--- title: Winter Sadness: Here's Why Some People Get Sad In Winter description: Difficulty regulating a chemical in the brain may explain why some people suffer from season affective disorder (sad). canonical: https://time.com/3528318/seasonal-affective-disorder-sad-research-winter/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-21T13:34:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:54:48.360Z article:section: Health og:title: Winter Sadness: Here's Why Some People Get Sad In Winter og:description: Difficulty regulating a chemical in the brain may explain why some people suffer from season affective disorder (sad). og:url: https://time.com/3528318/seasonal-affective-disorder-sad-research-winter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Winter Sadness: Here's Why Some People Get Sad In Winter twitter:description: Difficulty regulating a chemical in the brain may explain why some people suffer from season affective disorder (sad). twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Scientists Pinpoint Why Some People Are 'SAD' in Winter > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Oct 21, 2014 1:34 PM UTC  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Oct 21, 2014 1:34 PM UTC Difficulty regulating a chemical in the brain may [explain](http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29691479) why some people suffer from season affective disorder (SAD), according to new research. Scientists at the University of Copenhagen, who studied brain scans from more than 30 subjects, found that SAD patients had different levels of a neurotransmitter that regulates serotonin in their brains during winter and summer months, the BBC [reports](http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29691479). Serotonin is thought to signal happiness in the brain, and, during the winter, the neurotransmitter that removes serotonin was present at higher levels. “We believe that we have found the dial the brain turns when it has to adjust serotonin to the changing seasons,” lead researcher Brenda McMahon told the BBC. The research confirms what other studies have suggested. “SERT fluctuations associated with SAD have been seen in previous studies,” European College of Neuropsychophar­macology professor Siegfried Kasper said. “But this is the first study to follow patients through summer and winter comparisons.” \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29691479)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3528318/seasonal-affective-disorder-sad-research-winter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3528318/seasonal-affective-disorder-sad-research-winter/"},"headline":"Scientists Pinpoint Why Some People Are 'SAD' in Winter","datePublished":"2014-10-21T13:34:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:54:48.360Z","description":"\"We believe that we have found the dial the brain turns when it has to adjust serotonin to the changing seasons\"","url":"https://time.com/3528318/seasonal-affective-disorder-sad-research-winter/","keywords":["Research","winter","health"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3528318/seasonal-affective-disorder-sad-research-winter/","name":"Scientists Pinpoint Why Some People Are 'SAD' in Winter"}}]}] ```