This Saturday is the winter solstice, marking the beginning of winter. Many look forward to the festive events taking place, but for the 10 million Americans struggling with seasonal affective disorder it can mean dark times ahead.

What is seasonal affective disorder?

Seasonal affective disorder is recurrent episodes of depression, mania, or hypomania with seasonal onset and remission. Typically, it starts in late fall/early winter and subsides in late spring/early summer.

What are typical symptoms of seasonal affective disorder?

• Depressed mood.
• Decreased interest in pleasurable activities.
• Insomnia or hypersomnia (individuals may often describe sleeping 1 hour more than warmer seasons).
• Fatigue or decreased energy.
• Change in appetite or weight.
• Difficulty concentrating.
• Feelings of guilt or worthlessness.
• Restlessness or psychomotor slowing.
• Suicidal thoughts.
• Mania: extreme mood swings, high energy.
• Hypomania: elevated mood and energy that is less severe than mania.

What treatment options are currently available?

• Antidepressants.
• Light therapy: there are several products available on the market. Per Yale School of Medicine, the light should be at least 10,000 lux, 20x brighter than regular indoor light. Individuals do best if they use the light box for at least 30 minutes in the morning, before 8 a.m. Some boxes are more costly than others. Check with your healthcare team and insurance company for a prescription and coverage, respectively.
• Talk therapy such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), can help with reframing unhelpful thoughts surrounding cold weather, dark days and associated recurrent symptoms.

What steps can you take to prevent some of these symptoms?

• Get outdoors in natural light, especially within the first couple hours of waking.
• Be physically active.
• Maintain a consistent sleep schedule.

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Chronic pain and treatment resistant depression — both impact millions of people — can be debilitating, and both can leave people feeling hopeless, impacting daily activities, relationships, and jobs.Now, scientists are turning to sonic relief, a drug-free way to relieve the pain of both chronic pain and depression.

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December is HIV/AIDS Awareness month, a time for raising awareness, celebrating advancements in medicine, and honoring those affected who are no longer with us and those living with it.

Over 1 million people acquired HIV in 2023. This is down significantly in the past decade; however, many are infected and unaware.

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Walking pneumonia cases in central Indiana have seen a steep increase in recent weeks, local physicians say.

Walking pneumonia is generally considered less severe than pneumonia, but can have lasting impacts if not caught early on. The disease is caused by mycoplasma pneumoniae, which can damage the lining of the respiratory tract, according to the CDC.

It is spread through droplets released when someone coughs or sneezes.

Symptoms can begin mildly with sore throat, cough, or chest pain.

About two million people are diagnosed with the disease each year. This year is different, though.

While it’s common for young children and adolescents to be impacted, small children born during the Covid-19 lockdown are seeing a surge in cases.

The CDC said diagnoses in kids between two and four years old jumped from 1% to 7.2% over a six-month time span this year.

Several local schools have seen an increase in students, asking parents to be on the lookout for symptoms and to take their child to a physician if needed.

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Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide and stroke is the second. The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association are working to prevent this through their annual Leaders of Impact campaign.

It is a 7-week campaign for hand-selected community leaders to raise money and awareness for cardiovascular disease, such as heart attacks and strokes. The money funds research and advocacy to help save lives and improve health equity.

WISH-TV medical expert Dr. Janel Gordon has been nominated for the honor.

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In 2023, around 2 million people were told they have cancer; 610,000 of them died due to it. Now what’s being considered the holy grail of cancer screening could diagnose some cancers earlier than ever and save thousands of lives.

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The American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association have updated primary guidelines to help people to prevent a first stroke. Every 40 seconds, an American has a stroke, and, every three minutes, an American dies from a stroke. Over 600,000 Americans will have their first stroke this year, a preventable event if underlying risk factors are controlled or eliminated.

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Walking pneumonia rates are higher than the past 7 years, rising since early spring and peaking in August. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has warned that many of the recent ER visits and hospitalization stays for pneumonia have a diagnosis of walking pneumonia, which is uncommon.

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Liver cancer or hepatocellular cancer is the 6th most common cause of cancer and the 3rd leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. In the US, liver cancer is the 6th leading cause of death.

Common risk factors of liver cancer:

•Cirrhosis or liver scarring and it’s underlying risk factors (20% of cases of liver cancer form without cirrhosis present, yet in the presence of or more of the below conditions)

    •Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic       Liver Disease (formerly, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease) of which obesity, diabetes and high cholesterol are risk factors

    •Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C (transmitted via body fluids, commonly during sex, childbirth (mother to fetus) or with IV drug use)

    •Alcohol

    •Smoking

    •Aflatoxin (a fungus that may grow on grains and nuts improperly store in hot and humid environments)

Common symptoms of liver cancer:

•None

•Abdominal discomfort

•Abdominal swelling

•Nausea or vomiting

•Gastrointestinal bleeding

•Weight loss

•Loss of appetite

•Jaundice (yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes)

•Easy bruising or bleeding

•Persistent itching

•Fatigue

•Fever

Populations at increased risk for liver cancer:

Nationally, the highest rates are seen in Asian/Pacific Islanders and American Indian/Alaskan Natives. Rising rates have been noted in the Latinx population.

Globally, rates are actually highest outside the US, in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.

Liver cancer prevention:

•Eat whole food, plant-forward nutrition (fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains, minimal saturated fat)

•Reduce alcohol intake or abstain https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/about-alcohol-use/index.html

•Get screened for and vaccinated against hepatitis B (infants, children and adults) https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis-b/index.html

*Get screened and treated for hepatitis C (no vaccine currently exists and many patients are without symptoms, which often only occur with advanced disease.) https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis-c/index.html

•Practice safer sex with regular condom use (including same gender couples)

•Get screened for STDs annually or with every new partner

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The National Institute of Health’s All of Us Research Program is a federally-funded program on a mission to collect health data from one million or more diverse individuals across the U.S. over the course of many years, with the goal of improving precision medicine for us and future generations. The program has partner sites across the nation, as well as a mobile tour, which recently made a stop in Indianapolis.

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