light schedule or the opposite for an additional four weeks. Compared with the “summer” pups, the “winter” pups’ biological clock genes were turned on for shorter periods regardless of the day lengths they were exposed to postweaning. The winter pups were also more active at night, similar to patients with SAD, suggesting their clocks were not as well aligned to the time of day. But don’t buy a UV light for the nursery just yet. Researchers are still working to determine what effect these seasonal signals have on humans.
This article was originally published with the title Blame It on Winter.
Already a Digital subscriber? Sign-in Now
If your institution has site license access, enter here.
See what we're tweeting about
12 Comments
Add CommentI'm not claiming astrology is anything but delusional rubbish, but: should a similar effect be seen in humans, it may explain apparent personality differences that are ascribed to zodiac birth signs.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm amazed that these "researchers" don't mention the obvious. The babies with the health issues were not receiving adequate Vitamin D.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat's mindless and bordering on offensive.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSA seems to be increasingly asinine these days...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDear Venomlust: Why blaming SA for reporting a study?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat new idea did you come up with that is worth to be published?
the fact that Nostradamus and astrology seem to be the first to come to mind in readers of S.A. cannot be ascribed to the dear editor, can it? It just proves that 'we are such stuff as dreams are made of', to quote the Bard.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLook at it from our evolutionary biology angle:
In the (very) olden days, females were in oestrus only during spring times! Eskimos once were said to menstruate only twice a year! so that settled a lot of sunshine supply...
We evolved into the sexiest primates on the planet, perhaps also due to our meat-eating, but still most births are in spring I am told.
Mad King Ludwig II of Bavaria was born in December, and his mother had suffered from the flu when pregnant with him. The wheel has come full circle: Flu epidemics have only recently been shown to result in a higher frequency of schizophrenia.
The underlying cause seems to be vitamin deficiency. so, let's eat our fruits and vegs to stay happy!
youthevity.com / colour eating
Exactly what I was thinking!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have long thought of this seasonal issue, since when I was in the North I read Linda Goodman's book on the sunsigns and found it extraordinarily precise in what respects to my sunsign (Taurus). But the problem with your theory is that the sunsigns characteristics are the same for the Southern Hemisphere, which has the exactly opposite season as in the North.Furthemore, in the North itself, the seasonal issue would be very much more extreme in Babylon than, say, in Norway.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAll this would prove that the sunsigns are exactly the same rubbish as Nostradamus.
Indian yogic and meditation schools teach about the seven chakras(wheels) that are part of the subtle body (the invisbile body that shrouds the physical body) and the four kinds of life forces one of which is called the 'Pranan'.All these are said to be powered by the Sun. My grandad and dad have the habit of making kids sit a little bit in the warm sunshine of a window when they are sick and bedridden. It has revived me a lot of times.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt supposedly energizes the chakras, and Pranan thereby making our physical mind and body better.
Maybe there is a relation between the activation of the chakras at early age and exposure to daylight.
This is a nice start but I'd like to see a much broader and deeper study on humans before I'll form an opinion.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNot being Indian I found it interesting that sitting in warm sunlight is used by them as well as my own family as a boost to beating illness. My parents did that with me and I've done it with my children as well. Only anecdotal evidence but it seems to help.
Extreemly Cute Baby.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishere on a white sheet not the snow lying round about.
Im looking for a seasonal effect.