Anna Wirz-Justice - Circadian Rhythms, Winter Depression, and Light Therapy

Our guest today, Professor Anna Wirz-Justice, has invested her academic career into looking into chronobiology - the study of biological rhythms. The best studied rhythm in chronobiology is the roughly 24-hour circadian rhythm.

In our 24-hour, 7-day society, we don't pay as much attention to the outer rhythm of day and night, of light and darkness, as we should - at the expense of our health. When we ignore circadian rhythms and our internal clock, the result can be sleep disorders and various types of depression. One of these is winter depression - or Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), with light as its therapy of choice. This has long been an area of study at the Centre for Chronobiology in the Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Basel.

Anna Wirz-Justice talked to us about biological rhythms, sleep, winter depression, and light therapy. Listen to the interview here - and visit the non-profit Center for Environmental Therapeutics website for more information.  

Our music theme was all about 80s hits. We played:

A-ha - Take On Me

Madonna - Material Girl

Yazoo - Don't Go

Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer

Soft Cell - Tainted Love

Depeche Mode - A Question Of Time

New Order - True Faith

Erasure - A Little Respect

Joan Jett - I Love Rock 'N Roll

Kim Wilde - You Keep Me Hangin' On