From Oz to Oslo

As you can imagine, the darkness can be quite oppressive. When you wake up in the morning and travel to work, it is dark. When you leave in the evening to go home, it is dark. During the day, most people only see sunlight out their office windows. (In my first year working in Norway, my office was on the top floor of the building, so the windows were above us in the ceiling and you had to crane your head up to see a small patch of sky.) Last weekend, I went out to meet a friend for lunch, and was startled by the glare, as I hadn’t been outside in the daylight for so long . (Picture, right, from CartoonStock.com.)

The effect is unusual. You have probably heard of seasonal affective disorder (or SAD), a mood disorder that people experience in winter, common in the Nordic countries, Canada and US. It is believed to be caused by the lack of light, and various chemical processes resulting from a lack of sunlight. Symptoms can include depression, too much sleep (since when is that a bad thing?), lack of energy, anxiety, a craving for sweet and starchy food, and lacking the energy to perform everyday activities.

My personal experience is not that extreme. What I would say is that I definitely feel a little more demotivated in the darker months. It is more difficult to get up in the morning, primarily because it barely looks like morning. And I do have a craving for sugary foods, but that’s more of a year-round thing with me anyway. While I’m sure there are chemical processes at work behind these things, I don’t need a scientist to tell me why people get the blues in winter: it’s cold, it’s dark, and it’s wet and slippery. People don’t want to be outside too much, and being inside leads to a certain lack of exercise and social activity. It’s also a difficult time for the elderly, for whom respitory and joint problems can be set off by the cold. (Actually there’s a large number of the Norwegian elderly who simply move to Spain in the winter months. Good thinking, oldies!) It’s enough to put anyone down.

SAD is something that usually clears up with the end of winter, but there are a range of treatments for it. These include anti-depression medication, use of the hormone melatonin, and of course the more commonly known light therapy. I remember several years ago seeing on a travel show a story about the Light Cafe in Sweden's capital Stockholm, where you could enjoy a coffee while making use of their UV lights, specially installed to help combat the winter blues (see left). I have not, however, seen any of these in Oslo – though if anyone knows of one, I’d be curious to visit! Of course, there’s also the simple solution of getting out in those precious short hours of daylight: I’ve resolved to do all my weekend grocery shopping at a midday hour, and a few people at work have mentioned that we should start going for a walk at lunch.

The reassuring thing is that from here on, the days will only get longer, and then we will head cheerily again toward summer!