Ways to combat the winter blues and seasonal depression

+ how does TV work? US Edition - Today's top story: Shorter days affect the mood of millions of Americans – a nutritional neuroscientist offers tips on how to avoid the winter blues [View in browser]( US Edition | 5 December 2022 [The Conversation]( Around this time of the season, as the days grow incrementally shorter and we barrel toward the end of the year, many people – myself included – experience periods of melancholy and a general sense of unsettledness. This feeling – whether you call it the blues, the blahs, listlessness, a seasonal funk or even a true state of depression – is surprisingly common. For many people, this sense of heaviness comes and goes during the winter months. But for the millions in the U.S. who experience the condition known as seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, the heavy cloud of seasonal depression can hang on for long stretches at a time. Whether it be fleeting or longer term, the winter blues are [intimately tied to the shortened days](, which trigger a cascade of physiological effects, explains Lina Begdache, an associate professor of health and wellness at Binghamton University. Begdache describes the connections between hours of daylight and the signals in the brain that regulate our sleep and wake cycle, appetite and more. And she offers guidance on how to combat the blues with light exposure early in the morning, sleep and a balanced diet. Also today: - [Reconciling orthodoxy with LGBTQ believers]( - [How fake news led to the American Revolution]( - [Weasels and other small carnivores are disappearing]( Amanda Mascarelli Senior Health and Medicine Editor Today's newsletter supported by [readers like you.]( For those prone to seasonal affective disorder, a shift in the sleep cycle can impact energy levels. 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