November 4, 2025 • 37 mins
Now that Daylight Savings Time has ended, we’re experiencing less daylight and for many, that change brings about sadness or depressive episodes as a result. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, millions of adults experience Seasonal Affective Disorder (sometimes referred to as seasonal depression) in the United States. Do you think less daylight affects your mood? How so? Do you suspect you might have seasonal affective disorder? Dr. Varsha Radhakrishnan, a psychiatrist at Tufts Medical Center, checked in with us to discuss!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's night Side with Dan Ray on WBS, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
A little over a week ago, I had joining me
a psychiatrist from the Tofts Medical Center talking about seasonal
effective disorder. And since we have now gone through the
not the change in seasons, but uh, the the change
in darkness at night, we gained an hour's worth of
(00:29):
sleep Saturday evening into Sunday morning, and all of us,
I'm sure felt much better about Sunday morning waking up
at a dark heck of a lot earlier with us again,
and I appreciate her time as doctor Vasha radak Krishnan, uh,
doctor Roda Christian.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
If I'm not doing your name.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Correctly, please feel free to help me because it is
a long name, and uh, I have a short name
spelled r e A. But I I can't tell you
how many times my last name was mispronounced at various
points in my life, and it always like Rhea.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
No, it's Ray, It's just Ray.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
So I try my best, but but I apologize if
I don't get it right in advance.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
How are you tonight?
Speaker 4 (01:18):
I'm doing great and you you got it. It's it's
Varsha Rada Christian and so you you got it perfectly.
But it's great to great to be here. Thanks for
for having me again.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
So daylight savings time ended and now we are experiencing
the same amount of daylight, but a different time during
the day. We gained we gained some daylight in the morning,
but we lost it in the afternoon. Is that an
accurate description of what happened to us on Sunday?
Speaker 4 (01:53):
I definitely think so. I think. Well, for one, I mean,
our bodies are are used to change in acting, but
I mean I can tell you, for one, I'm definitely
feeling the change as we're entering, you know, into winter
and things are getting colder, darker. So it's definitely a big,
a big change that you know, we're we're going to
(02:14):
be seeing.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
But what I'm saying is the amount of sunlight from
yesterday to today only was reduced by about a minute
or so every day the amount of sunlight that and
the sunlight doesn't change, it's just when we see the.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Sun correct, correct, It's okay.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So it's not like all of a sudden we went
from you know, ten hours of sunlight to dine.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
The amount of sidelight.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
That's psychologically, it has this impact because when we're used
to seeing the late summer nights when the sun doesn't
set until eight thirty at our laddice tud uh And
now it's slowly you know, chopped off at two or
three minutes every night or so or every day and
(03:06):
then on on Sunday afternoon, it was like, whoa with
the sun go. If this affects people, this the seasonal
effective disorder, that's that's not just in their heads. That's
so that if I'm wrong, please correct me, because you're
the doctor. I'm assuming that's a real change that people
(03:27):
some people have trouble coping with.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Absolutely and and especially with seasonal effective disorder. It's it's
a type of disorder that we tend to see occurring,
especially with bigger weather changes. It's not necessarily something that
we might experience or see within say a day or
two of the weather changing. I know, I believe last
(03:51):
time we had also talked about how was different just
depending on on you know, our bodies are adapted to stress,
you know, other aspects that could also be influencing mood.
All of our you know, responses can change the timelines
with which we might experience, you know, changes in mood
(04:12):
can also be different. So for some folks it might
be you know, a couple of days and starting to
see that that shift in sleep wake cycle, even just
by an hour or two, can be really dramatic, whereas
for others it might take a few weeks to start
feeling those effects.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
When did the medical community first begin to understand? And again,
I associate this a lot with what happened on the
weekend and uh, the the change of the clock. But
I know that that you're telling me there's more factors
to this, and we want to explore some of those.
But when did the either the psych u psych psychology,
(04:51):
psychological community or the medical community. You are, you have
degrees in psychology and medicine as a psychiatrist, and people
need to underst stand the difference between psychologists and psychiatrists.
You you have under you understand from a from a
medicine point of view. You're a doctor, a doctor of medicine,
(05:14):
and you're also a doctor of psychology to become a
doctor of PS psych psychiatry, so you understand the interactions,
which is why why I'm so appreciative of talking with
you about this. But when did the medical community first
say Hey, there may be something to this seasonal effective disorder.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
That's that's real.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
So I believe actually the term itself was coined in
the eighties, and it was initially coined to describe that phenomenon.
It's been around for forever. But I think even just
thinking about how psychiatry and mental health is really relatively
a newer, younger, few old within much of medicine, and
(06:03):
partly it's, you know, big part of that is because
we don't we still don't fully understand all of these illnesses,
the symptoms, what causes them. We're still you know, just
scratching the surface. But the term itself was coined, I believe,
in the eighties, and then the definitions and ways in
which that you know, we define seasonal effective disorder depression
(06:26):
have slowly shifted and changed over time, but generally the
actual term was coined around then.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Well, I know that the acronym for seasonal effective disorder
ironically is SAD. The words sad, and clearly people who
are depressed, non professionals will look at them and say, gee,
they're just sad, but it's it's much more than sad.
