Comments on: The Idea of North

By: Qinx

Qinx — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:41:45 +0000

@Grace: they actually have a “light bar” here (ljuscaf�). Which basically is a bar turned into a huge S.A.D. light. So I’d say cases of SAD are quite common here :-) You can also get light therapy sessions from your doctor. Basically anything to stop Swedes from jumping of buildings when the dark comes :-)

Sauna’s a very common in houses, not so much in apartment buildings. Any gym will have sauna’s though.

@Author: Ha! Got you beat with Dallas then ;-)

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By: Grace

Grace — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:33:55 +0000

I was wondering what the number of cases of SAD is in Sweden? Depression? Cultural attitudes toward medicating for seasonal depression? Do Swedes compensate with sun lamps? The sun in a major source of Vitamin K. Can I assume all the milk and juices are fortified? All of us living in the northern lattitudes face long winters. How do Swedes while away their leisure time? What to do for exercise when it’s dark so much of the time? And. . .even at sea level, that much cold makes for dry skin, dry hair and dry eyes, aging people fast. Does everyone have access to a sauna?

Just a few of the questions that have been running around the squirrel cage, while I’ve tried to keep up with your blog. Love the blog, BTW.

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By: Monica

Monica — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:40:56 +0000

Sweden is close to where Alaska is located as far as the similar weather conditions and long winter day/nights and lighter summer day/nights. Still would love to visit Sweden someday.

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By: Deb

Deb — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:39:12 +0000

We do have a lot of sunshine in Calgary. We also have Chinooks which can be both good and bad. Good because the warm winds off the foothills off the mountains mean the temperature goes up and we get some respite from the cold. Bad because the atmospheric pressure goes up and lots of people have headaches and achiness. I would love to spend March- Sept. in Stockholm and the winter in Calgary and or Pheonix. That would be perfect. As it is, I live in Calgary with wonderful memories of Stockholm. Oh well…….

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By: SarahRF

SarahRF — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:58:03 +0000

Ugh, Swedish winter… it’s not so much the cold that I dislike, it’s the dark. I spent a winter in Calgary, Canada a couple years back and it was actually gorgeous. We had snow almost every day, but the sun was shining, it still had some heat to it, and the skies were crystal clear. I could definitely see myself spending more time outside during winter if ours were like that here in Sweden.

It’s the dark I hate though. 4-6 hours of light, (I don’t call it daylight or sunlight, you need to see the sun for it to count), is just horrible. The days take forever to come to an end, I’ve even missed an entire fall one year becuase I left home in the dark and came home in the dark, spending all day indoors away from windows. No wonder the suicide rate goes up during winter, it’s just so depressing not seeing the sun.

I remember a few years back, the local newspaper in my parents’ area said that in the month of November, we’d had a total of 38 MINUTES of direct sunlight. That’s not per day, that’s for the entire month. The rest of the time it was either dark or clouded over, which is almost the same in my opinion.

Yeah, Stockholm is awesome, I’m glad I live here… just please leave the light on, just a little longer… please?

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