Too Much Sunshine Spurs teşvik etmek Suicides in Arctic, Study Says:

Kate Ravilious for National Geographic News May 8, 2009

The dreaded korkunç; haşmetli blues of dark winter months have long been blamed suçlamak for seasonal sezonluk depression, but too much sunshine may have an even more dire korkunç effect. In northern Greenland more than 80 percent of suicides intihar occur meydana gelmek in summer, during which the sun barely ancak dips batma below the horizon.

"There is so much light that people can't take dayanamamak it," said lead study author Karin Sparring Björkstén of the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. The researchers studied records of causes of deaths—1,351 due to dolayı suicide—between 1968 to 2002 in Greenland, which is largely above the Arctic Circle. When they looked at the data on a month by month aydan aya basis, it became clear that suicides were far more frequent sık in summer, particularly in the north, where the extended geniş summer days are most pronounced. Of the 33 suicides that had occured meydana gelmek in the most northerly province, Avannaa (North Greenland), 82 percent had happened during the period of 24-hour sunlight, March 7 to October 8. (Avannaa disappeared from maps in early 2009, when Greenland's administrative divisions were revised.)

Dangers of 24-Hour Living Across Greenland, a province il of Denmark, 80 percent of the suicide victims were men. Ninety-five percent of the victims kurban took their lives in violent şiddetli ways—shooting themselves, hanging themselves, or jumping, for example. There was no evidence that the summer increases were related to depressive disorders düzensizlik or increased alcohol consumption tüketim. Björkstén and her colleagues believe the increase in summer suicides is related to lack of sızlık sleep.

"People live their lives differently during the Arctic summer. Farmers plough toprağı sürmek their fields in the middle of the night, and children are out playing after midnight. They lose their daily rhythm," Björkstén said. Other countries may not have the extreme seasonal sunlight variations çeşitlilik, but anyone can learn from the new research, she said. "Today's 24-hour society is not good for us. Public health would improve if people cared more about their sleep," said Björkstén. Findings published today in the journal BMC Psychiatry.