I first understood this, believe it or not, the former
(07:00):
first Lady of Massachusetts, Kitty Tocaccus, suffered from this greatly,
and her husband, former governor and presidential candidate, Mike Docaccus,
who I knew really well. You would explain to me
the depression that she would go through at this time
of hear and she spoke about it publicly. I'm not,
you know, in any way, shape or form compromising uh,
(07:22):
any privileged conversations I had with either of them, But
Kitty Tocaccus was very brave about this, and and she
would she would speak about it publicly. What percentage of
Americans either realize they have this or are their projections
as to how many people are impacted this or is
(07:45):
it one of those spectrum diseases where everybody for maybe
a couple of days habit and then they kind of
get back to where they were, But there are some
people who can't get back to where they are. If
when I refer to it as spectrum disease, I'm sure
you know what I'm trying to present.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
You absolutely, And I'm glad you said the word spectrum,
because it truly is such a wide range of the
types of symptoms. We can see the severity generally Generally speaking,
the approximately approximately five percent of the US population suffers
from seasonal effective disorder, and that's just really more of
(08:26):
a rough estimate. I think the reality is, it's it's
likely that we see more folks that are somewhere either,
you know, in between. So I'd say, folks that maybe
don't know that they have seasonal effective symptoms, Folks who
may feel down depressed for certain periods of time. But
it's it may be time limited for a couple of
(08:47):
weeks initially when the season is changing itself, but some
estimates have even indicated that just mood changes in general
during this period of time can affect even up to
a fifth of the popular.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Now, is there a corollary recovery when spring comes and
all of a sudden we lose an hour of sleep
one Saturday night Sunday morning, and the next night, instead
of the sun you know, setting it six point fifteen,
my goodness, the sun stays up until seven fifteen, And
all of a sudden, our bodies know and our minds
(09:23):
know that we are now on the end of the
winter cycle, and summer is before us, and the days
are going to get longer for quite a while.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
There is there.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Any sort of you know, you have a downer in November,
but in late March you have an equivalent up mood
swing or is there no such thing as that up
mood swing at the when winter is sort of dissipating.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
Well, it's a good question, I think. I think it
depends on how we also define it. I think there's
the nat excitement itself of Okay, now we're finally you know,
getting out of out of the winter months, and feels
like we can we have so much to look forward to,
there's more that we can do. We're, of course social creatures,
so there's naturally this uh, this feeling of being able
(10:14):
to now reconnect with people, join people outside. That's one
one factor for sure. But the actual hormonal changes that
we see with our biological with our clocks, right, our
circadian rhythms can can actually shift, and so what we
might tend to see is changes in our sleep hormones,
(10:35):
so melatonin production, which can shift over time depending on
the season that we're in. So that's really what I think. Individually,
all of us have a different way in which we
might regulate melatonin, but that's one of the primary causes
we believe or at least ideologies that might be driving
(10:57):
some of these seasonal changes. So it's very possible that
as your melatonin production shifts to maybe a little bit
later in spring and summer months, that you feel more
awake during the day more and maybe that leads to
a sense of calm or or leads to feeling maybe
a little more energized.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah, so there there's a physical as well as a
psychological impact. What I want to do is we got
to have a quick break. I have a million questions,
but I'm sure my audience does as well, and i
know that it's always I feel I'm imposing on those
in the medical field because you folks tend to be
the early risers. So I'm hoping that our listeners will
(11:37):
join us. They can ask questions. You can't diagnose over
the air know what we expect to, but they certainly
can explain maybe a little bit about how they're feeling
at this point, and you can give them some suggestions
that might help them. So we'll see where the conversation
takes us. This is the best part of the program
for me. Six one, seven, two, five, four ten thirty
(12:00):
six one seven, nine, three one ten thirty feel free
to join. As I've often said, there's really only there
were no dumb questions. The dumb questions are only the
ones that you don't have the courage to ask. I
found that out in law school many years ago, because
what the one that I didn't ask always was on
the exam. Uh So, if you are in h have
(12:22):
any questions in this area. I'm so delighted that my
guest has given us some time tonight.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Again.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
I'm sure it's getting past, but your bedtime is. I
know what time you folks head to work in the morning.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty six one seven, nine three one ten thirty.
I could ask questions all night long. I'm not gonna
do that. I rely on my calls. We'll be back
on night Side.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on w B Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
All right, we're gonna go to phones.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
My first call will come from Larry in Dennisport, down
on the Cape. Larry, welcome back to Night's Side. You're
on with doctor Varsha Rata Kushna.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
Thanks for taking my call. I won't even try to
pronounce that name you call.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
It, doctor Varsha, how's that? Okay?
Speaker 5 (13:19):
Okay? So I was diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder years back.
I've tried multiple antidepressants ect tms, nothing work. They finally
decided it's called treatment resistant depression. But it comes this
time of year. But again it comes back in the spring.
(13:41):
And my therapist that I was seeing at the time
also said it's a busy time for her because people
with seasonal affective disorder in the springtime, they're anticipating all
this great weather. But you know how the expression goes
in Cape cod spring doesn't come till July and can
be very depressing. So if you took a poll, probably
(14:04):
eighty percent of the population would like to not change
the clocks. The argument that people have is should it
be daylight savings year round or daylight or standard time.
The best discussion that I saw on this one is
that if you look at a map, tape cord As
compared to Florida, like Miami, is way out to sea.
(14:26):
So rather than taking this argument of which we should
be in, we should take at least Massachusetts and possibly
New England and move us out to Atlantic Standard Time,
which is basically daylight savings time, because what happens with
me is last week I had the worst week of
(14:46):
anxiety and depression. My mind was gearing up for the
time change. Saturday night, I got maybe two or three
hours of sleep. Takes me about two or three weeks
from my body to adjust. Once I get into the winter,
I seem to do a little bit better, and then
I start gearing up in the spring. So as far
(15:08):
as turning the closs back, which do you think would
help better daylight savings time year round or standard time?
Speaker 4 (15:18):
That's a great question. First off, thank you so much
for sharing your experience. You know, I think it's very
helpful for me to also hear you know what your
experience has been like, and it's it's incredibly difficult to
have to cope with this, and also to know that
these are symptoms that you suffer from every year. I
(15:41):
certainly you know. I I wish I had a very
good answer for this, but I truthfully, I truthfully don't
have a great answer. I think in general, because one
of one of the factors is, of course, you know,
with daylight savings, we see, you know, if we kept
the same timing all throughout the year, that could be
(16:03):
one factor. But because we understand there's no effective disorder
as being very multifactorial, so we think of both our
own genetic loading our predisposition. On one hand, we think
of the environmental changes, the actual shift itself face shift
that we see with daylight savings and the change in
(16:26):
the clock, so to speak, and we see changes in
our natural melatonin production. We might also see changes in
the way our body is being exposed to vitamin D.
So there's so many different factors that I think even
if we were to change, say the way in which
(16:47):
we incorporate daylight savings, I think there's still so many
other pieces that would still put us at risk for
seasonal sexual depression.
Speaker 5 (16:56):
Okay, because I asked you just one more quick question,
because you want to hit on something that I've been
reading about. I've been having trouble sleeping. A lot of
that has to do with, as Dan knows, I'm going through.
I have a lot of long COVID symptoms, and a
lot of what was helping was being outside doing my
cold water therapy and the ocean and everything. But I've
(17:17):
been taking some melatonin gummies helped me sleep at night.
But I just read an article that now they're saying
long term use of melatonin can possibly affect your heart.
Have you heard anything about that?
Speaker 4 (17:33):
So, I will say from the readings I've done regarding
at least the literature that we have about melatonin, it's
generally considered a very effective, safe medication, mainly because it's
a hormone that our bodies are naturally producing. I think
the variability in some of these studies that we send
(17:54):
to see melatonin is actually not technically a regular FDA
regulated medication. So as a result, if you depending on
where you're purchasing malotonin from, there's so much variability and
the concentration and amount that we might see. So I
would say the studies themselves, it's it's actually extremely difficult
(18:15):
to find a study that's consistent because of this reason.
So what you might purchase maybe from CBS would be
possibly different in terms of the formulation and the medication
at a different pharmacy.
