How Your Circadian Rhythm Impacts Your Mood

It’s well-known that environmental factors such as job satisfaction, family dynamics, and even traffic flow can affect our mood. But how we feel can also be influenced by broader biological patterns, including our circadian rhythm and even the season of the year. What does your body clock have to do with your emotions? You might be surprised at how closely the two are connected!

The Many Roles of Our Circadian Rhythm

Most people know that the circadian rhythm sets our sleep-wake cycle. Some of us are programmed to be morning larks, falling asleep early and waking at dawn. Others are born night owls, staying up late and sleeping in. Unfortunately for the night owls, having a later circadian rhythm is associated with greater psychological disturbances.

A recent study of more than 2,000 adults found that morning larks and night owls employ different coping strategies when responding to emotional stress.¹ Morning people were better at managing their emotions, had fewer negative thoughts about their thinking, and were more assertive. Evening people, on the other hand, were more likely to have unhelpful thinking patterns and struggled more with emotional regulation and assertiveness.

Being out of sync with your circadian rhythm can also impact your mental health. Night shift workers, for example, are more likely to experience low mood than those who work daylight hours.¹ Nurses working the night shift report higher levels of anxiousness.² And people with jet lag are more likely to feel blue or worried.³

The seasons can influence mental well-being, too. Many people find it harder to maintain a positive mood during the shorter days and longer nights of fall and winter. Researchers believe this is because changes in daylight length can shift our circadian rhythms, affecting sleep, energy levels, and emotional balance.²

The Body’s Natural Intelligence

Our bodies have an internal system designed to regulate the circadian rhythm without us even thinking about it. This body clock is coordinated by the brain’s suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), a cluster of nerve cells in the hypothalamus that responds to light cues from the environment.

But the SCN doesn’t work alone. It relies on input from multiple systems—including hormone signaling, body temperature regulation, and even metabolism—to keep everything in sync.⁴ Together, these interconnected processes help maintain the natural rhythms that influence sleep, alertness, digestion, and mood.

Nutrition21’s first plant-based ingredient, EverZen™, supports this internal network. Derived from the leaves of young corn plants, it contains 6-MBOA—a unique plant metabolite with clinically studied benefits for emotional wellbeing.*

EverZen supplementation led to significant improvements in self-reported mood and feelings of occasional anxiety in two independent studies. These mood-related benefits were paralleled by a finding that EverZen supported healthy cortisol levels, a recognized marker of the body’s stress response and the circadian rhythm. Taken together, by supporting the body’s natural regulatory systems, EverZen helps promote a positive mood, ease occasional anxiety, and encourage a healthy stress response.*

Stand out in the mood and stress space, with EverZen™.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

References

1. Antúnez JM. Circadian typology is related to emotion regulation, metacognitive beliefs and assertiveness in healthy adults. PLOS ONE. 2020;15(3):e0230169. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0230169
2. MD LE, MD SMH. Why your sleep and wake cycles affect your mood. Harvard Health. May 13, 2020. Accessed April 15, 2025. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/why-your-sleep-and-wake-cycles-affect-your-mood-2020051319792
3. Effects of “Jet Lag ” on Hormonal Patterns. II. Adaptation of Melatonin Circadian Periodicity* | The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism | Oxford Academic. Accessed April 15, 2025. https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article-abstract/52/4/642/2678478?redirectedFrom=fulltext
4. Albrecht U. Timing to Perfection: The Biology of Central and Peripheral Circadian Clocks. Neuron. 2012;74(2):246-260. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2012.04.006