Do you find yourself eating more, sleeping more and curling up by the fire more during these winter months. It's called human winter hibernation. Our bodies require cycles of activity and rest—daily, annually. When days are long, our metabolisms and energy levels amp up. In winter, we produce hormones that make us sleepy, giving us time to restore body, mind and soul.
And there’s nothing wrong with that cycle—except that we work against it, forcing ourselves to operate at summer levels even in winter. No wonder so many people feel depressed at this time of year!
What if we indulged our innate inclination to slow down in winter? We’d sleep more and demand less from ourselves. We’d be more inward and reflective. Humans, of course, do not hibernate, but it can feel much more difficult to get out of bed on a chilly winter morning than it does in the height of summer. Some people take this as a welcome sign that being awake during the winter is an affront to nature. Or at the very least, they assume that humans need more sleep during winter.
While we humans don’t exactly need more sleep during the wintertime, due to factors beyond our control, we definitely want it. Humans’ sleep and wake cycles are regulated by light. Light suppresses the production of melatonin by the brain. As daylight fades, the brain produces more melatonin, which causes us to feel sleepy. In the morning, the gland is instructed to stop producing the hormone, which aids in waking up. We feel sleepier in the winter because there’s less daylight, hence more melatonin. We wake up when it’s still dark outside, before the brain has been instructed to shut down, and it starts up again long before we’re actually ready to go to bed. That adds up to many lethargic mornings and evenings.
No wonder so many people have trouble leaving bed on a cold, dark January morning. Embrace the human seasonal hibernation needs - it's only 56 days until Daylight Savings and 62 days until Spring!!
