LEWISTON – For mystics and the superstitious, the winter solstice can mean many things, but to those who work in more pragmatic fields, it is just another long, dark day.
“When there’s not enough sunlight, people tend to be inside much earlier. They’re not exercising and producing endorphins. If you’re always inside, if you’re not up and around, it’s going to bring you down,” said Laurie Cyr-Martel, a crisis intervention worker for the Lewiston Police Department. “When you seclude yourself from your support system – from your friends and your family – you’re not going to feel good emotionally.”
Technically, winter begins at 1:35 p.m. today. In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice is when the sun is the lowest in the sky because the Earth is tilted away from it and gets less light.
The sun will rise at 7:12 a.m. this morning and set at 4:06 p.m., according to “The Old Farmer’s Almanac.” There will be just eight hours and 54 minutes of daylight.
For some, the date and the angle of the Earth’s axis means nothing much at all.
“It’s just more of the gloom and doom of winter,” said a spokesperson at the National Weather Service in Gray. “It’s really not a meteorological thing at all. It’s astronomical in nature. It doesn’t affect what we do.”
Cyr-Martel, who deals nightly with many people suffering from various forms of mental illness, does not expect today to be any better or worse for people already suffering from winter gloom. She does not expect any more violence or suicidal behavior.
“That tends to spike after the holidays. It’s a big letdown period,” she said. “All the friends are gone, all the families are gone and people get depressed.”
Dr. David Stuchiner, formerly director of emergency medicine at Central Maine Medical Center and now a consultant to other Maine hospitals, says he is often asked about the effects of astronomical events on human behavior.
“There is a lot of literature out there on things like the solstice and the full moon,” Stuchiner said. “It’s not all good literature.”
Still, Stuchiner believes that anyone who is already depressed might be more profoundly glum because of the approaching holidays and the limited sunlight.
“There is a grain of truth to it,” Stuchiner said. “But whether there will be a spike in suicides or violence because the day of the solstice is short by one minute, I doubt it.”
“It will be just another early, dark night,” Cyr-Martel predicted. “Most people will barely notice. They are looking forward to their holiday celebrations, and it keeps them going. It will just fly right by just like any other day.”
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