Light O'Clock (Season 2)

Episode 5: Shedding light on... circadian rhythms and mental health

Host: Carolina Guidolin | Guest: Daniel Smith

DOI: 10.17617/1.t9ph-t492 | License: CC-BY

In today’s episode, we dive deep into the relationship between light, circadian rhythms and mental health with Prof. Daniel Smith from the University of Edinburgh. What role do light sensitivity and circadian rhythms play in bipolar disorder? How can we design studies to answer key questions in this area, and how can the involvement of patients ensure the success of a research study? Tune in to get the answers to these and many other questions about light, circadian rhythms and mental health.

Links and resources related to the episode’s content

• The HELIOS-BD study: https://www.heliosbd.com/

• The AMBIENT-BD study: https://www.ambientbd.com/

Timestamps

(00:00) Intro
(01:25) Introducing Prof. Smith
(02:45) Circadian rhythms and mental health
(05:20) In which direction is the relationship?
(07:25) The role of light
(13:28) What is bipolar disorder?
(16:45) Current treatment options
(17:54) Bipolar disorder and light sensitivity
(20:10) The HELIOS-BD study
(29:08) Patient recruitment
(30:58) The AMBIENT-BD study
(33:40) Co-production of research studies
(38:47) Outro