Speaker 5 (18:30):
Interest.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
But I appreciate I have not seen.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Yeah, Larry, best best of luck.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Hope you you get yourself back on schedule and get
some good sleep again. If you you listen to Nights Out,
I'll take you to midnight every night.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
If you don't fall asleep, you're on your own.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
Okay, I'm listening. I don't have a right there with
you every night now, and thank you for this topic.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Very welcome, Lary, thank you so much. Good night.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
We've got to take a break for news. If you'd
like to join the conversation six one seven, two, four,
ten thirty six ons an ten thirty if if any
question about seasonal effective disorder. We've never done this topic
at this depth, but I happen to believe that more
of you out there, and particularly people who do rely
(19:16):
upon radio for a companionship at night, are are listening
and feel free. This is a great opportunity. I don't
know when we will get back to this topic again,
so there's no question that is that is inappropriate. If
it impacts you, you can ask the question. Don't expect
the doctor could diagnose your situation. You can't expect that,
(19:39):
but she certainly can give you, as she gave to Larry,
some information and guidance which.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Hopefully will help him.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Six one, seven, two, five, four ten thirty six one
seven nine three one ten thirty.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Coming right back on night Side.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
We're you talking with doctor Varsha Radikrishna.
Speaker 5 (20:02):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
She is with the Tough Medical Center. She's a psychiatrist,
and we're talking about seasonal effective disorder. I'm surprised we
have heard from men, and we look as if it's
all men at this point. I know that on this
issue there are a lot of women out here who
would have a question as well. So ladies, don't miss
(20:23):
the opportunity. Let me go next to Alex in Millis, Massachusetts. Alex,
you were on with doctor Vasha Radikrishna.
Speaker 6 (20:32):
Hi, doctor Vassa, Hi Dan, good eating. Before I was
gonna mention, uh, not only humans have a seasonal disorder,
but my dog, our dog, he does get affected by
it too, So just like us, I think you know
most people will agree. And the other thing is, as
(20:53):
soon as you know they changed the clocks back, it
seems to me like you know that, Okay, it's it's uh,
it gets darker earlier, and I feel like, okay, this
is not the right time. So my body hasn't kind
of like jet lag, except I haven't flown anywhere.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
Okay, yeah, no, that's and and thank you for bringing
up the the point about you know, our animals also
experiencing uh. You know, similarly, when we think of say,
hibernation for other animals, we we see that same type
of phenomenon where our body is kind of slowing down.
(21:37):
So we see some of those similar types of uh
features and humans to the biological side. But I, you know,
I I certainly think what we can see with some
of these these changes in the daylight and and especially
with daylight savings, as the clock falls back or forward,
(21:59):
it can lead to that jet lag like feeling even
shorter timeframe. Safe we're traveling somewhere that doesn't have such
a big shift necessarily not so many hours apart, you
can still our bodies can still feel it, and it
can take a few days to to really reorient.
Speaker 6 (22:17):
Right, would you say, doctor?
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Uh?
Speaker 6 (22:20):
You know, I have no problem falling asleep, although I
like to have you know, I sleep sometimes with the
TV on. Some people find that a book reading a
book helps them, But it's not a good idea to like,
you know, if I have the TV uh, just you know,
have the volume down. Uh, It's it kind of relaxes me.
(22:42):
Or is that still you know, not a good idea
because it's a stimulant.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
So generally when we when we think about good sleep hygiene,
it's important to note what what works for you. So
what might what might help to relax you and be
part of your Your nighttime routine might be a little
bit different from someone else's, but generally speaking, I say
audio is not necessarily always super stimulating, whereas when you're
(23:13):
looking at say a screen or bright lights, that's usually
where we tend to see our brains are sort of
getting you know, hyperfixated, wired, more activated to say, with reading.
On the other hand, when it's not on a screen,
that doesn't necessarily seem to lead to that same type
(23:34):
of sleepwake disturbance. But generally speaking, if you find an
activity or something that you really enjoy that does help
relax you, I'd say there's nothing wrong in in including
that into your regular sleep routine.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Okay, right, Alex, great questions, Thanks thanks to Okay, good night,
and give you dog a big pet for us, Okay,
because he needs to be he she needs to be
some it as well.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Thanks, Alex takes up the whole bed. That's okay, that's
what dogs are supposed to do. It's a great night.
Next up.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Richard in Beverly, Massachusetts. Hi, Richard, you're next night side
with my guest doctor Vasha. Rightakut snap hell there, hello.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Gorun ahead.
Speaker 7 (24:20):
My suggestion is to move the spring forward just to
half an hour and never touch the clocks again.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Well, I don't know if we can do that, and
that's really not the topic here.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Are you impacted? Do you feel differently in the few days?
You know?
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Obviously we thought we gained an hour's worth of sleep,
which we did Saturday night into Sunday morning, But now
we've lost an hour in the afternoon of daylight.
Speaker 6 (24:52):
Right?
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Does that affect your It affects me. I just driving tonight.
I went up to grad dinner about I don't know
four thirty or well five o'clock actually, and it was like,
why is it so dark at five o'clock?
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Oh yeah, we're now we're now out of daylight savings time.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
I had to, you know, remember, because last week, if
you're driving at five o'clock, the sun was up, it's
not now.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
I don't think it affects my mood. Does it affect
your mood? Richard?
Speaker 7 (25:23):
No, it doesn't cause me at all. I'm just you know,
we've been doing this forever moving the clocks, and if
we just put it on half the distance between it
and never touched it again, we wouldn't have to worry
about it anymore.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
I don't know, doctor Vosha, I don't know if you
want to a comment on that or not. Do you
think that would solve the problem or do you think it.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
Would be I think I think certainly the idea of
it being all all related to time. I know, when
we think about seasonal effective disorder, mood chaines, there's so
much more than than the time frame alone. I think
the psychological impact, the sudden jolt, to the way our
(26:09):
bodies are adapting to these changes and in time frame.
I know, I, for one, say, if I'm going to
work and I'm used to being able to leave work
and still see it bright outside, so when it's dark
it feels pretty. It does feel different. There's some there's
a different feeling about it psychologically for sure. So I
think on that hands where you know, changing time frames
(26:32):
can be one piece, but there's also so many other parts,
like the hormonal pieces, genetics, other stressful factors that might
accompany the winter time, you know, increase risk of feeling lonely,
of not connecting with others. Sure, so there's so many
pieces that can still also have an active role.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Yeah, there is the element that in that in the
winter time, you're not likely at six o'clock at night
to go out and take a walk before dinner or
after dinner because it's so dark and it's cold in
the area where we live, and that isolates we self isolate.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
I don't know how you're able.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Chemically, and it is chemical, I assume it's chemical reactions.
But how you can test that, I don't know that
they can you can ever test what percentage of it
is just the cold weather, what percentage of it is
the higher percentage of the lack of a high percentage
of light during the day. I assume that at some
(27:32):
point fifty years from now, they'll be able they'll have
tests for people where they can figure out what they
can do. I don't know, doctor Vosher, if you agree
with that, But the medical field is always coming up
with new tests. I mean, they you have so many
tests that you can take now. I kind of imagine
when it will be like fifty years from now, particularly
(27:52):
on something.
Speaker 4 (27:52):
Oh yeah, I think the world is going to be
totally different in fifty years, so I can only imagine
we might have a way to even detect which, you know,
who is more at risk of developing seasonal effective symptoms.
I can I can absolutely see that as uh being
part of part of our medical journey moving.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Forward, No, no doubt, Richard, appreciate your call. We'll have
to take under advisement your suggestion.
