The fact that cloudy days increase the risk of suicide, scientists have long guessed. But as it turned out, the largest number of suicides is observed not in winter, but in the first days of spring.
Almost every person, looking at the cloudy gray sky, involuntarily begins to indulge in gloomy thoughts. However, Austrian psychiatrists Benjamin Vyssoki and his colleagues from the Medical University of Vienna, after studying the cases of 69 suicides that took place over 40 years (from 1970 to 2010), and comparing them with weather data stored in the annals of meteorological stations , found that the highest number of suicides is observed not in winter, but in the first days of spring *.
This sounds all the more strange that it is in the winter, and not in the spring, that the highest prevalence of cases of clinical depression is noted. At the same time, as scientists have found out, two periods are important: the peak of suicides occurs in the first 10 days of spring, but after the number of sunny days exceeds a two-week period, the suicidal risk is significantly reduced and remains at a minimum for another month and a half.
Trying to find a starting point for finding an explanation for strange patterns, the researchers drew attention to the seasonal changes in serotonin, the “hormone of joy” responsible for mood stability. As you know, the mechanism that leads a person to a tragic decision is associated with the production of serotonin – its deficiency leads to clinical depression. Sunlight helps the brain to start the processes of producing this substance in the blood, and the lack of sun leads to a decrease in its level. By the end of a long winter, serotonin levels can reach record lows – this exacerbates depression and increases suicidal thoughts.
However, why do people begin to put them into practice in the first days of spring, when the level of serotonin, it would seem, should quickly level off? Wisocki saw the explanation in the fact that serotonin often acts like many antidepressants – instead of leveling mood, it first of all increases a person’s motivation and purposefulness. Austrian psychiatrists note that before an increase in the level of serotonin in the blood leads to a harmonization of a person’s mood, it causes a short period of impulsivity – it is at this time that the unfortunate person can make an irreparable decision. After two sunny weeks, serotonin finally begins to even out the mood, and the “window” that favors suicidal thoughts closes.
A certain role can be played by physical exhaustion, which is acutely manifested precisely at the beginning of spring – by this period, the body may run out of many vitamins and mineral elements that help it function normally. However, in developed countries, this pattern is less pronounced due to improved diets in a globalized economy and a more scientific approach to one’s health. Sometimes the regular use of the most common synthetic vitamins helps to minimize the risk of clinical depression.
Another interesting conclusion that the Austrian psychiatrists’ study of their vast and gloomy material made it possible to draw is that the highest risk of suicide during the first 10 days of spring is observed among women, and the greatest risk reduction after the first two weeks of spring is among men. In general, men commit suicide more evenly, without paying as much attention to the weather. The team of Austrian psychiatrists has not yet been able to explain this pattern. It is possible that fluctuations in serotonin cause more acute impulsive behavior in the weaker sex than in the strong, but finding out how and why this happens is the task of a new study.
* B. Vyssoki et al. «Direct Effect of Sunshine on Suicide». JAMA Psychiatry, 2014, September 10. Epub