Researchers analysed climate data, access to healthcare and mental health indicators to determine where seasonal changes may have the greatest psychological impact.<\/p>\n
New Zealand\u2019s ranking was influenced by its somewhat high annual rainfall of 1732mm, and average yearly temperature of 10.46C, two environmental factors commonly associated with seasonal depression.<\/p>\n
However, our relatively strong healthcare system helped keep our risk score lower than many other nations higher up the list.<\/p>\n
Researchers found New Zealand has 37.72 doctors per 10,000 people and an estimated clinical depression rate of 3.8%.<\/p>\n
By comparison, Australia\u2019s warmer and drier climate, with an average temperature of 22.05C and annual rainfall of 534mm, contributed to its lower overall risk score.<\/p>\n
However, despite having more doctors available, 42.28 per 10,000, Australia reported a higher depression rate, with 4.9% of residents affected.<\/p>\n
Hot Springs Spa general manager Aaron Sampson said colder environments can often lead to \u201cbouts of depression\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat said, there are many ways to combat seasonal depression with being exposed to heat being a major factor,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHeat can trigger those \u2018happy\u2019 chemicals in the brain which can lead to a mood lift.\u201d<\/p>\n
The exact cause of SAD is unknown, and there is no test to diagnose it, according to the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand.<\/p>\n
Common symptoms include low moods, irritability, reduced energy, tiredness and anxiety.<\/p>\n
\u201cTreatment may be as simple as staying out in the sun for a time each day, or it may mean being treated for depression through the winter months,\u201d the foundation\u2019s website says.<\/p>\n
The Himalayan nation of Bhutan was found to be most at risk of SAD, followed by Cambodia, then Guyana.<\/p>\n
The country least at risk was South Korea, followed by Argentina, then Poland, according to the study.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Researchers analysed climate data, access to healthcare and mental health indicators to determine where seasonal changes may have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":813556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4317],"tags":[69538,15974,234658,186,74939,49226,11662,82152,234659,105,9984,1429,49083,218,25048,9641,21587,60373,6093,16,15,9642,125443],"class_list":["post-813555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-less","tag-across","tag-affective","tag-australia","tag-believe","tag-compares","tag-disorder","tag-ditch","tag-gloomy","tag-health","tag-how","tag-life","tag-little","tag-mental-health","tag-might","tag-new","tag-seasonal","tag-something","tag-to","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-zealand","tag-zealanders"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116197153647571358","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=813555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/813556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=813555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=813555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=813555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}