Speaker 7 (28:18):
Okay, Okay, thank you, Richard, great munch.
Speaker 6 (28:21):
Bye, thank you, good night.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
We're gonna take quick break. Joan in Alaska is calling.
You want to talk.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
About seasonal effective disorder. Joan, We're going to take a break.
We'll get you on the other side. If anyone else
would like to join us as well, you gotta dial
quickly now. Six one seven, two five four ten thirty.
Six one seven, nine three one ten thirty. We're talking
about a condition that affects a lot of people every
year around this time. That's why we did this tonight.
Feel free questions comments, You're all welcome. Six one seven, two,
(28:51):
five four ten thirty or six one seven, nine three
one ten thirty. And we also have that triple eight
number triple eight nine two nine ten thirty nightside.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Right after this, you're on night side. With Dan Ray
on w b Z, Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
My guest is doctor Vasha Rata Christian. She is a
psychiatrist with Tough's Medical Center. We're talking about seasonal effective disorder,
and no part of the world probably is more effective
by seasonal or at least part of the United States
by seasonal effective disorder than.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Hey, Joan, Welcome back to Nightside. You're on with doctor Fasher.
Speaker 8 (29:28):
Go right ahead, Hi Dan, Hi doctor. We are definitely
greatly impacted by SAD up here. And I experienced my
own hit the wall after I had been here for
about twenty years, and I actually had blood work done.
When you were talking about chemistry and hormones and all
(29:48):
of that. It was around the time when a woman
of a certain age his hormones checked. But they also
checked my vitamin D level and I barely had any
vitamin D.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Sunshine right is a vitamin D sunshine?
Speaker 8 (30:04):
Hello?
Speaker 5 (30:05):
Yep.
Speaker 8 (30:05):
And I was prescribed in prescription strength vitamin D. But
I would caution people not to just take vitamin D randomly,
and I'm sure the doctor can explain the risks of that,
but it's very worthwhile to get your vitamin D level
checked and then I also use a small device that
(30:29):
is a light that I'll use late morning or early
afternoon for about half an hour, and that helps. It's
a sad light light, yep. And that's But the impact
up here, I know, is huge and I often wonder
how the native population years ago dealt with that other
(30:52):
than what we all tend to do up here is
you know, you start increasing your carbs and your hunker
down and do what the bears do. Yeah, it really
it does. I mean the carb cravings. We people joke
about it, but it's it's very prevalent.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
And Joan, I think ed we're going to ask you
how much snow do you get?
Speaker 8 (31:16):
I mean, I'm an Eagle River right now, I'm about
ten miles outside of Anchorage.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
So you just still start for real? And when does
it stop?
Speaker 8 (31:25):
If ever, you're not allowed to say that word. We
haven't had a significant amount yet, but we're due to
start on Thursday. It can start anytime in October and
continue until April. Wow, but we have I can still
see green grass out in the yard. But we're due
to get our first significant dump on Thursday.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Well, do us a favorite Joan, keeping closer contact with
us we were always going to be there for you,
no matter what month of the year, what time of
day you think it is, what time of it actually is,
and and uh and and check in with we can
monitor you as.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
You go through.
Speaker 8 (32:06):
Well, yeah, I appreciate it. We're supposed to be social,
so this will be my social time from my requiner.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
We could check it in on your winter of discontent.
Speaker 8 (32:17):
Comment if you would doctor about the vitamin D. Absolutely,
it made a huge difference for me.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
Yes, thank you so much for bringing that up and
for sharing your experience. Vitamin D levels are often something
that doesn't regularly get get checked, but I think really should.
Especially vitamin D deficiency can can really look like depression.
And part of that is the extreme fatigue, the the
(32:48):
lack of motivation, the difficulty waking up in the morning.
A lot of those those symptoms are very similar and
overlap with what we might think of as as more
depressive symptoms. And so at least with with my psychiatry
colleagues that in the hospital, I actually regularly check vitamin
D now knowing that especially in the Northeast, it's it's
(33:11):
extremely common to have vitamin D deficiency and and you're
right in that taking too much vitamin D not not
taking a typical prescribed amount is not something that we
would regularly recommend, but it is really important. Say you
are vitamin D deficient, doctors can write a specific high
(33:32):
strength prescription that may be able to help replete faster
and hopefully provide relief faster. And those prescription strength medications,
especially the higher doses of vitamin D or usually not
available necessarily over the counter.
Speaker 5 (33:48):
But that's where.
Speaker 4 (33:49):
Getting the lab work monitoring it can be super helpful.
And then you also mentioned the light box, and I'm
so glad that you brought that up because that that
is actually one of the most effective treatments that we
have for seasonal effective disorder and it can be extremely helpful.
So really, what the light box does, it's a specific
(34:11):
type of strength or number of movements, so it has
to be usually or lux so we call it usually
ten thousand lucks minimum of the strength of the light box.
And you can actually order these off online even on Amazon.
And with these light boxes, it simulates daylight. So if
(34:34):
you actually turn on the box and like you're doing
a set period of time for the day, you can
extend either the daytime by turning on the box in
the evening, or if you say, wake up earlier in
the morning it's still dark out, you can set up
the light box and basically expose yourself to it, so
it's recreating that feeling of sunlight.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Sounds great, sounds great, Joan, thanks so much for calling.
I want to get one more in here real quickly.
We stay well, okay, stay strong, let me get Alan Belmont.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
Now we got about a minute. Do you have a
quick question or a comment for the doctor?
Speaker 6 (35:10):
Yes, just wondering why do we do this?
Speaker 8 (35:14):
If it's so bad for everybody, why don't we turn
the clocks ahead instead of bringing them back to get
more daylight in the winter times?
Speaker 1 (35:22):
One of the day's lights daylight short anyway, And I
don't know how those people in alaskauld do it.
Speaker 4 (35:28):
Wouldn't it dark?
Speaker 3 (35:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (35:30):
You know what. I think you will have to save
that question for another night, because we're really talking more
about the medical and the psychological impact of seasonal effective disorder.
The the debate over whether the clock should go forward
stay where they are, go backwards maybe half an hour.
That's never going to end. Ali, I'm flat out of time,
and I wish you called earlier, but thank you so
(35:52):
much for at least raising that question. Okay, thanks buddy,
hanging there, we're here for you. Don't worry, doctor Vasha
rute A Christ Now, thank you so much for your
time tonight. It was fascinating for me. I hope my
audience enjoyed it as much as I did. And thank
you for being so generous with your time to my audience.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
Absolutely, and and thank you so much for having me.
It's a it's a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
We'll have you back. You're good at this, You're very good.
You explained things really well. It's it's a gift you have,
so thank you. We will take advantage of it whatever
whatever we get.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (36:33):
Well, I would love to come back, take care back.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
Thank you, doctor. We'll take a quick break and we're goingness. Now.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Look at some of the election results in Boston, New Jersey,
in Virginia. It looks as if the Democrats have picked
up our governorship in Virginia held the governorship in New Jersey.
