Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.01.2015, Page 21

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 18 — 2014
ark Side
Although at 64° N Reykjavík is the world's
northernmost capital city, the most northerly
permanently populated site on Earth is Sval-
bard. Located at 78° N, this Norwegian archi-
pelago is about halfway between the edge of
continental Europe and the North Pole. Winter
there is a three-month-long period of constant
night, in which a transient 2,600-strong im-
migrant population live, many of whom are
drawn to the earning potential of the 15% tax
rate and strong Norwegian currency. We asked
Erla Jóhannsdóttir, an Icelander who’s liv-
ing on Svalbard this winter, how the Svalbard
blackness compares to Icelandic winter.
"Locals in Svalbard talk just as much about
the light as Icelanders do about the weather, so
there's a lot to say," she writes, communicating
via Facebook Messenger. "When my boyfriend
was preparing me for the 'dark season' last fall
I was all like, 'Yeah yeah, I'm an Icelander, I
know all about it!' But little did I know as I was
boarding the plane in Tromsö, I was having a
precious moment with the sun. I haven't seen
daylight since, and won't see it again until the
middle of February."
It's a huge difference, even from the three-
hour days of peak winter in Iceland, and men-
tally challenging for sure. The darkness messes
with the tempo in your life, and you have to
make an effort to create a routine. For the first
two weeks it seems a bit funny and exotic, but
soon enough you feel how it affects your sys-
tem.
"The most common practices for dealing
with it are overdosing on Vitamin D, and going
to the solarium. I haven't been to the solarium
since I was sixteen! And, well, for many many
locals, consuming alcohol is a popular way of
surviving the neverending night. I would say
that people don't talk much about depression
here... more like just get drunk and deal with it.
It's very much a cowboy way of living up here.
There are a lot of coal miners.
Luckily I'm very good at sleeping in after
years of training in Iceland! My best advice for
anyone living in a place with a short window of
daylight in the winter is to go outside and ab-
sorb all the light you can, while you have the
chance, and then enjoy the dark for the rest of
the day."
If you’re interested in finding out more,
check out www.svalbard.net.
If you’re living in
Svalbard, three hours
of sun is a luxury
Darker
Still
Photo
Paal Lumd
www.shutterbirdproduction.com
SAD Times
We spoke to an Icelandic sleep specialist about
the effects of winter—and how to fight back
When I meet working psycholo-
gist and PhD student Erla Björn-
sdóttir, it’s already dark outside.
Reykjavík’s streets are becoming
treacherous as compacted snow
freezes into sheets of slippery
ice, and the streetlights have
been lit for a couple of hours
already, throughout the late af-
ternoon. People clutch their hot
drinks in the coffeehouse, and
a barman lights candles on the
tables. The atmosphere is tangi-
bly hushed as the winter season
hangs over the city.
Around 101’s many down-
town bars and cafes, sleep is-
sues become a common topic of
conversation at this time of year.
Whilst some locals carry on as
normal, others spend many ex-
tra hours in bed throughout the
dark Icelandic winter, rising at
noon as the sky finally begins
to brighten. Others still toss and
turn all night, becoming strung
out, unwell and drowsy.
SAD is real
"Melatonin sets the internal body
clock,” Erla explains, “and morn-
ing light is important for melato-
nin production. In winter, people
don’t see the morning light until
11am, when they’re probably in
the office and too busy to look
out the window. Then, when they
leave for the day, it’s dark again.
So they don’t have enough mela-
tonin, which can cause sleep dif-
ficulties.”
Alongside other symptoms—
such as lethargy, low moods and
even full-blown depression—
winter sleep dysfunction comes
under the term Seasonal Affec-
tive Disorder, also known by the
somewhat apt acronym SAD. A
quick Googling of SAD reveals
an ongoing debate within the
medical community, with some
doctors and psychologists ques-
tioning the existence of the con-
dition.
“Well, it definitely exists,”
says Erla, “but we need new stud-
ies to measure it. My feeling as a
working psychologist is that SAD
rates are high here. There are
many of people suffering from a
lack of energy, sleeping troubles,
and a feeling of constant drowsi-
ness in the darkest months. Right
now is the peak time in my clin-
ic—we have a long waiting list.”
