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Notes on mood, science, and tending to how you feel.

July 29, 20265 min read

Nature and mood: the two-hour dose

The research on green space and wellbeing keeps converging on a number — about two hours a week — but the mechanism is less obvious than "trees are nice," and the causality runs both ways.

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July 26, 20264 min read

Caffeine and mood: the borrowed energy problem

Caffeine doesn't create energy, it blocks the signal that you're tired. The mood effects depend less on how much you drink than on when you drink it and how much sleep you're borrowing against.
June 12, 20262 min read

Your mood follows your clock

Research on 139 patients tracked across 40,000 days finds that circadian rhythm disruption is a direct cause of mood episodes, not just a symptom.
June 5, 20262 min read

Social media and mood, what the numbers actually say

Heavy social media use correlates with a 66% higher depression risk. But the relationship is more specific than "screens bad," and the nuance matters.
May 29, 20262 min read

Sleep is not just a mood symptom

A meta-analysis of 54 studies finds that sleep quality is a modifiable risk factor for depression, improving it reduces symptoms significantly, independent of other treatment.
May 22, 20263 min read

Exercise and mood, the neuroscience is more interesting than "endorphins"

New research on aerobic and resistance training reveals distinct neurobiological pathways to mood improvement, and the minimum effective dose is smaller than most people think.
May 15, 20262 min read

Seasonal mood, it's not just SAD

Forty years after SAD was formally named, research shows that seasonal mood variation affects a far broader population than those with a clinical diagnosis.
May 8, 20263 min read

Your gut is making your mood

Recent research on the gut-brain axis reveals that intestinal microbes produce serotonin, dopamine, and GABA, and that diet-driven changes to the microbiome have measurable mood effects.
April 30, 20263 min read

Weather and mood, the research is more complicated than it feels

A 2025 mobile health study finds that temperature and day length affect depression severity, but individual variation is so large that population findings often don't predict personal experience.
April 23, 20263 min read

Why Wednesday is the worst day (and what the research says about weekly mood cycles)

Weekly rhythms account for roughly 40% of mood variance. Understanding the structure of your week can help you plan around it instead of being surprised by it.
April 16, 20263 min read

Loneliness is a health condition, and the WHO finally said so

In May 2025, the WHO adopted its first-ever social connection resolution. The research behind the decision is stark: isolation is as dangerous to health as smoking.

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