Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 17:42:34 -0700
From: Spike Jones <spike66@ibm.net>
To: extropians@extropy.com
Subject: Re: Unhappiness (Was Extropian ...)
Reply-To: extropians@extropy.com
> Lady D'Los wrote>I have been diagnosed as being Clinically Depressed
andhave 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