It had been seen as restricted to a subtle change in mood, as many feel when it’s a gloomy or rainy day. But it goes beyond that and may bring changes affecting how a person feels, thinks, and handles daily activities. There may be loss of appetite, problems sleeping, anxiety, restlessness, and even violent behavior. Considering the scope of the changes, diagnoses can be challenging and mistaken for something else because SAD can also be episodic, not affecting the person each year.

Research findings, too, are not consistent with what is believed to cause these changes. Some results see it as a change in the neurotransmitter serotonin and others as dysregulation of melatonin, the sleep hormone that disrupts the normal circadian rhythms of our bodies. Even the “sunshine vitamin D” plays a role in these cascading changes.

Aren’t we told that it’s good for us to be out in the sunshine, which can perk up our mood? Nursing homes have for years tried to bring their residents out on sunny days. Actually, it’s the fact that light passing through the eyes is directed to the brain areas involved in mood through hormone regulation. It’s why cloudy days may be moody ones. What’s changing now?

Weather patterns are no longer as predictable as they once were and may play havoc with our moods as a result. Summers are incredibly hotter, winters seem to meld into more spring-like or summer weather, and disturbances in weather-related hormones are a potential result.

How will our brains adapt, and will they? Will they bring with this unpredictability something akin to a bipolar-type new illness? Imagine being at the whim of the weather to send us cycling through a range of unwanted, unhealthful, and disruptive emotions or behaviors. It’s a highly unpleasant thought.

Not only individuals will be affected, but corporations and economies may begin to notice difficulties in staffing and levels of productivity. Who thought the weather could affect our economies this way? Now it’s not contained in our mood but in our financial stability, and that brings on added stress in a time of radical change in artificial intelligence. Scientists may hurriedly attempt to ameliorate the changes, but at what cost, as they stumble through their efforts and do not know the true result?

Consider something we may think of as frivolous: the fashion industry. Fashion is a multibillion-dollar industry worldwide, and it depends on the seasons for planning the purchase of fabrics, the ready labor force, and the designing of outfits. What happens when we no longer know during our usually normal winters that we don’t need such temperature-sensitive clothes and instead require a range from cold weather to hotter weather during any three-month period?

The writing is on the wall, as we note that even the famous Mont Blanc lost six feet during this exceptional year. Glaciers are losing their mass more quickly, making life within their range a dangerous endeavor.

Remember the trope of how a butterfly’s wing in a forest affects the world? The original theory was proposed by Edward Lorenz and has been explained in simpler terms. As a result of any tiny change in the environment and the gradual encroachment of industry destroying forest trees and leaving the land fallow, more natural disasters and less assistance with climate consistency are occurring, which is making it difficult for even butterflies to maintain their numbers and their normal migratory patterns.

Adaptation is key, and to survive, everyone all over the world must be involved in much more than they ever thought was necessary. Right now, we know some of the issues, but we do not have all the questions, and, therefore, we cannot have the answers we need. We must keep seeking.

The post Climate Change May Affect the Winter Blues in Ways Unknown Before appeared first on Medika Life.

Music and music-based interventions (MBI) have remarkable therapeutic potential for a variety of medical issues because they activate many brain pathways. Imaging, brain stimulation, and motion capture technologies in humans have made it possible to study the neural circuits behind the effects of MBIs on motor, affective/reward, and cognitive functions. Comparative studies using animal models have helped to show the brain circuit activities involved in rhythm perception.

In fact, music and its use are being investigated to see if they may aid in strengthening brain networks and pathways involved in sensory and motor processes, emotion, affect, and memory. We know the destructive power of stress and the hormone cortisol, especially in children, and now we are turning to the productive power of music to probe its power in the repair and maintenance of brain networks. The decline of mental acuity is directly related to how we process memories and retrieve them, so anything we can do to strengthen the bonds already made is to our benefit.

We know that music is involved in the production of essential neurotrophins in the brain called BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor). Most of us first encountered tropisms in biology class, where we discovered what made trees grow toward the sun or light. In humans, too, we have tropisms. These are involved in the growth, survival, and function of neurons in the central nervous system.

Individuals with dementia benefit from music in the following ways:

• Music provides a secure, non-pharmaceutical method for easing chronic pain, anxiety, and depression.
• It offers a practical, efficient substitute for mood-altering drugs.
• Decreases resistance to care and fall hazards.
• Contributes to better nutrition and swallowing.
• Promotes interaction and socializing with loved ones, friends, and coworkers.
• Offers folks who are bedridden, on ventilators, or on dialysis a purposeful activity.
• Restores participants’ calm and relaxation.
• Offers much-needed respite to family caregivers and paid caregivers.

The one thing that we know for sure is that music is readily available to all of us, wherever we are, and we should take advantage of it. No doubt about it, music can be a wonderful addition to our daily lives and, in some respects, help maintain the health of our brains. Did anyone ever think of Bruce Springsteen as a brain practitioner in addition to a musician?

The post Music Enhances Mood, Boosts Memory, and Plays a Role in Aging appeared first on Medika Life.

But smiling has been shown to have a positive mode-enhancing ability. You can raise your level of happiness by pushing yourself to smile. Teachers can improve children’s learning ability because a smile creates a relationship change. Smiling teachers make school a pleasant experience rather than a dreadful chore.

According to some research, yes, smiling has an association between improvements in finance, career, and even the potential for marriage. For some couples, smiling or lacking it may signal an imminent divorce.

Smile, as the song says, though your heart is aching, and you may even improve your heart health because a positive attitude is associated with longevity and a decrease in mortality.

All, or most of us, are wearing masks these days because it has been recommended that this is the best way to control the spread of deadly viruses. How can you tell if someone is smiling? There is another way, and it’s something that has been utilized by artificial intelligence programs. I speak, of course, of the Duchenne smile, which is the amount of wrinkling around the eyes.

Wrinkling has a bad association, doesn’t it? But when wrinkling is associated with smiling, it indicates a genuine, optimistic emotional display. Sure, some people can fake wrinkling around the eyes to project a deceptive attitude about something or someone. Well, we can’t have it all.

Smiling does have something to do with the way I wrote an article and the couple I happened to meet in a hospital waiting area. We didn’t have to wear masks at the time, and their smiles were wonderful and genuine and very much appreciated. I needed a smile, and they, especially the woman, returned the favor.

How hard is it to smile? You pull those face muscles into an expansive grin, wrinkle up your eyes, and immediately you’re a different person. Yes, pulling those muscles in your face sends a signal to your brain that your mood is changing, and there’s a chemical reaction to lift your mood.

And smiling is contagious, so breaking out a smile helps others smile, too. If ever there was a free and readily available way to brighten the mood of a room or a group, it’s with a smile.

Of course, there are a variety of smiles, and some portend a degree of concern (think The Joker from Batman), but I’m talking about those smiles that signal openness and a willingness to enjoy something. These are the ones on which we should be concentrating, even in the darkest of times. Do I sound like a pollyanna? Sorry, but I refuse to dismiss this means of making myself or anyone who happens to be with me happier.

Even in restaurants or stores, smiles play an important role. “The “service with a smile” mantra has been universally proclaimed in the West for its enhanced effect on customer affect and service outcomes.” The smiling server or salesperson is usually more successful in making that sale or receiving a bigger tip.

Give it a try. See how many times you can turn something around today or tomorrow by smiling. It greases the wheels of success in careers, finance, and, as I indicated before, the possibility of marital bliss and courtship.

Go forth and smile.

The post Control, There Are Reasons to Smile appeared first on Medika Life.