At least those two results are not what Donald Trump
and the Republicans wanted. We'll also talk about the Boston race.
Is we get some races, some numbers coming into Boston
(37:02):
as well. We'll get to politics right after the ten
o'clock news here at nights that in your reaction to
what's happening around the country,
It's night Side with Dan Ray on WBS, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
A little over a week ago, I had joining me
a psychiatrist from the Tofts Medical Center talking about seasonal
effective disorder. And since we have now gone through the
not the change in seasons, but uh, the the change
in darkness at night, we gained an hour's worth of
(00:29):
sleep Saturday evening into Sunday morning, and all of us,
I'm sure felt much better about Sunday morning waking up
at a dark heck of a lot earlier with us again,
and I appreciate her time as doctor Vasha radak Krishnan, uh,
doctor Roda Christian.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
If I'm not doing your name.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Correctly, please feel free to help me because it is
a long name, and uh, I have a short name
spelled r e A. But I I can't tell you
how many times my last name was mispronounced at various
points in my life, and it always like Rhea.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
No, it's Ray, It's just Ray.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
So I try my best, but but I apologize if
I don't get it right in advance.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
How are you tonight?
Speaker 4 (01:18):
I'm doing great and you you got it. It's it's
Varsha Rada Christian and so you you got it perfectly.
But it's great to great to be here. Thanks for
for having me again.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
So daylight savings time ended and now we are experiencing
the same amount of daylight, but a different time during
the day. We gained we gained some daylight in the morning,
but we lost it in the afternoon. Is that an
accurate description of what happened to us on Sunday?
Speaker 4 (01:53):
I definitely think so. I think. Well, for one, I mean,
our bodies are are used to change in acting, but
I mean I can tell you, for one, I'm definitely
feeling the change as we're entering, you know, into winter
and things are getting colder, darker. So it's definitely a big,
a big change that you know, we're we're going to
(02:14):
be seeing.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
But what I'm saying is the amount of sunlight from
yesterday to today only was reduced by about a minute
or so every day the amount of sunlight that and
the sunlight doesn't change, it's just when we see the.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Sun correct, correct, It's okay.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So it's not like all of a sudden we went
from you know, ten hours of sunlight to dine.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
The amount of sidelight.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
That's psychologically, it has this impact because when we're used
to seeing the late summer nights when the sun doesn't
set until eight thirty at our laddice tud uh And
now it's slowly you know, chopped off at two or
three minutes every night or so or every day and
(03:06):
then on on Sunday afternoon, it was like, whoa with
the sun go. If this affects people, this the seasonal
effective disorder, that's that's not just in their heads. That's
so that if I'm wrong, please correct me, because you're
the doctor. I'm assuming that's a real change that people
(03:27):
some people have trouble coping with.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Absolutely and and especially with seasonal effective disorder. It's it's
a type of disorder that we tend to see occurring,
especially with bigger weather changes. It's not necessarily something that
we might experience or see within say a day or
two of the weather changing. I know, I believe last
(03:51):
time we had also talked about how was different just
depending on on you know, our bodies are adapted to stress,
you know, other aspects that could also be influencing mood.
All of our you know, responses can change the timelines
with which we might experience, you know, changes in mood
(04:12):
can also be different. So for some folks it might
be you know, a couple of days and starting to
see that that shift in sleep wake cycle, even just
by an hour or two, can be really dramatic, whereas
for others it might take a few weeks to start
feeling those effects.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
When did the medical community first begin to understand? And again,
I associate this a lot with what happened on the
weekend and uh, the the change of the clock. But
I know that that you're telling me there's more factors
to this, and we want to explore some of those.
But when did the either the psych u psych psychology,
(04:51):
psychological community or the medical community. You are, you have
degrees in psychology and medicine as a psychiatrist, and people
need to underst stand the difference between psychologists and psychiatrists.
You you have under you understand from a from a
medicine point of view. You're a doctor, a doctor of medicine,
(05:14):
and you're also a doctor of psychology to become a
doctor of PS psych psychiatry, so you understand the interactions,
which is why why I'm so appreciative of talking with
you about this. But when did the medical community first
say Hey, there may be something to this seasonal effective disorder.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
That's that's real.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
So I believe actually the term itself was coined in
the eighties, and it was initially coined to describe that phenomenon.
It's been around for forever. But I think even just
thinking about how psychiatry and mental health is really relatively
a newer, younger, few old within much of medicine, and
(06:03):
partly it's, you know, big part of that is because
we don't we still don't fully understand all of these illnesses,
the symptoms, what causes them. We're still you know, just
scratching the surface. But the term itself was coined, I believe,
in the eighties, and then the definitions and ways in
which that you know, we define seasonal effective disorder depression
(06:26):
have slowly shifted and changed over time, but generally the
actual term was coined around then.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Well, I know that the acronym for seasonal effective disorder
ironically is SAD. The words sad, and clearly people who
are depressed, non professionals will look at them and say, gee,
they're just sad, but it's it's much more than sad.
