Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is characterized by mood variations with a change in season, especially during the winter months, with reduced daylight.

Over the past couple of years, the popularity of GLP-1 receptor agonists, which are a class of typically injectable medications that simulate the glucagon-like peptide-1 hormone, to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity, has gained enormous popularity.

Dr. Manoj Sharma answers reader questions related to aging, health, and wellness. Sciatica is nerve pain from an irritation or injury to one’s sciatic nerve, which is the longest and largest nerve in the body.  

Fast food chains are seemingly racing to reach a growing demand of customers using GLP-1s, or weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Dr. Manoj Sharma, professor at the Department of Social and Behavioral Health at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said food chains are expanding their menus to include items packed with protein and low in portion size.

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) or variation of mood with change in season, especially during months with reduced daylight, is a well-recognized condition that adversely affects the mental health and well-being of many people. It was first described in 1984 and is now classified as a distinct disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-5-TR), and related to major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder.

Artificial sweeteners, also called nonnutritive sweeteners or non-sugar sweeteners, are created from chemicals in the lab. The first such chemical, saccharin, was accidentally invented by a Russian postdoctoral researcher, Constantin Fahlberg, working with his Professor, Ira Remsen, in 1879, when he noticed a sweet taste on his hand while refining coal tar derivatives. It was later commercialized by him as a sugar substitute. Today, besides saccharin, other approved artificial sweeteners include aspartame, sucralose, neotame, acesulfame-K, and advantame.

Distracted driving is doing another activity while driving, such as texting, talking on a cell phone, eating, thinking about something, and other disruptive activities. Since many people are on the road during the Holiday Season, this behavior becomes even more important from a public health perspective.

The causation and risk factors of gambling disorder are complex, with both genetic and environmental factors playing a role.