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American Morning

Paging Dr. Gupta: Gloomy Weather

Aired June 19, 2003 - 08:41   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The gray weather this spring has a lot of people feeling blue. Much of the country has been hit with more rain than usual, and Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to tell us how conditions like this, and this is a live picture from the roof of the building that we're in, the Time-Life building we're in right now here in New York City, on how these conditions are affecting people and their outlook.
Good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Spring and summer have taken a little bit of a hiatus so far. Hey, there's been a lot of rain. People know that. If you think there's been a lot of rain, we've got the actual numbers for you around the country. Take a look at how much rain just over the last 18 days, Macon, Georgia, close to where I live, 10 inches. New York here 8 inches. New Orleans, 8.42. And Mobile, Alabama, 8.86.

I'm from the north.

KAGAN: But you live in the south?

GUPTA: I live in the south now, yes. But the question we're trying to figure out today, is how does this unseasonably cold and rainy weather really affect you. Certainly we've been hearing those numbers from Chad for quite some time. We went to the streets to try and figure out what people are saying about the weather and how it's affecting them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just kind of makes you feel a little down, you know?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just seems so gloomy, it kind of makes you feel that way, though.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't want to get up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dreary. You know, when the sun is out you feel so peppy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just very depressing. It pulls -- I feel like it's putting the whole city in a bad mood.

(END VIDEO CLIP) GUPTA: Well, they may be on to something here, there's no question about that. The psychiatrists actually that we spoke to talk about this gloomy weather and the impact that it has, as well. Some of the things that it specifically does in terms of negative effects, certainly reduces your motivation. It's harder to wake up in the morning. You get sluggish a little bit sluggish at work, it's irritability, a sense of gloom, missed outdoor activities, those activities that you do only in the sun.

Also some physical things as well. You may have a little bit more arthritis, may not be feeling as well physically, either.

KAGAN: So what can you do besides book a ticket to Hawaii?

GUPTA: Well, you know, there's a couple of interesting things. First of all -- a ticket to Hawaii sounds pretty good actually.

But first of all, there's a little bit of a scientific basis to this just to point out. It's not just feeling gloomy and doomy when the weather is not so good outside. Your body actually produces a hormone known as melatonin, and this is a hormone that seems to be produced mainly at night. What this hormone does, is it actually -- is it's a sleep hormone, and it reduces your body temperature, may make your feel a bit more sluggish. If you increase the number of dark hours in your day, you'll actually have more of this melatonin, not feel as well. And you can chart this. It's very interesting. In the most severe cases, seasonal effective disorder. If you're in Florida, about 1 percent of the citizens are affected. You move a little further north to D.C., 4 percent. And Alaska, 10 percent. So the numbers certainly go up very directly related to light.

What can you do about it? You can do all sorts of things. Obviously, you can do things -- we have a list of things that you might be able to do. But certainly recognize that it's going to be temporary. The sun will come out tomorrow, so to speak. There are alternative activities -- hanging out in museums, playing chess indoors. Don't be afraid to complain. Really that should commiserate with you and Bill, and Andy will commiserate about this. And focus on some old goals, things that you could do, cleaning out that closet, things like that. And in very severe cases, there are these things that are called bright lights. They're actually UV light. They may help to try and suppress the production of that melatonin. Obviously, that's something you can do in severe cases as well.

KAGAN: Somehow I think staying home, cleaning out my closets for the weekend will not do the trick like the trip to Hawaii would. But you know, to each his own.

Sanjay, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired June 19, 2003 - 08:41   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The gray weather this spring has a lot of people feeling blue. Much of the country has been hit with more rain than usual, and Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to tell us how conditions like this, and this is a live picture from the roof of the building that we're in, the Time-Life building we're in right now here in New York City, on how these conditions are affecting people and their outlook.
Good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Spring and summer have taken a little bit of a hiatus so far. Hey, there's been a lot of rain. People know that. If you think there's been a lot of rain, we've got the actual numbers for you around the country. Take a look at how much rain just over the last 18 days, Macon, Georgia, close to where I live, 10 inches. New York here 8 inches. New Orleans, 8.42. And Mobile, Alabama, 8.86.

I'm from the north.

KAGAN: But you live in the south?

GUPTA: I live in the south now, yes. But the question we're trying to figure out today, is how does this unseasonably cold and rainy weather really affect you. Certainly we've been hearing those numbers from Chad for quite some time. We went to the streets to try and figure out what people are saying about the weather and how it's affecting them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just kind of makes you feel a little down, you know?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just seems so gloomy, it kind of makes you feel that way, though.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't want to get up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dreary. You know, when the sun is out you feel so peppy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just very depressing. It pulls -- I feel like it's putting the whole city in a bad mood.

(END VIDEO CLIP) GUPTA: Well, they may be on to something here, there's no question about that. The psychiatrists actually that we spoke to talk about this gloomy weather and the impact that it has, as well. Some of the things that it specifically does in terms of negative effects, certainly reduces your motivation. It's harder to wake up in the morning. You get sluggish a little bit sluggish at work, it's irritability, a sense of gloom, missed outdoor activities, those activities that you do only in the sun.

Also some physical things as well. You may have a little bit more arthritis, may not be feeling as well physically, either.

KAGAN: So what can you do besides book a ticket to Hawaii?

GUPTA: Well, you know, there's a couple of interesting things. First of all -- a ticket to Hawaii sounds pretty good actually.

But first of all, there's a little bit of a scientific basis to this just to point out. It's not just feeling gloomy and doomy when the weather is not so good outside. Your body actually produces a hormone known as melatonin, and this is a hormone that seems to be produced mainly at night. What this hormone does, is it actually -- is it's a sleep hormone, and it reduces your body temperature, may make your feel a bit more sluggish. If you increase the number of dark hours in your day, you'll actually have more of this melatonin, not feel as well. And you can chart this. It's very interesting. In the most severe cases, seasonal effective disorder. If you're in Florida, about 1 percent of the citizens are affected. You move a little further north to D.C., 4 percent. And Alaska, 10 percent. So the numbers certainly go up very directly related to light.

What can you do about it? You can do all sorts of things. Obviously, you can do things -- we have a list of things that you might be able to do. But certainly recognize that it's going to be temporary. The sun will come out tomorrow, so to speak. There are alternative activities -- hanging out in museums, playing chess indoors. Don't be afraid to complain. Really that should commiserate with you and Bill, and Andy will commiserate about this. And focus on some old goals, things that you could do, cleaning out that closet, things like that. And in very severe cases, there are these things that are called bright lights. They're actually UV light. They may help to try and suppress the production of that melatonin. Obviously, that's something you can do in severe cases as well.

KAGAN: Somehow I think staying home, cleaning out my closets for the weekend will not do the trick like the trip to Hawaii would. But you know, to each his own.

Sanjay, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com