Could you live in a country where the sun never set for part of the year?

Not if it’s always cold.

It might be difficult at times, but I think I could. I’d have to get blackout curtains, though!

I already do. I live in the United States, and in the summer, the sun never sets in part of the US.

Took me a minute! You in Alaska @zenvelo?

No, but I am in the US. And so is Alaska. You asked ”...live in a country”.

Well I stand corrected then!

OK. Could you live in Alaska @zenvelo?

I wouldn’t want to live in a place where the sun never sets or where the sun never comes up (i.e. the far north).

Being in a place where the sun doesn’t set during the summer also means being in a place where the sun doesn’t rise in the winter.

Ew!

Nope. Not for me.

I wonder if people who live in those places have higher incidents of depression and stuff?

@Dutchess_III I would certainly think so. It even sounds depressing.

It’s interesting to think about. Over millions of years of evolution our circadian rythem developed on the equator. We just moved out of Africa 300,000 years ago.

@Dutchess_III That is why most Alaskians snowbird in the southern states during the winter.

What about those who can’t? I can’t imagine most Alaskans can afford 2 homes.

@Dutchess_III Alaskans are a different breed than the rest of us. They embrace their Alaska-ness and love it.

Well, is SAD a real thing or not?

Above the Arctic Circle, the Sun just goes round and round in the summer. Almost as though the Earth was flat.

I’d be fine with the long days, it’s the other end of the year when there is only a few hours of sunlight or none that I would hate it.

When I was in Alaska daylight was over 17 hours if I remember correctly. I barely noticed. When you want to sleep you just draw the curtains.

I honestly would prefer eternal night.

Wondering if the folks in, say, Finland ever ask each other, “Could you live in a country where you never see a midnight sun?” or ”...where it’s always hot?” People are used to what they’re used to. If I were used to living in the far north, I imagine I’d be fine with it.

@Dutchess_III,
Well, is SAD a real thing or not?

Is that your real question? I understand it as a real thing, but certainly not something that everybody has, not even everyone in Nordic countries.

In summer the sun here rises at 4:30am and sets after 10:00pm. I love the long summer evenings and there is a special Gaelic word “feasgar” to describe them. “Gloaming” is another word that describes the extended twilight of mid-summer.

This is what Robert Louis Stevenson thought of it as a child:

Bed in Summer

In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candlelight
In summer, quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people’s feet
Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?

@flutherother Nice poem! A friend of mine in Michigan used to complain it was hard to get her son to go to sleep in the summer, he wanted to stay up and play. Sundown is almost 10:00pm there. I remember my first summer there it was so noticeable to me how late the sun set.

I could.

I would enjoy growing the freaky huge pumpkins grown in the summer. I would not enjoy the dark days in the winter.