The brain feels the change of the season
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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Recent research scientists have shown that the brain is able to determine not only the time of day, but also the time of year. As it turned out, special substances allow the body to rebuild for a new season.
The change in the duration of the light day leads to a number of fluctuations in the body - pressure, temperature, hormonal background, functions of internal organs change. Such fluctuations experts call internal (biological) clocks or circadian rhythms.
In the restructuring of the body for a new season, special substances - chlorides and gamma-aminobutyric acids, whose level varies with increasing (decreasing) daylight hours take part.
The internal clock of a person works independently of external conditions, but partly depends on some circumstances, in particular on the duration of a daylight.
Various experiments of scientists in this field have shown that prolonged artificially the day harms the body, as well as work at night. Such disorders cause sleep problems, changes in the hormonal background, psychological state, besides, problems with conception, especially in women, are possible.
Also, the duration of daylight affects the distribution of energy resources of the body, when the light day changes, the functions of brown fat are violated, which leads to excessive accumulation of glucose and fatty acids and increases the risk of diabetes and heart and vascular diseases.
In one of the scientific journals was an article in which a team of scientists described how the work of genes and the immune system changes with the change of season.
Experts in their work analyzed more than 20 thousand genes, of which more than 5 thousand showed "seasonal dependence" (2,211 were more active in the summer months, and 2,825 - in winter). It is for this reason that many diseases, such as diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, mental disorders, worsen at certain times of the year. For a long time, specialists could not understand what exactly triggers the processes of restructuring the body.
A joint study by Japanese and American scientists showed how the brain regulates the body's internal clock.
Suprachiasmatic nucleus is responsible for the work of circadian rhythms, it contains neurons that regulate the work of biological clocks. An interesting discovery was that there are two regions in the core, the cyclic activity of which depends on the duration of the light day and does not coincide with the general "schedule."
Specialists during their studies noted that the longer the light-day, the greater the activity of neurons, in comparison with other cells of the brain.
As already mentioned, the work of the internal processes of the body depends on the level of chlorides and gamma-aminobutyric acid. The researchers managed to find out that the level of these substances varies with the increase (or decrease) of daylight, while the ones that get out of the general "graph" of the region in the suprachiasmatic nucleus help the body determine the season of the year.
This work of experts proves that the human brain is a more complex mechanism than previously thought, since it is not only able to count the cycle in 24 hours, but also to determine the current season of the year.