articles
Summer seasonal depression is real and deadly. MDLinx, July 2, 2024.
How hot is too hot for the human body? Medical News Today, July 20, 2023.
Sad in the summer? You may have summer seasonal depression. Washington Post, July 3, 2023.
Yes, You Can Get SAD in the Summer. Cleveland Clinic, July 12, 2023.
The Summertime Blues. Penn Medicine News, Aug. 2, 2018.
You’ve heard of the winter blues but what about summer depression? Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
Seasonal Affective Disorder Isn’t Just for Winter. New York Times, June 1, 2021, updated Nov. 1, 2022.
It Turns Our You Really Can Get That Summertime Sadness. Healthline, reviewed June 25, 2019.
Beat summertime sadness with these cool tips. University of Arizona News, July 19, 2023.
Suicide Rates Spike in Spring, Not Winter. Johns Hopkins, May 8, 2019.
Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder: SAD in the Summer. Psychology Today, January 14, 2015.
Does summer make you SAD? Dr. Orna Izakson Celilo Natural Health Center blog.
Seasonal Affective Disorder. National Institutes of Mental Health, 2023.
research
Akram, Faisal, et al. “Mood worsening on days with high pollen counts is associated with a summer pattern of seasonality.” Pteridines 30.1 (2019): 133-141.
Lõhmus, Mare. “Possible biological mechanisms linking mental health and heat—a contemplative review.” International journal of environmental research and public health 15.7 (2018): 1515. [PMID: 30021956]
Milić, Časlav, Sanja Kocić, and Snežana Radovanović. “Climate variations: Risk factor of commiting suicide.” Medicinski pregled 64.3-4 (2011): 202-205. [English-language abstract. Original here.]
The result of many investigations of the influence of climate factors on committing suicide is that the suicide incidence reaches its peak during early summer. Also, the sun radiation the day before suicidal event is significantlly connected with the increased suicidal risk. There is a difference between sexes. If the sun were a trigger, men would have to be exposed to it for a longer time than women.
Using previously reported screening criteria, 9% of respondents reported a degree of summer impairment indicative of SAD, while the incidence rate for winter SAD was 1.7%. This summer-winter ratio is typically reversed in more temperate latitudes.
Roxbury, Christopher R., et al. “Association between rhinitis and depression in United States adults.” The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice 7.6 (2019): 2013-2020.
Vyssoki, Benjamin, et al. “Effects of sunshine on suicide rates.” Comprehensive psychiatry 53.5 (2012): 535-539. [Abstract and snippets.]
Wehr, Thomas A., et al. “Contrasts between symptoms of summer depression and winter depression.” Journal of affective disorders 23.4 (1991): 173-183. (Abstract only.)
Consistent with predictions based on the earlier reports, we found that winter depressives were more likely to have atypical vegetative symptoms, with increased appetite, carbohydrate craving, weight gain and hypersomnia, and that summer depressives were more likely to have endogenous vegetative symptoms, with decreased appetite and insomnia.
White, Richard A., et al. “Does suicide have a stronger association with seasonality than sunlight?.” BMJ open 5.6 (2015): e007403. [PMID: 26041492]
resources lists
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Header photo by Yoann Boyer on Unsplash.