VIEWING MORNING SUNLIGHT: HORMONES & MOOD• - Viewing morning sunlight increases daytime alertness, and focus, but there is an additional benefit as well. As daylength changes across the seasons, the eyes and brain can register those changes and convert them into a hormonal, signal involving melatonin and other pathways. - The key gland in this picture is the pineal gland, which secretes less melatonin when sunlight is brighter, and there is more of it each day. By viewing morning sunlight, for 5min (clear days) 10-20min (overcast days) to 30min (dense cloud cover) each morning, the signals converting light into hormones become reliable and lead to elevated levels of testosterone, estrogen, and dopamine, leading to increased vitality and mood in both men and women, especially in the progressively longer days post-winter solstice. - If you think about it, this is a remarkable mechanism in which the position of the Earth relative to the sun is converted into a biological language involving hormones in neurotransmitters, and that ultimately result in changes in our internal state (!) All mammals have this mechanism. - Please put your questions in the comments section below this post and as always, thank you for your interest in science! - @hubermanlab @stanford.med @stanford @nihgov @nimhgov @nih_nccih @societyforneuroscience @cellpress - #neuroscience #science #ciencia #neurociencia #neuroplasticity #sleep #sun #sunrise #melanopsin #ipRGCs #pineal #melatonin #retina #circadian #retinohypothalamic #mentalhealth #physicalhealth #protocols #circannual #dopamine #testosterone #estrogen #neurons #eye #retina