http://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/daylight-saving-seasonal-depression-sad-3db07bdd?

How to Outsmart the Time Change

Less daylight can bring on the blues and disrupt our routines, but you can combat the gloom

While some people feel a little blue following the end of daylight-saving time, others experience a more serious Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. GARY HERSHORN/GETTY IMAGES

By Clare Ansberry

Updated Nov. 4, 2023 5:11 pm ET

Americans in most states will turn their clocks back one hour on Sunday, Nov. 5, when daylight-saving time ends, which means the sun will set earlier. Less daylight can damp our moods, disrupt our sleep and exercise patterns, and affect our appetite. 

While some people feel a little blue following the end of daylight-saving time, others experience a more serious Seasonal Affective Disorder, a seasonal depression that can impact mood, relationships and work. 

An estimated 5% of American adults experience SAD, which typically hits in the fall and lasts 40% of the year, according to the American Psychiatric Association. The disorder generally starts in young adulthood, between the ages of 18 and 30, and affects more women than men. Risks rise with age. 

People with SAD often feel tired, distressed or hopeless. They might have difficulty concentrating, become isolated and no longer be interested in activities they used to enjoy, says psychologist Regina Pierre-Moise. Making an effort to go outside, sit on the porch or take a walk, and gather with family and friends can be helpful for people dealing with seasonal depression, says Pierre-Moise, who is clinical director of Boston-area Awake IntuMind, which is developing a support group and 12-week virtual program for people experiencing SAD.

Seasonal depression is expected to peak the second full week of November, according to Thriveworks, a mental-health provider, which analyzed internet searches for the disorder over the last six years. Searches are expected to remain consistently high through mid-December. 

People generally search for information about a condition or illnesses when they are experiencing symptoms, rather than anticipating them, says Emily Matorin, Thriveworks’s chief operating officer. She says they were surprised when the searches peaked in early November, rather than later in the fall or winter, and said the findings indicate that people were affected by the immediate change of daylight hours and dropping temperatures, rather than the impact of shorter days and cold over a long period.   

Shorter daylight hours can shift our moods, and disrupt our sleep and exercise patterns. PHOTO: GEORGE ROSE/GETTY IMAGES

Why seasonal depression rises 

Daylight hours affect our brain chemistry. As days grow shorter, light receptors in the eyes receive less light and send a signal to the brain about what chemicals to produce, says Lina Begdache, associate professor of health and wellness studies at Binghamton University. 

Our brains begin producing more melatonin—the sleep-related hormone—and less serotonin, which enhances mood and controls appetite. When the brain starts making more melatonin at 4 p.m. due to the earlier dusk, people can feel prematurely sluggish, which can affect mood, diet, exercise and sleep patterns.  

For example, to boost energy, they might turn to simple sugars like chocolates and carbohydrates that provide a quick high and are followed by a crash, which can lead to mood swings. Also when people feel sluggish, they are less inclined to exercise. 

Weather also factors into seasonal depression. Cities in the Midwest and Northeast, including Fargo, N.D., and Burlington, Vt., which see notable temperature drops in the fall, generated the highest searches for seasonal depression in the last two years, according to the Thriveworks analysis.

The long winter nights and lack of sunlight play a big role in seasonal depression, with SAD more prevalent the farther we live from the equator, says Dr. John Sharp, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School who researches our emotional calendar.

“People don’t have as much energy and feel differently about life,” says Sharp. “We have to make significantly more effort to go out.” It helps, he says, to plan ahead and account for the extra effort to grab dinner with a friend, go to a show or visit a bookstore. 

How to combat SAD 

The most important thing is to expose yourself to as much light as possible, maintain sleep and exercise habits, and anticipate the change. 

Focusing on improving one area that is affected by the time change, such as exercise, can help the others and might be more doable than trying to improve everything at once, says Begdache, the associate health and wellness studies professor. 

“If you improve your diet, you’re more likely to exercise more. And if you exercise more, you’re more likely to sleep better,” says Begdache, who led a 2021 study on mental well-being and seasonal changes. 

She suggests picking the behavior that is easiest for you to change. If you like to exercise, add another 15 minutes to your daily brisk walk. It’s also important to expose yourself to light first thing in the morning, she notes. “I don’t keep my blinds down,” she says. 

Matorin, of Thriveworks, suggests moving your desk or exercise machines toward natural light, or using special light boxes, or SAD lamps, which simulate sunlight while filtering out harmful ultraviolet light, in the morning.  

“Using a light box, even for 20 minutes a day, can make a difference in how people feel,” says Matorin. Rising at the same time every day will help you get to bed at the same time at night to help counter sleep disruptions. 

Another way to deal with seasonal depression is to anticipate the seasonal change and lean into it, says Sharp, the Harvard psychiatrist, who lights more candles in the house, which sets a cozier mood. 

Some people, though, need more help. If you find yourself turning to alcohol or drugs to deal with seasonal depression, or spending the day in bed, or refusing to go out with family and friends, you might need to call your doctor or a mental-health professional. “Our relationship with alcohol and substances tends to change in the fall for the worse and we have to be careful about overly self-medicating,” says Sharp, who builds more open time into his fall calendar for people in a crisis.