Daylight saving time ends on Sunday, Nov. 3. That means clocks in most of North America will go back one hour, and it will be dark outside when most people in the Northeast get home from work.
Yale School of Medicine psychiatrist Dr. Paul Desan said the darker days could lead to Seasonal Affective Disorder, nicknamed SAD — rightly so because the most common symptom is sadness.
It's caused by a lack of sunlight and coincides with the colder seasons. Dr. Norman Rosenthal studied and first described it in the 1980s.
“Physiologically, in a diurnal animal like a human being, the time the sun comes up is very, very important. However, it's normal for humans to feel less energy, less vigor, maybe sleep a little more, and eat a little more during the winter months; nine out of 10 people will have at least one of those symptoms," Desan said. “ I'm sorry to say, for some people, the winter months make a huge difference. They essentially have an episode of clinical depression every winter.”
Desan said he’s in favor of keeping daylight saving time year-round to preserve the late afternoon sun. In 2022, the U.S. Senate passed a bill to keep daylight saving permanent, but it never got a vote in the House.
But he admits the shorter days of sunlight would likely impact people’s moods no matter what the clock said.
Desan said light therapy—sitting in front of a really bright light box for 30 minutes every morning—can help stave off sadness. The boxes are used during a person’s normal routine, like when they’re eating breakfast, putting on makeup or reading the newspaper.
“We're essentially exposing people to a summertime level of illumination, say, at seven in the morning, and that turns winter into summer for the majority of patients who have seasonal mood change,” Desan said.
The light boxes are available for purchase and at-home use. Desan said they should be at least 10,000 lux. The boxes Desan suggests for at-home users are linked to Yale School of Medicine's website.
