The ongoing season directly affects our body and psyche causing several changes. These changes are caused by hormonal imbalances which then affect lifestyles such as difficulty sleeping, drowsiness, fatigue, laziness, feelings of sadness, and so on.
Then, what is the impact of these hormonal imbalances on our lives? Check out the explanation as below.
1. The hormone melatonin tends to increase in certain seasons
People tend to be sleepy in the morning or afternoon in the rainy and cold season. (pexels.com/Acharaporn Kamornboonyarush)
To be precise, the production of the hormone melatonin rises with certain seasons. For example, the rainy season in tropical countries and winter in subtropical countries.
However, what exactly is the hormone melatonin? Simply put, melatonin is the hormone responsible for a person’s sleep at night. When we feel sleepy at night, it is the work of melatonin.
It’s just that, the production of the hormone melatonin will be abundant when the sunlight starts to dim. So, the more night, the darker, the more abundant the hormone melatonin and makes us sleepy and eventually fall asleep.
When the rainy season and winter lasts, the intensity of sunlight decreases drastically so that the sky tends to be darker. In this season, the production of the hormone melatonin is abundant and makes us tend to feel sleepy in the morning or afternoon.
Also Read: Getting to Know the Hormone Cortisol, More Than Just a Stress Hormone
2. The production of the hormone serotonin decreases when there is no sunlight
sad feeling illustration (pexels.com/Liza Summer)
Have you ever felt sad, feeling uncertain, bad mood, and other negative feelings during the rainy season? Yes, it is also common for residents of subtropical countries in winter.
Reported Henry Ford Health, seasonal affective disorder is a psychological disease when people experience feelings of sadness, depression, anxiety during winter.
Why can winter or rainy season cause psychological disorders? In that season, we lack sunlight. In fact, the skin is designed to produce vitamin D when the skin is exposed to sunlight.
Vitamin D is not only beneficial for physical health, but also mental. Vitamin D plays a role in increasing the amount of the hormone serotonin in the brain, which is the hormone that produces feelings of happiness, so this can keep symptoms of depression at bay.
So, a lack of serotonin in the body can cause stress, even mood disorders such as depression.
3. The hormone cortisol spikes during hot or dry seasons
stress and can’t sleep illustration (pexels.com/Cottonbro Studio)
During dry spells in tropical countries or hot summers in subtropical countries, difficulty sleeping is common. This can be explained scientifically through a published study American Physiological Society 2018 entitled “Stress Hormones Spike as The Temperature Rises.”
This study involved medical student participants for two days in winter and summer and concluded that the hormone cortisol increased with increasing temperature. Science Daily. The increase in the stress hormone known as the hormone cortisol is prone to causing individuals difficulty sleeping or even insomnia.
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In addition, when the ambient temperature rises, the body temperature also rises, even though the body needs time to lower its temperature. Rachel Salas, a neurologist from Johns Hopkins University who are experts in the field of medicine for sleep, state that the ideal body temperature to be able to sleep is between 18-20 degrees Celsius, as reported by CNN.
Low body temperature helps the body fall asleep quickly. Conversely, high body temperature will make it difficult for us to sleep all night and even cause insomnia.
4. Parathyroid hormone production increases during the rainy season
Rising parathyroid hormone during the rainy season or winter often results in fatigue throughout the day. (pexels.com/Valeria Ushakova)
Perhaps not many know that vitamin D can also help increase energy levels. When talking about the correlation between the rainy season and decreased energy levels, which results in fatigue, then the meeting point is in vitamin D.
Our skin is designed to produce vitamin D when it is exposed to sunlight. So, during the rainy season or winter when sunlight is very limited, the natural production of vitamin D can be hampered.
According to research in the journal Clinical Biochemistry In 2016, blood levels of vitamin D fell during the winter and rose during the summer. In contrast, parathyroid hormone levels rise during winter and fall during summer.
By decreasing the level of vitamin D in the blood, this will encourage more release of parathyroid hormone in the blood which functions to regulate the release of calcium from the bones into the bloodstream, so that the bones lack calcium.
Lack of calcium in the bones causes fatigue throughout the day. This is a scientific reason that can explain why during the rainy season or winter the body can feel tired.
Consuming foods and drinks that contain vitamin D can help meet the needs of calcium in the body.
Also Read: 6 Facts about the Testosterone Hormone, the Main Sex Hormone in Men
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