I first understood this, believe it or not, the former
(07:00):
first Lady of Massachusetts, Kitty Tocaccus, suffered from this greatly,
and her husband, former governor and presidential candidate, Mike Docaccus,
who I knew really well. You would explain to me
the depression that she would go through at this time
of hear and she spoke about it publicly. I'm not,
you know, in any way, shape or form compromising uh,
(07:22):
any privileged conversations I had with either of them, But
Kitty Tocaccus was very brave about this, and and she
would she would speak about it publicly. What percentage of
Americans either realize they have this or are their projections
as to how many people are impacted this or is
(07:45):
it one of those spectrum diseases where everybody for maybe
a couple of days habit and then they kind of
get back to where they were, But there are some
people who can't get back to where they are. If
when I refer to it as spectrum disease, I'm sure
you know what I'm trying to present.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
You absolutely, And I'm glad you said the word spectrum,
because it truly is such a wide range of the
types of symptoms. We can see the severity generally Generally speaking,
the approximately approximately five percent of the US population suffers
from seasonal effective disorder, and that's just really more of
(08:26):
a rough estimate. I think the reality is, it's it's
likely that we see more folks that are somewhere either,
you know, in between. So I'd say, folks that maybe
don't know that they have seasonal effective symptoms, Folks who
may feel down depressed for certain periods of time. But
it's it may be time limited for a couple of
(08:47):
weeks initially when the season is changing itself, but some
estimates have even indicated that just mood changes in general
during this period of time can affect even up to
a fifth of the popular.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Now, is there a corollary recovery when spring comes and
all of a sudden we lose an hour of sleep
one Saturday night Sunday morning, and the next night, instead
of the sun you know, setting it six point fifteen,
my goodness, the sun stays up until seven fifteen, And
all of a sudden, our bodies know and our minds
(09:23):
know that we are now on the end of the
winter cycle, and summer is before us, and the days
are going to get longer for quite a while.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
There is there.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Any sort of you know, you have a downer in November,
but in late March you have an equivalent up mood
swing or is there no such thing as that up
mood swing at the when winter is sort of dissipating.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
Well, it's a good question, I think. I think it
depends on how we also define it. I think there's
the nat excitement itself of Okay, now we're finally you know,
getting out of out of the winter months, and feels
like we can we have so much to look forward to,
there's more that we can do. We're, of course social creatures,
so there's naturally this uh, this feeling of being able
(10:14):
to now reconnect with people, join people outside. That's one
one factor for sure. But the actual hormonal changes that
we see with our biological with our clocks, right, our
circadian rhythms can can actually shift, and so what we
might tend to see is changes in our sleep hormones,
(10:35):
so melatonin production, which can shift over time depending on
the season that we're in. So that's really what I think. Individually,
all of us have a different way in which we
might regulate melatonin, but that's one of the primary causes
we believe or at least ideologies that might be driving
(10:57):
some of these seasonal changes. So it's very possible that
as your melatonin production shifts to maybe a little bit
later in spring and summer months, that you feel more
awake during the day more and maybe that leads to
a sense of calm or or leads to feeling maybe
a little more energized.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah, so there there's a physical as well as a
psychological impact. What I want to do is we got
to have a quick break. I have a million questions,
but I'm sure my audience does as well, and i
know that it's always I feel I'm imposing on those
in the medical field because you folks tend to be
the early risers. So I'm hoping that our listeners will
(11:37):
join us. They can ask questions. You can't diagnose over
the air know what we expect to, but they certainly
can explain maybe a little bit about how they're feeling
at this point, and you can give them some suggestions
that might help them. So we'll see where the conversation
takes us. This is the best part of the program
for me. Six one, seven, two, five, four ten thirty
(12:00):
six one seven, nine, three one ten thirty feel free
to join. As I've often said, there's really only there
were no dumb questions. The dumb questions are only the
ones that you don't have the courage to ask. I
found that out in law school many years ago, because
what the one that I didn't ask always was on
the exam. Uh So, if you are in h have
(12:22):
any questions in this area. I'm so delighted that my
guest has given us some time tonight.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Again.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
I'm sure it's getting past, but your bedtime is. I
know what time you folks head to work in the morning.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty six one seven, nine three one ten thirty.
I could ask questions all night long. I'm not gonna
do that. I rely on my calls. We'll be back
on night Side.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on w B Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
All right, we're gonna go to phones.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
My first call will come from Larry in Dennisport, down
on the Cape. Larry, welcome back to Night's Side. You're
on with doctor Varsha Rata Kushna.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
Thanks for taking my call. I won't even try to
pronounce that name you call.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
It, doctor Varsha, how's that? Okay?
Speaker 5 (13:19):
Okay? So I was diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder years back.
I've tried multiple antidepressants ect tms, nothing work. They finally
decided it's called treatment resistant depression. But it comes this
time of year. But again it comes back in the spring.
(13:41):
And my therapist that I was seeing at the time
also said it's a busy time for her because people
with seasonal affective disorder in the springtime, they're anticipating all
this great weather. But you know how the expression goes
in Cape cod spring doesn't come till July and can
be very depressing. So if you took a poll, probably
(14:04):
eighty percent of the population would like to not change
the clocks. The argument that people have is should it
be daylight savings year round or daylight or standard time.
The best discussion that I saw on this one is
that if you look at a map, tape cord As
compared to Florida, like Miami, is way out to sea.
(14:26):
So rather than taking this argument of which we should
be in, we should take at least Massachusetts and possibly
New England and move us out to Atlantic Standard Time,
which is basically daylight savings time, because what happens with
me is last week I had the worst week of
(14:46):
anxiety and depression. My mind was gearing up for the
time change. Saturday night, I got maybe two or three
hours of sleep. Takes me about two or three weeks
from my body to adjust. Once I get into the winter,
I seem to do a little bit better, and then
I start gearing up in the spring. So as far
(15:08):
as turning the closs back, which do you think would
help better daylight savings time year round or standard time?
Speaker 4 (15:18):
That's a great question. First off, thank you so much
for sharing your experience. You know, I think it's very
helpful for me to also hear you know what your
experience has been like, and it's it's incredibly difficult to
have to cope with this, and also to know that
these are symptoms that you suffer from every year. I
(15:41):
certainly you know. I I wish I had a very
good answer for this, but I truthfully, I truthfully don't
have a great answer. I think in general, because one
of one of the factors is, of course, you know,
with daylight savings, we see, you know, if we kept
the same timing all throughout the year, that could be
(16:03):
one factor. But because we understand there's no effective disorder
as being very multifactorial, so we think of both our
own genetic loading our predisposition. On one hand, we think
of the environmental changes, the actual shift itself face shift
that we see with daylight savings and the change in
(16:26):
the clock, so to speak, and we see changes in
our natural melatonin production. We might also see changes in
the way our body is being exposed to vitamin D.
So there's so many different factors that I think even
if we were to change, say the way in which
(16:47):
we incorporate daylight savings, I think there's still so many
other pieces that would still put us at risk for
seasonal sexual depression.
Speaker 5 (16:56):
Okay, because I asked you just one more quick question,
because you want to hit on something that I've been
reading about. I've been having trouble sleeping. A lot of
that has to do with, as Dan knows, I'm going through.
I have a lot of long COVID symptoms, and a
lot of what was helping was being outside doing my
cold water therapy and the ocean and everything. But I've
(17:17):
been taking some melatonin gummies helped me sleep at night.
But I just read an article that now they're saying
long term use of melatonin can possibly affect your heart.
Have you heard anything about that?
Speaker 4 (17:33):
So, I will say from the readings I've done regarding
at least the literature that we have about melatonin, it's
generally considered a very effective, safe medication, mainly because it's
a hormone that our bodies are naturally producing. I think
the variability in some of these studies that we send
(17:54):
to see melatonin is actually not technically a regular FDA
regulated medication. So as a result, if you depending on
where you're purchasing malotonin from, there's so much variability and
the concentration and amount that we might see. So I
would say the studies themselves, it's it's actually extremely difficult
(18:15):
to find a study that's consistent because of this reason.
So what you might purchase maybe from CBS would be
possibly different in terms of the formulation and the medication
at a different pharmacy.
Speaker 5 (18:30):
Interest.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
But I appreciate I have not seen.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Yeah, Larry, best best of luck.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Hope you you get yourself back on schedule and get
some good sleep again. If you you listen to Nights Out,
I'll take you to midnight every night.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
If you don't fall asleep, you're on your own.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
Okay, I'm listening. I don't have a right there with
you every night now, and thank you for this topic.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Very welcome, Lary, thank you so much. Good night.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
We've got to take a break for news. If you'd
like to join the conversation six one seven, two, four,
ten thirty six ons an ten thirty if if any
question about seasonal effective disorder. We've never done this topic
at this depth, but I happen to believe that more
of you out there, and particularly people who do rely
(19:16):
upon radio for a companionship at night, are are listening
and feel free. This is a great opportunity. I don't
know when we will get back to this topic again,
so there's no question that is that is inappropriate. If
it impacts you, you can ask the question. Don't expect
the doctor could diagnose your situation. You can't expect that,
(19:39):
but she certainly can give you, as she gave to Larry,
some information and guidance which.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Hopefully will help him.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Six one, seven, two, five, four ten thirty six one
seven nine three one ten thirty.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Coming right back on night Side.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
We're you talking with doctor Varsha Radikrishna.