SAD can get bad
SAD can cause all kinds of prob-
lems, from increased sick days at
work, to an impact on people’s
relationships and social lives.
Erla says the rate of drop-outs at
Iceland’s high schools and uni-
versities peaks in the winter as
young people struggle to main-
tain a normal schedule, as does
the number of people reporting
symptoms of depression.
"Depression in general, and of
course SAD, can get really bad,”
she explains. “People can feel un-
able to get out of bed at all—what
would help them most is to see
people or take a walk, but they
really just can’t. Some people
cannot get out of bed, mentally
and physically, when they suffer
this. So it can be serious.”
Stop the clocks
When people suffer these kinds
of problems, their first port of
call is often their doctor. "Ice-
landic people have the world re-
cord in hypnotics use,” says Erla.
“Last year there were eight mil-
lion sleeping tablets prescribed
here, which is crazy. Sometimes
it is necessary to use antidepres-
sants, and I certainly have noth-
ing against that. But in some age
groups we have 70% using sleep-
ing tablets, when long-term us-
age is very bad for your health.
We need to admit that something
isn’t right here—and I think the
lack of daylight has something to
do with it.”
With this in mind, Erla is part
of a large-scale study to find out
more about the sleeping habits
of Icelanders in the dark months
that will examine, amongst other
things, whether a change to the
clock might benefit those having
trouble.
“We’ll send out question-
naires to 10,000 Icelandic people
this January,” says Erla, “not
necessarily about SAD, but about
their general sleeping habits. We
want to know if Icelandic people
are sleeping less than those in
nearby countries. The data from
this study will be very helpful in
deciding whether changing the
Icelandic clock would be help-
ful.”
But with so little daylight
available, how would a clock shift
help? “It would move what little
daylight we have to the morn-
ing,” says Erla. “We actually used
to have summer and winter time
here in Iceland—I think it was
in 1969 when it was decided to
stick to the summer time. If we
changed the clock by just one
hour, we’d get six more weeks of
light mornings, which could re-
ally help people suffering from
these problems.“
Today, we fight back
There is also a range of practical
measures that sufferers can take.
Erla recommends that people
take lýsi (cod liver oil) or Vita-
min D supplements throughout
the winter, as well as simple but
effective routines like exercise,
socialising, balanced meals and
avoiding excessive consumption
of alcohol and caffeine, particu-
larly late in the day.
“I also highly recommend
SAD lamps,” she says. “There
are recent studies showing very
promising results. You have to
make sure to use the right kind
of lamp, an approved 10,000-lu-
men lamp, and to use it correctly,
when you wake up, for half an
hour. That should boost your en-
ergy and help you sleep the fol-
lowing night. At the sleep clinic,
all of us have a lamp on our table.
Between Vitamin D and sun
lamps, this can help alleviate
mild symptoms.”
If those measures don’t work,
there are psychologists in Ice-
land who offer specialised treat-
ments, such as cognitive be-
havioural therapy. But it can be
a prohibitively pricey process.
“The government doesn’t help
out with the cost of these treat-
ments,” says Erla. “I think this is
one reason that we see such an
abnormal level of sleep medi-
cine usage—it’s more affordable
for people to go to see the doctor
and get a prescription, but it can
be difficult to get into a psychol-
ogist’s office.”
Searching for solutions
Erla is also involved in a for-
ward-thinking project that
moves to remedy this via an
online service for those unable
to pay for private therapy. “We
have a web treatment now here
in Iceland at www.betrisvefn.is,
also available in Norwegian at
www.somnify.com. The concept
is one I think we’ll see more and
more in the health system—that
is, internet-based interactive
treatment. It’s an Icelandic en-
trepreneurial project by myself
and two other young doctors,
trying to find solutions for these
problems.”
So, armed with Vitamin D
supplements and sunlamps, and
with new studies and an English-
language self-treatment website
on the way, perhaps people can
sleep a little easier this winter.
"Some people can
feel unable to get out
of bed at all—what
would help them most
is to see other people
or take a walk, but
they just can’t. Some
people mentally and
physically cannot get
out of bed when they
suffer SAD. It can
get serious."
salfraedingar.is heilsuborg.is
Erla’s private clinic is at Sálfræðiráðgjöfin in Laugavegur and she also runs a group
insomnia therapy programme at Heilsuborg