Extreme Arctic Winters Pose Risks to Community Health: Icy roads, sidewalks, lack of sunshine, extreme cold lead to illness and death every winter.

AuthorMottl, Judy
PositionHealthcare

Weeks and weeks and weeks of fifteen-to twenty-four hour sunlit days make Alaska a wonderful place to explore--in the summer. But such an opportunity also comes with a big caveat: months and months of darkness and a frigid, deep cold settle over the state in the winter. Fairbanks, among other areas of the state, experienced temperatures of -50 degrees Fahrenheit in early 2017.

Few other locales (if any) in the United States can lay claim to such unique seasonal attributes and everyday living conditions. These seasonal extremes also present a wide set of health and safety risks for the state's nearly 740,000 residents.

SAD

Extensive periods of darkness--from October to January in some regions of the state--contribute significantly to Alaska's inordinately large segment of residents suffering from Seasonal Atfective Disorder (SAD). A reported 9.2 percent of Fairbanks' population is afflicted each year, according to research led by Dr. Norman Rosenthal, in contrast to 1.4 percent in Sarasota, Florida, and 4.7 percent in New York City. A pamphlet from South Peninsula Hospital in Homer puts the population affected by SAD at 10 percent.

SAD is marked by feelings of lethargy, increased appetite, and irritability, and its prevalence in northern latitudes worldwide is estimated to be between 10 and 20 percent. Most times those who experience severe SAD typically don't last more than a few seasons in the climate, says Dr. Gandis Mazeika, a physician with the Alaska Sleep Clinic, which has four locations in Alaska including in Anchorage and Fairbanks.

Mazeika, citing a US National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health study on SAD prevalence in Alaska, says SAD tends to occur more often in women and is less common among residents who are forty years old or older.

"I don't believe that SAD is necessarily a rite of passage for all newcomers to Alaska," says Mazeika, adding that most people have relatively low sensitivity to long nights. "Only a relatively small percentage of people have enhanced sensitivity to ambient light levels, but these individuals can be quite impacted."

While SAD may affect more Alaskans than US residents in other locations, treatment options remain the same. Mazeika says new LED visors that provide more light exposure than stationary lights and mood remedies for mild cases may be effective. "For those who are able, a trip south to Hawaii, California, or Mexico can be powerfully restorative and recharge the mood...

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