From: Michael Lorrey (retroman@together.net)
Date: Mon Oct 19 1998 - 16:54:54 MDT
Spike Jones wrote:
> > Lady D'Los wrote>I have been diagnosed as being Clinically Depressed and
> > >have been such the majority of my life. The Winters are the worse...
> > >
> > Hara Ra wrote: Are you aware of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder)?
> > Bright light early in the morning often helps...
>
> i have an idea: perhaps seasonal affected depression is humanity's
> equivalent of hibernation. the portion of mankind that has evolved
> in the far north had a slightly better chance of survival in winter
> if they were severely depressed. the depressed would be more likely to
> stay indoors and sit still, thereby conserving scarce energy while avoiding
> the risk of going out in the harsh winter night, as their cabin fevered non-
> depressed cohorts might be tempted to do. this could cause the
> tendency to s.a.d. to spread thru the population after some generations.
> this would explain why the russian, the eskimo, the swede (my ancestors),
> the danish, the finnish, etc, seem to have more sad than the jew, the
> african, et.al from gentler, more hospitable climates.
> whaddya think? spike
Except that the Eskimo, Inuit, Laplanders, and other longer term inhabitants do
not have such a high level of depression. Only the latecomers (i.e. since the
aryan migration) have such a high level of depression. This indicates that such
inhabitants have not yet adapted to the high latitudes. Remember that depression
leads to a lowered interest in sex, so a depressed individual would be less
likely to reproduce....no matter how much time spent inside. Also, since people
with an SAD problem are more likely to want to get out in the rare sun at high
latitudes (since the light does alleviate their problems), they would be more
likely to freeze to death or get eaten by predators...
Until 10,000 years ago, the ice sheets stretched down to the Black Sea and
Wisconsin, so I wouldn't expect the cold to be a factor...
Mike Lorrey
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