--- title: Depression: How Sunshine Influences Suicide description: Sunshine's complex effect on suicide and depression canonical: https://time.com/3319200/sunshine-influences-suicide/ author: Mandy Oaklander article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-10T20:33:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:06:56.453Z article:section: Health og:title: The Link Between Sunny Days and Suicide og:description: Sunshine's complex effect on suicide and depression og:url: https://time.com/3319200/sunshine-influences-suicide/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Link Between Sunny Days and Suicide twitter:description: Sunshine's complex effect on suicide and depression twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The Link Between Sunny Days and Suicide  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Sep 10, 2014 8:33 PM UTC  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Sep 10, 2014 8:33 PM UTC Sunshine seems to be linked to suicide—but not in the way you might think. A new [study](http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2014.1198) published today in _JAMA Psychiatry_ compared 69,462 suicides that occurred in Austria between 1970 and 2010 to hours of sunshine during that day. The researchers found a positive association between the number of suicides on a particular day and the hours of sunshine—meaning sunny days saw more suicides, shedding light on some popular misconceptions about what leads up to or contributed to someone taking his or her own life. (Take the myth of “[holiday suicides](http://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/as-the-national-adult-suicide-rate-increases-news-stories-about-suicides-during-the-holidays-grow-in-number/)”—the idea that more people commit suicide during the hectic holiday season. It’s not founded in stats, data shows. December actually has the lowest suicide rates of the year, according to the [CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics](http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/suicide/holiday.html). They’re highest in the spring.) Reasons for suicide are, of course, multifaceted, making it impossible to isolate a single risk factor, including how light affects brain chemistry. Still, researchers have some ideas. When a depressed person first begins light therapy, for instance, their drive and motivation often improve before their mood does, says Dr. Matthäus Willeit of the Medical University Vienna, and one of the study authors. “If you have enhanced energy and motivation and drive but your mood is still very depressed, that might favor a state where you are at greater risk for suicide.” That’s similar to what can happen when someone first starts treatment with antidepressants, he says. Another factor to consider is that exposure to light has profound effects on serotonin transmission in the brain, which influences things like mood and impulsiveness, the authors write in their paper. More light means lower serotonin-transporter binding in the brain, a decrease that encourages impulsiveness, Willeit explains. While [most people have had suicidal thoughts at some point](http://time.com/3104007/robin-williams-dead-suicide-prevention/), very few act on them, and Willeit thinks impulse control is a key player in going through with it. On the other hand, some studies show that bright light therapy is an [effective treatment](http://healthland.time.com/2011/01/04/treating-depression-how-bright-light-can-help/) against depression with few side effects. And today’s _JAMA Psychiatry_ study showed that light seems to have a protective effect against suicide in the long-term. “It’s too early to say,” Willeit says of the relationship of sunshine to suicide. “We’re just beginning to understand what light does.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3319200/sunshine-influences-suicide/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3319200/sunshine-influences-suicide/"},"headline":"The Link Between Sunny Days and Suicide","datePublished":"2014-09-10T20:33:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:06:56.453Z","description":"Sunshine's complex effect on suicide and depression","url":"https://time.com/3319200/sunshine-influences-suicide/","keywords":["Mental Health/Psychology","Depression","Suicide","Research","CDC"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mandy Oaklander","jobTitle":"Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/mental-healthpsychology/","name":"Mental Health/Psychology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3319200/sunshine-influences-suicide/","name":"The Link Between Sunny Days and Suicide"}}]}] ```