Seasonal Affective Disorder

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is the most commonly used method in treating SAD.
The two hormones that are affected by the sunlight, and are thought to be
the cause of SAD, are melatonin and serotonin. Both of these chemicals “are
influenced by photoperiodism, the earth’s daily dark-light cycle” (Wurtman 1989).
Melatonin is the chemical that effects mood and energy levels. In the human
body melatonin is at its highest at night and is lowest in the day. There has
been a study done to see if sunlight has a direct effect on suppressing
melatonin. It is known that melatonin levels in urine are five times higher at
night than they are in the day. It was not until a 1980 study that it was known
that melatonin levels could be directly suppressed with light. In an experiment,
subjects were woken up at two in the morning and exposed to a half an hour of
artificial sunlight. The findings were that melatonin levels were greatly
decreased. The decline in melatonin usually happens in the early morning, but
in ...

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