D and Depression!

[Jayd]

:confused: In our constant search for help for Spock, we came across study's being made concerning "Low levels of D in system and Depression.". It seems that low level's of vitamin D in our body helps cause or contribute to depression. Now, the question is, 'How doe's Low Vitamin D in our Grey's system effect their State of Mind?". When our Grey's change moods etc, is this because of amount of available D? [Calcium/Sun] If so, will Sun and Calicum, increasing D absorption help? and how much......Think about it..... Jayd:confused:

[GoDiego]

My mum who lives in the UK suffers from this condition where in the winter when she does not have much natural Vitamin D from natural sunlight she suffers from a mild depression. They call it SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder, my mum helps this condition by having special lamps around the house which simulate natural sunlight. This is a very interesting question about whether this can also effect our feathered friends?

[Jayd]

:)Thank you very much. My wishes to your Mum....

[Jingles]

that makes sense...

 

interesting to actually sit down and think about though

[GoDiego]

I've just been looking at the full spectrum lights you can get for parrots and they are exactly the same principle as the ones my mum uses.

 

I've never looked into them before as Diego has a lot of natural sunlight with time outside everyday, plus living in Spain the sun is always shining (well almost always!).

 

As my mum lives in England the days in the winter are very short and it starts to get dark there at 4pm, even when it is daylight during the winter months there is not much sunshine but a sky full of grey. This effects her terribly, but these special lamps really give her a boost.

 

It makes so much sense that these lamps or some daily natural sunlight is required by parrots as they all originally belong to hot sunny countries where sunlight is such a natural occurrence. Even parrots that live in shady rainforests normally stay up high in the canopy's where the sunlight streams through.

[Guest]

Not that one specimen makes for a scientific study, but I thought I'd chime in on this.

 

I recently acquired a bare-eyed cockatoo that was kept in a dark garage (well, it had one window about 18 inches by 24 inches) for the past two years. He is five years old and apparently used to be a fun-loving, playful happy bird. When I got him he did NOTHING but sit on a perch. He would not play, would barely eat (no kidding - would count his food and many days his entire consumption was half a pea or half a blueberry), almost starved himself to death, and would throw himself backward if any person tried to so much as look at him, never mind physically interact with him.

 

Living in Los Angeles, we have great weather year-round, and from almost the first day that I got him, I would wheel his cage outside so he could hang out out there. Little by little he seemed to get a tiny bit better. (TINY bit. He is still nutty as a fruitcake, poor little guy, and very neurotic.) For example, he has gained 24 grams of weight (still slightly underweight, but not in danger anymore), will play with a toy if I position it riiiiiiiiiiight next to his favorite perch, and will let me handle him (but so far, no one else can without being bitten, however). He also flies away instead of throwing himself backward when he feels threatened, so to me, all of this shows a huge step forward from how he was when I first got him four months ago.

 

When I started to think about it, I really don't attribute his improvement so much to my interactions with him or his new environment at my home. I believe that above all else, the sunlight every day is helping regulate/correct his hormones and that he just simply feeeeeeeeeels better. (The pituitary and the pineal glands both are affected by the amount of light, so it would make sense that a bird - or a person - would not feel right if they were not getting enough light.)

 

 

By the by, just last week I read an article on natural lighting and how important it is to a bird's health. I am not sure if I'm allowed to link it here or not but perhaps if I am, someone can let me know and I can put the link up. (It's very interesting how birds use sunlight - their skin is covered with feathers so the mechanism of how they use sunlight is different from how we humans do.)

[Jayd]

Here's just some of the recent threads and posts. Also, if the bird isn't a "MEAT" eater, sun is how they get their D......Jayd

http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?189219-Full-Spectrum-lighting-Again

http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?190542-How-many-here-use-UV-lighting&highlight=sunlight

http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?47809-lighting