Sunlight may be the most underrated antidepressant. A study in The Lancet measured serotonin coming straight out of the brain in 101 men, and the brain made more of it on days with more bright sunshine.
Many common antidepressants work by boosting serotonin, a brain chemical that affects mood. Measuring how much the brain makes is hard, so researchers at the Baker Heart Research Institute in Melbourne took blood from the neck veins that carry blood away from the brain. The study was published in 2002.
Serotonin activity in the brain hit its lowest point in winter, and how fast the brain made it matched how many hours of bright sunshine there had been that day. Production climbed quickly as the light got brighter.
Mood tends to dip in the darker months, and this finding fits that pattern. Seasonal affective disorder, a kind of depression that comes back every winter, follows the same calendar, and bright light therapy is already a proven treatment for it.
Only healthy men took part, and the study measured a brain chemical with no mood measurement. The link was moderate, and people with clinical depression still need proper treatment. On the days with the most bright sunshine, the brains in this study made serotonin fastest.
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