A recent article in Le Soleil newspaper indicates that 50 % of the population could be suffering of seasonal affective disorder, a particularly high proportion, linked to a long winter season. It is double the usual incidence of this disorder, normally estimated to affect 25 % of the population.
"Temperature has an effect, and there is also a psychological effect when people expect fair weather and it does not occur. This can make the percentage rise" says the researcher at the CERVO Brain Research Centre of the CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale, Marc Hébert. "If we count other symptoms, such as performance and how people feel at work [...], it could even more than 50 % ", adds Hébert.
Marc Hébert, a specialist of the effects of light on the brain, also indicates that a 30 minute period of light therapy per day could have beneficial effects in only 3 to 5 days.
Learn more in the article published in Le Soleil newspaper (in French):
