NewsPronto

 
Men's Weekly

.

USA Conversation

The Conversation USA

The Conversation USA

Winter brings more than just ugly sweaters – here's how the season can affect your mind and behavior

  • Written by Michael Varnum, Associate Professor of Psychology, Arizona State University
imageShort winter days can influence your brain chemistry.Schon/Moment via Getty Images

What comes to mind when you think about winter? Snowflakes? Mittens? Reindeer? In much of the Northern Hemisphere, winter means colder temperatures, shorter days and year-end holidays.

Along with these changes, a growing body of research in psychology and related...

Read more: Winter brings more than just ugly sweaters – here's how the season can affect your mind and behavior

More Articles ...

  1. Artificial light lures migrating birds into cities, where they face a gauntlet of threats
  2. Why federal efforts to protect schools from cybersecurity threats fall short
  3. 4 business lessons from the Boston Tea Party
  4. In the worst of America's Jim Crow era, Black intellectual W.E.B. Du Bois found inspiration and hope in national parks
  5. Is Hamas the same as ISIS, the Islamic State group? No − and yes
  6. CRISPR and other new technologies open doors for drug development, but which diseases get prioritized? It comes down to money and science
  7. Lighting a fire using friction requires an understanding of some physics principles − but there are ways to make the process easier
  8. ¿La mejor manera de cumplir un propósito de Año Nuevo? Haga un propósito de año viejo
  9. Por qué a los primeros cristianos no les habría sorprendido tanto el nacimiento virginal de la historia de Navidad
  10. Israel can and will ignore US appeals to minimize casualties in Gaza
  11. How the Boston Tea Party's 'destruction of the tea' changed American history
  12. Drinking during holidays and special occasions could affect how you parent your kids
  13. Big-box retail chains were never a solution for America's downtowns − and now they're fleeing back to suburbia
  14. A road map for the lawful use of stop-and-frisk in Philadelphia – and elsewhere
  15. Health misinformation is rampant on social media – here's what it does, why it spreads and what people can do about it
  16. Growth of autocracies will expand Chinese global influence via Belt and Road Initiative as it enters second decade
  17. Nonalcoholic beer: New techniques craft flavorful brews without the buzz
  18. 'Good Times': 50 years ago, Norman Lear changed TV with a show about a working-class Black family's struggles and joys
  19. Arctic Report Card 2023: From wildfires to melting sea ice, the warmest summer on record had cascading impacts across the Arctic
  20. Israelis and Palestinians warring over a homeland is far from unique
  21. Israel-Hamas war may not restore Israelis' support for military reserves
  22. Could UPS and FedEx get holiday packages to their destinations faster? This research suggests yes
  23. Before he was House speaker, Mike Johnson represented a creationist museum in court. Here’s what that episode reveals about his politics
  24. Scientists and space agencies are shooting for the Moon -- 5 essential reads on modern lunar missions
  25. Customizing mRNA is easy, and that's what makes it the next frontier for personalized medicine − a molecular biologist explains
  26. What's the point of giving gifts? An anthropologist explains this ancient part of being human
  27. Why university presidents find it hard to punish advocating genocide − college free speech codes are both more and less protective than the First Amendment
  28. Was King Herod the Great really so 'great'? What history says about the bad guy of the Christmas story
  29. Hamas' use of sexual violence is an all-too-common part of modern war – but not in all conflicts
  30. 'You reach a point where you have nothing. You will just die' – in East African refugee camps, food scarcity is a mortal concern
  31. Israel's mass displacement of Gazans fits strategy of using migration as a tool of war
  32. How cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger became the scents of winter holidays, far from their tropical origins
  33. The Napoléon that Ridley Scott and Hollywood won’t let you see
  34. Why do people have wisdom teeth?
  35. How do pacemakers and defibrillators work? A cardiologist explains how they interact with the electrical system of the heart
  36. Teens don't know everything − and those who acknowledge that fact are more eager to learn
  37. Norman Lear's ’70s TV comedies brought people together to confront issues in a way Gen Z would appreciate
  38. Viva Guadalupe! Beyond Mexico, the Indigenous Virgin Mary is a powerful symbol of love and inclusion for millions of Latinos in the US
  39. How the Christmas pudding, with ingredients taken from the colonies, became an iconic British food
  40. Ex-Speaker McCarthy's departure from Congress reads like Greek tragedy – but stars a 'slight unmeritable man' and not a hero
  41. The landmark Genocide Convention has had mixed results since the UN approved it 75 years ago
  42. The holidays and your brain – a neuroscientist explains how to identify and manage your emotions
  43. AI can teach math teachers how to improve student skills
  44. Michigan is spending $107M more on pre-K − here's what the money will buy
  45. Turning annual performance reviews into 'humble encounters' yields dividends for employees and managers
  46. Government and nonprofit workers are getting billions in student loan debt canceled through a public service program
  47. Conservatives' 'anti-woke' alternative to Disney has finally arrived
  48. Holocaust comparisons are overused -- but in the case of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel they may reflect more than just the emotional response of a traumatized people
  49. Yule – a celebration of the return of light and warmth
  50. How new reports reveal Israeli intelligence underestimated Hamas and other key weaknesses