How a neuroscientist beats winter depression

12/08/23 • 17 min

6 Listeners

Each year, millions of people experience seasonal affective disorder or SAD. Today we talk to neuroscientist-turned-journalist Richard Sima about how to get ready for the change in season and beat the winter depression.

Susceptible people — an estimated 5 percent of Americans — already are feeling the effects of winter SAD: lower moods, lethargy and excessive sleep. Today on “Post Reports,” we talk about strategies that can help you cope.

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Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

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How to keep junk mail out of your mailbox

Americans are inundated with junk mail in their physical mailboxes. Climate coach Michael Coren tried to manage the flood – and his techniques actually worked.

The typical American gets about 41 pounds of junk mail every year delivered to their door. And for some, it’s even worse during the holiday season, as catalogs and coupon booklets come flooding in.

The Post’s climate coach Michael Coren looked at this junk mail as a challenge and started asking: How do I get it all to stop? Today, Coren explains the origins of the snail mail you never wanted – and he shares tips on how he succeeded in stopping it in its tracks.

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Free speech, antisemitism, and the university fallout

College campuses across the United States are embroiled in conflict over free speech amid the Israel-Gaza war. The stakes are so high that the University of Pennsylvania’s president resigned after a congressional hearing on antisemitism.

Last week, a Republican-led House committee summoned the leaders of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and MIT to Capitol Hill for a scalding critique of their efforts to address antisemitism on their campuses since the eruption of the Israel-Gaza war.

During the hearing, Penn’s president Liz Magill – and the other university presidents – declined to state plainly that a call for genocide against Jews would violate the university’s code of conduct.

Magill told Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) it would violate the school’s code of conduct “if the speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment. Yes.” When pressed by Stefanik, Magill said: “It is a context-dependent decision, congresswoman.”

Then, over the weekend, Magill resigned.

Education reporter Hannah Natanson joins “Post Reports” to discuss what the questions raised in the committee hearing and the push for Magill’s removal mean for campuses across the nation, and why the stakes are so high.