Why does SAD happen?

“It’s fairly accepted that the trigger is a short photoperiod—the number of

hours from dawn to dusk,” says Rohan. “It’s the strongest predictor of when the symptoms begin.” But
why, exactly, does less daylight seem to make some people clinically depressed? “That's the million-
dollar question,” says Rohan. One leading theory is that the change in daylight disrupts our bodies’
release of melatonin, a hormone the brain releases every night to promote sleep. The process is part of
our circadian rhythm, our innate biological clock dictating when we sleep and wake.

Our clocks are cued up by morning light, but as the supply of daylight dwindles in winter, melatonin may
be released later and wear off later, the theory suggests. That means, “that alarm clock might be going
off in the morning, but the body is still in a state of biological night,” says Rohan. Those diagnosed with
SAD may be particularly sensitive to schedules that disrupt their circadian rhythm by beginning and
ending at odd hours, like shift work, she adds. Even given that theory, she says it’s still unclear why
disrupted circadian rhythm can lead to depression, instead of just feeling fatigued. What about
summertime depression? Rohan says a minority of people who experience SAD in the winter can
become manic in the summer when the number of stimulating daylight hours increases. But still others
experience a phenomenon called summer SAD, or when seasonal depression symptoms occur only in
the summer—perhaps triggered by the heat and humidity. Instead of feeling lethargic, summer SAD
patients more often feel irritable and agitated. (Learn more about why seasonal depression can happen
in the summer.) Scientists are studying whether temperatures rising as a result of climate change may
harm mental health. A 2018 study of mood expressed on social media found depressive language
increased with temperature.