Guðmundur Löve, head of the Icelandic Association of Tuberculosis and Chest Patients, believes that the fact that Iceland does not observe daylight saving like other European countries is one of the contributing factors for high rates of depression in the country.
Photo: Páll Stefánsson/Iceland Review.
A recent OECD report, Health at a Glance 2013, shows that Iceland has the highest prescribing rate, at 105.8 doses a day for every 1,000 inhabitants in 2011, up from 70.9 in 2000 and 14.9 in 1989, when it first submitted figures.
“We are the fattest nation, we don’t exercise enough and we have a completely stupid time system that screws us up during the winter,” Guðmundur commented to visir.is. “We can have an effect on reducing the likelihood of getting the disease,” he added, emphasizing that he was not referring to serious depression for which he says medication will remain necessary.
The OECD report found that antidepressant use in rich countries in general is on the rise.
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ZR
