Neuroecological Mood and Homo Spatiotemporalis

Abstract

Metabolic syndrome is epigenetically related to mood disorders. Seasonality is a predictor of metabolic syndrome. Obesity is more common in the West than in the East. This is not solely due to industrialized societies. It should be emphasized that the frequency of major depressive disorder increases as one moves north. However, seasonal affective disorder is intermeridian. Mood is also closely related to how we perceive and experience nature. Different time scales between the organism/body-brain and the world synchronize to serve the minimization of free energy. Spatial-temporal dynamics, referred to as a common currency, serve adaptation. Autism and affective spectrum disorder are spatiotemporal pathologies. In depression, internal time is slow, external time is fast. The opposite is true in mania. The loss of the connection between internal and external time, which is crucial for perception and memory, explains how the sense of self can be lost in psychosis.