Some days - perhaps even most days, it is hard to know who
to believe. In fact, it frequently feels as if even our major news media don't
know who or what to believe. Take for example the CBC and its reporting on
seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
In February of last years the CBC
reported on the benefits of using special lighting to counter the effects of
our long winters and reduced sunlight. CBC told readers that as many as 1.2
million Canadians (more likely women than men) were clinically depressed in the
winter, with "another 10 to 15 per cent of Canadians suffering from a milder form of SAD" (CBC).
That does not include the large numbers of Canadians who on occasion express
some sadness or tiredness with the apparent never-ending winter. The main point
of the article was to discussed the effectiveness of using a high-intensity
ultraviolet-filtered bright-light for a period of time every day. The article
also, using the work of Dr. Robert Levitan suggests that SADs may be a genetic
holdover from our cave dwelling ancestors who would have had to reserve energy
during the long dark months. Regardless of why the lack of light affects us -
it is good to know that the medical community both recognize the existence of
SADS and that there is a non-invasive "cure".
For all of us who have suffered through the long winter
months (on either coast or anywhere in the middle) - we can easily recognize
that feeling of just not wanting to get up on another dark and cold winter
morning, on those days or perhaps weeks on end when we barely have the energy to
function.
On the other hand, just
today CBC
reported that an article in the Journal
of Clinical Psychological Science is suggesting that there is no evidence to
support the theory that our long and dark winters are making people depressed.
It should be noted that the researcher, Steven G. LoBello is from Montgomery,
Alabama and may have never really
experienced a long cold winter. He may therefore, not know what he is talking
about. He does however cite a research project done in Norway that "
did not find any relationship between an increase in depression and the
duration of the polar light" (CBC).
The article is not suggesting that people are not more likely to get depressed
in the winter - just that there is no scientific proof that it is the lack of
light that causes it.
I am not a scientist. Neither do I have access to the kinds
of data needed to examine which of these polar opposite hypothesis are true.
But what I do know is....Thank God it is spring!!!"
It had been interesting and quite marvellous to be on the
west coast during spring time. Spring time here is completely different from
that in Ontario. There is not, for example, that sense of collective
celebration of having survived another winter. There is no spontaneous shedding
of heavy winter coats and boots (in part because half of the people here don't
own heavy winter coats). There is no slow build up of excitement, no mental
measurement of how much the snow bank has melted in the past 24 hours and no
real sense that life will finally get better- which after all is what spring is
really about. Perhaps most important of all....I don't think anyone here
actually believes that they have earned better weather. It may be our natural
right to get it - but unlike in central Canada, we didn't earn it.
On the west coast, spring has been a gradually meandering
process where spring has happened without
any real realization that it has. Trees have been in bloom for at least the
last three weeks, flowers are blooming (some of the tulips are almost finished)
and most people have cut their lawns at least once if not twice. Vegetable
gardens are being planted and there is a sense that we are all slipping into
summer mode. It is a nice feeling but I must confess - I miss, just a little
bit, that sense of celebration and excitement at the coming of spring.
Although the trees sure have been pretty.
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