Fall is here, which means cozy sweaters, bright foliage and... shrinking brains? The human brain is remarkably adaptable, but few studies demonstrate this better than new research exploring how the brain might change from season to season.
Scientists have long believed the brain is vulnerable to seasonal shifts. For instance, headaches are more frequent in the fall and spring, mental health may decline during winter, and some symptoms of brain diseases such as multiple sclerosis vary with the seasons. Cognition also ebbs and flows throughout the year — even healthy people perform worse in the winter on tests for everyday brain functions like concentration and memory.
It stands to reason that taking a peek inside the brain as the seasons change may help explain these phenomena — and an exploratory study conducted out of the Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center in Hartford, Connecticut, sought to do just that.