Speaker 5 (20:02):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
She is with the Tough Medical Center. She's a psychiatrist,
and we're talking about seasonal effective disorder. I'm surprised we
have heard from men, and we look as if it's
all men at this point. I know that on this
issue there are a lot of women out here who
would have a question as well. So ladies, don't miss
(20:23):
the opportunity. Let me go next to Alex in Millis, Massachusetts. Alex,
you were on with doctor Vasha Radikrishna.
Speaker 6 (20:32):
Hi, doctor Vassa, Hi Dan, good eating. Before I was
gonna mention, uh, not only humans have a seasonal disorder,
but my dog, our dog, he does get affected by
it too, So just like us, I think you know
most people will agree. And the other thing is, as
(20:53):
soon as you know they changed the clocks back, it
seems to me like you know that, Okay, it's it's uh,
it gets darker earlier, and I feel like, okay, this
is not the right time. So my body hasn't kind
of like jet lag, except I haven't flown anywhere.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
Okay, yeah, no, that's and and thank you for bringing
up the the point about you know, our animals also
experiencing uh. You know, similarly, when we think of say,
hibernation for other animals, we we see that same type
of phenomenon where our body is kind of slowing down.
(21:37):
So we see some of those similar types of uh
features and humans to the biological side. But I, you know,
I I certainly think what we can see with some
of these these changes in the daylight and and especially
with daylight savings, as the clock falls back or forward,
(21:59):
it can lead to that jet lag like feeling even
shorter timeframe. Safe we're traveling somewhere that doesn't have such
a big shift necessarily not so many hours apart, you
can still our bodies can still feel it, and it
can take a few days to to really reorient.
Speaker 6 (22:17):
Right, would you say, doctor?
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Uh?
Speaker 6 (22:20):
You know, I have no problem falling asleep, although I
like to have you know, I sleep sometimes with the
TV on. Some people find that a book reading a
book helps them, But it's not a good idea to like,
you know, if I have the TV uh, just you know,
have the volume down. Uh, It's it kind of relaxes me.
(22:42):
Or is that still you know, not a good idea
because it's a stimulant.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
So generally when we when we think about good sleep hygiene,
it's important to note what what works for you. So
what might what might help to relax you and be
part of your Your nighttime routine might be a little
bit different from someone else's, but generally speaking, I say
audio is not necessarily always super stimulating, whereas when you're
(23:13):
looking at say a screen or bright lights, that's usually
where we tend to see our brains are sort of
getting you know, hyperfixated, wired, more activated to say, with reading.
On the other hand, when it's not on a screen,
that doesn't necessarily seem to lead to that same type
(23:34):
of sleepwake disturbance. But generally speaking, if you find an
activity or something that you really enjoy that does help
relax you, I'd say there's nothing wrong in in including
that into your regular sleep routine.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Okay, right, Alex, great questions, Thanks thanks to Okay, good night,
and give you dog a big pet for us, Okay,
because he needs to be he she needs to be
some it as well.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Thanks, Alex takes up the whole bed. That's okay, that's
what dogs are supposed to do. It's a great night.
Next up.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Richard in Beverly, Massachusetts. Hi, Richard, you're next night side
with my guest doctor Vasha. Rightakut snap hell there, hello.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Gorun ahead.
Speaker 7 (24:20):
My suggestion is to move the spring forward just to
half an hour and never touch the clocks again.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Well, I don't know if we can do that, and
that's really not the topic here.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Are you impacted? Do you feel differently in the few days?
You know?
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Obviously we thought we gained an hour's worth of sleep,
which we did Saturday night into Sunday morning, But now
we've lost an hour in the afternoon of daylight.
Speaker 6 (24:52):
Right?
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Does that affect your It affects me. I just driving tonight.
I went up to grad dinner about I don't know
four thirty or well five o'clock actually, and it was like,
why is it so dark at five o'clock?
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Oh yeah, we're now we're now out of daylight savings time.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
I had to, you know, remember, because last week, if
you're driving at five o'clock, the sun was up, it's
not now.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
I don't think it affects my mood. Does it affect
your mood? Richard?
Speaker 7 (25:23):
No, it doesn't cause me at all. I'm just you know,
we've been doing this forever moving the clocks, and if
we just put it on half the distance between it
and never touched it again, we wouldn't have to worry
about it anymore.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
I don't know, doctor Vosha, I don't know if you
want to a comment on that or not. Do you
think that would solve the problem or do you think it.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
Would be I think I think certainly the idea of
it being all all related to time. I know, when
we think about seasonal effective disorder, mood chaines, there's so
much more than than the time frame alone. I think
the psychological impact, the sudden jolt, to the way our
(26:09):
bodies are adapting to these changes and in time frame.
I know, I, for one, say, if I'm going to
work and I'm used to being able to leave work
and still see it bright outside, so when it's dark
it feels pretty. It does feel different. There's some there's
a different feeling about it psychologically for sure. So I
think on that hands where you know, changing time frames
(26:32):
can be one piece, but there's also so many other parts,
like the hormonal pieces, genetics, other stressful factors that might
accompany the winter time, you know, increase risk of feeling lonely,
of not connecting with others. Sure, so there's so many
pieces that can still also have an active role.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Yeah, there is the element that in that in the
winter time, you're not likely at six o'clock at night
to go out and take a walk before dinner or
after dinner because it's so dark and it's cold in
the area where we live, and that isolates we self isolate.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
I don't know how you're able.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Chemically, and it is chemical, I assume it's chemical reactions.
But how you can test that, I don't know that
they can you can ever test what percentage of it
is just the cold weather, what percentage of it is
the higher percentage of the lack of a high percentage
of light during the day. I assume that at some
(27:32):
point fifty years from now, they'll be able they'll have
tests for people where they can figure out what they
can do. I don't know, doctor Vosher, if you agree
with that, But the medical field is always coming up
with new tests. I mean, they you have so many
tests that you can take now. I kind of imagine
when it will be like fifty years from now, particularly
(27:52):
on something.
Speaker 4 (27:52):
Oh yeah, I think the world is going to be
totally different in fifty years, so I can only imagine
we might have a way to even detect which, you know,
who is more at risk of developing seasonal effective symptoms.
I can I can absolutely see that as uh being
part of part of our medical journey moving.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Forward, No, no doubt, Richard, appreciate your call. We'll have
to take under advisement your suggestion.
Speaker 7 (28:18):
Okay, Okay, thank you, Richard, great munch.
Speaker 6 (28:21):
Bye, thank you, good night.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
We're gonna take quick break. Joan in Alaska is calling.
You want to talk.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
About seasonal effective disorder. Joan, We're going to take a break.
