For this weeks edition of Food for Thought we thought that this article was very interesting. As the seasons change many of our clients have been reporting significant changes in their moods. Gregory Book sheds some light on this issue and made some really good points. Check out the article below.
It is quite common for individuals to feel a shift in their mood as the seasons change. But more recently there is a growing interest in the effects of seasonal changes on the brain. Due to this growing interest, researcher Gregory Book and his team decided to conduct a cross-sectional analysis. The study conducted MRI brain scans on over 3,000 individuals across a 15-year span to study the effect of weather and seasons on the brain. Researchers observed volume changes in opposite directions in the supra-tentorium and infra-tentorium. More specifically, the cerebellum regions increased in volume in the summer and decreased in volume during winter, whereas the cerebral regions noticed the opposite effect during summer and fall. While much more research is needed to understand the causes for these changes, the results of this study suggests there may be a correlation between biological causes of changes in brain volume and seasonal disorders and diseases.
Click the link below to access the full article written by Christopher Bergland to read more on the study conducted by Gregory Book and his team.