The dazzling lights, inside jokes, and laughter. Warmth from the fireplace, hot cocoa burning your tongue. The holiday season can be seen as the best time of the year for many.
But…after the holidays is different. What happens after all of the lights have come down, the presents returned, and the decorations put back into their box in the attic?
During the pre-holiday season, there is an abundance of celebratory light. However, after we return to work or school, some people suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). This means that they get seasonal depression because there is less light in the winter months.
According to a feature by NBC News, How to Find Light in the Darkest Months, “Specialized cells in our eyes turn the blue wavelength part of the light spectrum into neural signals affecting mood and alertness.” The sun is loaded with said blue light, so when our brains absorb it, we feel happier and more awake.
One reprieve that people with SAD can get is the Christmas lights that come with the Holiday season. The lights can simulate the sun even if it is not up.
The anticipation of the holidays can also release a chemical in one’s brain called dopamine. Some studies show that the anticipation of something people are excited about can release more dopamine than the actual event.
Think about it like when you were younger, when the night before your birthday, it would be hard to fall asleep. In this case, your brain is releasing a lot of dopamine because the anticipation of your birthday is making you more excited than you are on your actual birthday.
The same case applies to the anticipation of the holidays, and with the added excitement from social media and companies, it is a global phenomenon.
According to the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, our brains have a dopamine system called “reward prediction errors” that predicts how good the reward will be. If the reward is greater than expected, the dopamine neurons are more active, and when the reward is less than expected, they show depressed activity.
This means that if your holiday is worse than you expected, you can become extremely disappointed, maybe even depressed afterwards. The added pressure of school work after winter break can add to the load.
The days after winter break are some of the darkest of the year, and even people without SAD can be affected.
As stated by NBC News, this phenomenon will tend to take away from social interactions because they are more irritable. Stress from school, missing your family that had to go back home for the holidays, or even hating how early the sun sets can trigger chemical changes in your brain that can affect your mood.
The best thing all of us can do is to remember that all of these feelings are normal and temporary. Taking small steps like spending time outside and reaching out to friends can bring more light into your life.