We'll get you on the other side. If anyone else
would like to join us as well, you gotta dial
quickly now. Six one seven, two five four ten thirty.
Six one seven, nine three one ten thirty. We're talking
about a condition that affects a lot of people every
year around this time. That's why we did this tonight.
Feel free questions comments, You're all welcome. Six one seven, two,
(28:51):
five four ten thirty or six one seven, nine three
one ten thirty. And we also have that triple eight
number triple eight nine two nine ten thirty nightside.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Right after this, you're on night side. With Dan Ray
on w b Z, Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
My guest is doctor Vasha Rata Christian. She is a
psychiatrist with Tough's Medical Center. We're talking about seasonal effective disorder,
and no part of the world probably is more effective
by seasonal or at least part of the United States
by seasonal effective disorder than.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Hey, Joan, Welcome back to Nightside. You're on with doctor Fasher.
Speaker 8 (29:28):
Go right ahead, Hi Dan, Hi doctor. We are definitely
greatly impacted by SAD up here. And I experienced my
own hit the wall after I had been here for
about twenty years, and I actually had blood work done.
When you were talking about chemistry and hormones and all
(29:48):
of that. It was around the time when a woman
of a certain age his hormones checked. But they also
checked my vitamin D level and I barely had any
vitamin D.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Sunshine right is a vitamin D sunshine?
Speaker 8 (30:04):
Hello?
Speaker 5 (30:05):
Yep.
Speaker 8 (30:05):
And I was prescribed in prescription strength vitamin D. But
I would caution people not to just take vitamin D randomly,
and I'm sure the doctor can explain the risks of that,
but it's very worthwhile to get your vitamin D level
checked and then I also use a small device that
(30:29):
is a light that I'll use late morning or early
afternoon for about half an hour, and that helps. It's
a sad light light, yep. And that's But the impact
up here, I know, is huge and I often wonder
how the native population years ago dealt with that other
(30:52):
than what we all tend to do up here is
you know, you start increasing your carbs and your hunker
down and do what the bears do. Yeah, it really
it does. I mean the carb cravings. We people joke
about it, but it's it's very prevalent.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
And Joan, I think ed we're going to ask you
how much snow do you get?
Speaker 8 (31:16):
I mean, I'm an Eagle River right now, I'm about
ten miles outside of Anchorage.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
So you just still start for real? And when does
it stop?
Speaker 8 (31:25):
If ever, you're not allowed to say that word. We
haven't had a significant amount yet, but we're due to
start on Thursday. It can start anytime in October and
continue until April. Wow, but we have I can still
see green grass out in the yard. But we're due
to get our first significant dump on Thursday.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Well, do us a favorite Joan, keeping closer contact with
us we were always going to be there for you,
no matter what month of the year, what time of
day you think it is, what time of it actually is,
and and uh and and check in with we can
monitor you as.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
You go through.
Speaker 8 (32:06):
Well, yeah, I appreciate it. We're supposed to be social,
so this will be my social time from my requiner.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
We could check it in on your winter of discontent.
Speaker 8 (32:17):
Comment if you would doctor about the vitamin D. Absolutely,
it made a huge difference for me.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
Yes, thank you so much for bringing that up and
for sharing your experience. Vitamin D levels are often something
that doesn't regularly get get checked, but I think really should.
Especially vitamin D deficiency can can really look like depression.
And part of that is the extreme fatigue, the the
(32:48):
lack of motivation, the difficulty waking up in the morning.
A lot of those those symptoms are very similar and
overlap with what we might think of as as more
depressive symptoms. And so at least with with my psychiatry
colleagues that in the hospital, I actually regularly check vitamin
D now knowing that especially in the Northeast, it's it's
(33:11):
extremely common to have vitamin D deficiency and and you're
right in that taking too much vitamin D not not
taking a typical prescribed amount is not something that we
would regularly recommend, but it is really important. Say you
are vitamin D deficient, doctors can write a specific high
(33:32):
strength prescription that may be able to help replete faster
and hopefully provide relief faster. And those prescription strength medications,
especially the higher doses of vitamin D or usually not
available necessarily over the counter.
Speaker 5 (33:48):
But that's where.
Speaker 4 (33:49):
Getting the lab work monitoring it can be super helpful.
And then you also mentioned the light box, and I'm
so glad that you brought that up because that that
is actually one of the most effective treatments that we
have for seasonal effective disorder and it can be extremely helpful.
So really, what the light box does, it's a specific
(34:11):
type of strength or number of movements, so it has
to be usually or lux so we call it usually
ten thousand lucks minimum of the strength of the light box.
And you can actually order these off online even on Amazon.
And with these light boxes, it simulates daylight. So if
(34:34):
you actually turn on the box and like you're doing
a set period of time for the day, you can
extend either the daytime by turning on the box in
the evening, or if you say, wake up earlier in
the morning it's still dark out, you can set up
the light box and basically expose yourself to it, so
it's recreating that feeling of sunlight.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Sounds great, sounds great, Joan, thanks so much for calling.
I want to get one more in here real quickly.
We stay well, okay, stay strong, let me get Alan Belmont.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
Now we got about a minute. Do you have a
quick question or a comment for the doctor?
Speaker 6 (35:10):
Yes, just wondering why do we do this?
Speaker 8 (35:14):
If it's so bad for everybody, why don't we turn
the clocks ahead instead of bringing them back to get
more daylight in the winter times?
Speaker 1 (35:22):
One of the day's lights daylight short anyway, And I
don't know how those people in alaskauld do it.
Speaker 4 (35:28):
Wouldn't it dark?
Speaker 3 (35:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (35:30):
You know what. I think you will have to save
that question for another night, because we're really talking more
about the medical and the psychological impact of seasonal effective disorder.
The the debate over whether the clock should go forward
stay where they are, go backwards maybe half an hour.
That's never going to end. Ali, I'm flat out of time,
and I wish you called earlier, but thank you so
(35:52):
much for at least raising that question. Okay, thanks buddy,
hanging there, we're here for you. Don't worry, doctor Vasha
rute A Christ Now, thank you so much for your
time tonight. It was fascinating for me. I hope my
audience enjoyed it as much as I did. And thank
you for being so generous with your time to my audience.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
Absolutely, and and thank you so much for having me.
It's a it's a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
We'll have you back. You're good at this, You're very good.
You explained things really well. It's it's a gift you have,
so thank you. We will take advantage of it whatever
whatever we get.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (36:33):
Well, I would love to come back, take care back.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
Thank you, doctor. We'll take a quick break and we're goingness. Now.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Look at some of the election results in Boston, New Jersey,
in Virginia. It looks as if the Democrats have picked
up our governorship in Virginia held the governorship in New Jersey.
At least those two results are not what Donald Trump
and the Republicans wanted. We'll also talk about the Boston race.
Is we get some races, some numbers coming into Boston
(37:02):
as well. We'll get to politics right after the ten
o'clock news here at nights that in your reaction to
what's happening around the country,
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