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Little Rock, Ark., (January 22, 2025)—Arkansas teachers facing burnout and stress now have a new resource. AFMC has launched the Arkansas Teacher Support Helpline, a confidential service designed to provide teachers and school staff with a safe space to share their struggles, explore practical solutions, or vent.

There’s much to look forward to when winter begins. Outdoor enthusiasts may relish a return to the slopes to ski or snowboard each winter, while others praise the crisp fresh air and lack of insects as more conducive to activities like hiking. Winter indeed has plenty to offer, but some people find that less daylight has an adverse effect on their mood. The National Institutes of Mental Health notes that shifts in mood and behavior that align with changes in the seasons could be indicative of seasonal affective disorder, also known as SAD. What is SAD? Johns Hopkins Medicine characterizes SAD as a form of depression in which individuals’ mood and behavior changes when the seasons change. The NIMH notes SAD is sometimes referred to as the ‘winter blues.’ Is SAD exclusive to winter? Though SAD can affect people at any time of year, the NIMH reports that most cases of SAD start to affect people in late fall or early winter before symptoms begin to subside during the spring and summer. Johns Hopkins Medicine notes researchers believe the shorter days and thus fewer hours of daylight that occur each winter set off a chemical change in the brain that leads to a person experiencing symptoms of depression. What are the symptoms of SAD? The NIMH points out that, since SAD is a type of depression, symptoms of the condition include those associated with depression. Such symptoms include: A persistent sad, anxious or ‘empty’ mood most of the day. This occurs every day for at least two weeks.

There is no magic formula to ensure long-term health. However, if there were such an equation, sleep would be a critical component. Though adults may be able to function with less sleep than doctors recommend, the National Institutes of Health note that consistent lack of sufficient sleep can interfere with work, social functioning and driving ability. The National Institute on Aging notes that adults of all ages generally need the same amount of sleep, typically between seven and nine hours of rest per night. That’s an important distinction, as busy adults in mid-life might feel as though they can operate on less sleep without adversely affecting their overall health. However, in addition to the problems noted by the NIH, the NIA reports that ongoing lack of sleep, or even consistently poor sleep quality, can increase risk for cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, and obesity. Adults who feel their sleep quality is poor or those who aspire to sleep more each night can consider these three strategies to ensure a more restful night’s sleep.

Adults know much about their health changes as they grow older, but health experts note that sleep requirements generally remain the same throughout adulthood. According to the National Institute on Aging, older adults need roughly the same amount of sleep as all adults. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that the recommended amount of sleep for adults is at least seven hours each day, and various organizations recommend adults get between seven and nine hours of sleep per night. Those recommendations can promote optimal health into one’s golden years, but that advice is not being heeded by a significant portion of the adult population. The CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) tracked the sleeping habits of men and women between 2013 and 2022 and ultimately found that 37.5 percent of men and 36 percent of women were not getting enough sleep during that time period. The percentage of individuals not getting enough sleep was particularly high among adults between the ages of 39 and 64, among whom nearly four in 10 were falling short of the recommended daily amount of sleep.

According to a study published in the journal Progress in Neurology and Psychiatry, in a given year about 5 percent of the population of the United States experiences seasonal depression, a condition also known as seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. A separate study published in the journal BMC Psychiatry in 2021 found that 12.7 percent of students attending higher education or vocational schools who responded to a survey showed SAD. The organization Mental Health America notes that SAD is a subtype of depression or bipolar disorder that occurs and ends around the same time every year, typically beginning in fall and continuing into the winter. Curiously, the study published in Progress in Neurology and Psychiatry found that the main age of onset of seasonal depression is between 20 and 30.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of women and people assigned female at birth are diagnosed with cervical cancer. The World Health Organization reports that cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women across the globe, with around 660,000 new cases reported in 2022. Learning more about cervical cancer may help to reduce these numbers.

Little Rock, Ark. – January is Cervical Health Awareness Month. The Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) BreastCare program coordinates efforts with a statewide network of providers offering no-cost cervical and breast cancer screenings and follow-up services.