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I live at 60 degrees also, and I agree with everything you said.

The cold didn't bother me at all, even though I'm from a hot country originally. I rode my bike to work every day of the year in fact, even in -45C. I loved it. It's like being on another planet in it's beauty and differences.

Like you said, it was always in late winter/early spring that I'd loose it a little. I'd grab a burger and beer after work, then somehow two weeks would go by where I had done that every day, with lots and lots of beer, and I wouldn't really know how it happened.

The key for my was to always, always get outside at midday when the sun it out and get it on your face. Even on the coldest days I always go for a walk along the river to marvel at the beauty and get the sun on my face - that's a luxury of not being further North, the sun actually comes up and I can have it directly on my face.

And to get moving after work. Eat dinner then go snowshowing, x-country skiiing or whatever for at least a couple of hours. It's nice to get into this habit before winter really hits in Oct/Nov, then keep it up. It's amazing to be out there in -45C with a headlamp, the stars and of course it's how you get to see the Northern lights more often than not.

Of course, in summer, I get home from work, eat dinner then go mntn biking/hiking/fishing/whatever until 2am in the beaming sunshine. I call it two days for the price of one.

Whitehorse, perhaps? I've read that Whitehorse has the highest rate of bicycle commuters. I can't fathom how that's possible, given the winters, and the fact that it's not particularly dense -- yeah, things aren't THAT far apart, but far enough that bicycling doesn't seem like the first choice in the winter.

Good guess!

Whitehorse is a mecca for people that are seriously into outdoor pursuits, so it makes sense that so many people want to ride to work.

When you live there, the winter is not a reason to not go outside. On the contrary, it often makes going outside easier because all the lakes and rivers are frozen, so you can explore very far and wide which you can't do in the summer due to lack of roads.

So riding to work in the winter makes perfect sense :)

Also, downtown is fairly small. From the farthest reaches of "downtown" to anywhere you'd be working is a max of 45 minutes on a bike. Most commutes are more like 15-30 mins. Though lots of people live 30-45 minutes by car out of town, which is not doable in the winter. Riding on the AK highway in winter is not an option, the plowing is not good enough.

When people are really depressed, they don't kill themselves. Because they have no energy to.

Once they go on antidepressants, they go on suicide watch. It's the most dangerous time. Because they'll still be depressed, but they'll finally have the energy to get up. And they just might have the energy to do themselves in.

> Once they go on antidepressants, they go on suicide watch. It's the most dangerous time. Because they'll still be depressed, but they'll finally have the energy to get up. And they just might have the energy to do themselves in.

Not sure if you can really generalize this much. There are several studies studying the effect of antidepressants on suicide rates, and it's true that some of them seem to lead to more suicides but it's far from being something that you can categorize like that.

I'd also wager there are lots of suicides that could be avoided if people got the medical attention they needed on time.

It's not all black and white.

Warfangle is correct, I was warned specifically about this when I started treatment. When you go on an SSRI, your fatigue lifts before your mood does, which can lead to a few dangerous weeks.

Can confirm, "my" SNRI's package insert (it is about one meter long, in small print) warns that when starting treatment there's an increased risk of suicidal thoughts/suicide, especially in people under 25.

Fun fact: The package insert also states: "It isn't completely clear how antidepressants work, but they can help increase the Serotonin and Noradrenaline levels in the brain." Very confidence-inspiring :-/

> Fun fact: The package insert also states: "It isn't completely clear how antidepressants work, but they can help increase the Serotonin and Noradrenaline levels in the brain." Very confidence-inspiring :-/

Well at least it's fair. The chemistry of the brain is still very poorly understood.

Note that many drugs were discovered to have effects before we knew HOW to explain why they work.

This is admittedly anecdata, but a close member of my family just committed suicide this week, after starting SSRIs a few weeks earlier.

The family saw a therapist for counseling (not the therapist responsible for the SSRIs) yesterday and her opinion was that prescribing an SSRI without an accompanying mood stablizier was extremely risky. There's certainly a contingent of mental health workers who feel this is a real risk.

Simultaneously, a different member of the family has been on SSRIs under her primary care provider's oversight alone - something we finally convinced her was a bad idea. I wonder how common this practice has become, and if it's contributed to the overall increase in U.S. suicide rates.

I'm sorry for your loss.

They often lead to more suicides _at the beginning of treatment_, but less suicides in the long run.

That's why hospitalization is often necessary when beginning treatment for depression when that depression includes suicidal ideation, but is not necessary for the duration of treatment.

It would be helpful to mention that the antidepressants of which you speak are SSRI's. A rare set of non-SSRI antidepressants, like Tianeptine,[0] do not have this deleterious effect.

[0]: http://www.tianeptine.com

I actually have the opposite reaction to the spring. When I get 5+ minutes extra per day of light, I'm ecstatic, happy all the time. October and November are always brutal on me.

I'm only at 43-ish these days, but I've lived as far north as Edinburgh, Scotland (56ish). I had to explicitly get outside every day at lunch to get as much sun as I could.

Seasonal Affective Disorder is apparently a real thing.

Living in NY, which is not even that far north, I always peak in feeling great in October and then I just completely go to shit after the clocks change in Nov. This week, it has been beautiful everyday, and I've been outside a lot as a result, and I feel amazing! We are still at the mercy of the sun.

Growing up in TX, though, I never really gave this kind of stuff much of a thought. The sun and humidity are so oppressive, that you spend half the year wishing it would go away, and winters are finally relaxing and time to be outdoors.

This year, however, with the results of El Niño, it has been incredibly mild fall and winter and quite sunny. I did not as a result suffer any seasonal depression. Many others who do get SAD every year have reported the same.

> Highest suicide rates occur during the spring, around the vernal equinox not around the darkest time of the year.

If you don't take vitamin D pills or consume (lots of) cod liver oil, then your vitamin D levels will be lowest in the spring. If I remember correctly, at around 60 degrees north, you have to wait until the end of April until you get vitamin D from the sun.

Interesting. Are there any studies on this lowest-in-spring observation?

Rhonda Patrick talks about vitamin D quite bit (she is awesome). I'm coming up empty on seasonal relationships but it would surprise me if she hasn't mentioned something about it.

It does make sense though. If you're not taking supplements and the sun isn't direct enough to make any on your own until late April then late spring would be the longest point in the year you've gone without proper sunlight.

Quite a few diseases vary with season of birht if you do not supplement http://vitamindwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page_id=3225

Good point!

When you're deep blue in the winter, people tell you that the sun will come back. When you still feel blue in the spring things sort of fall apart.

I wish I could move back north, even so.

It's coldest about 30 minutes into dawn. Spring suicides could just because the new amount of daylight has yet to have enough impact to reverse the depression of the dark winter.

I especially recommend visiting St. Petersburg during the summer. It's on that same latitude so you get nights that don't go dark and the whole city celebrates. They're called "White Nights" and there's a "White Night Festival"[1] but really, the fascinating part is how the whole city (or at least the city center) comes alive during those nights.

It's absolutely beautiful.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Nights_Festival