The relationship between seasonality of mood, physical symptoms and physical activity in Iceland

• Main Author: Angelina Brigitte Carlucci 1997-
• Other Authors: Háskólinn á Akureyri
• Format: Bachelor Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2024
• Subjects: Sálfræði; Árstíðasveiflur; Skammdegisþunglyndi; Hreyfing (heilsurækt); Psychology; Seasonal effective dissorder; Depression; Physical activity; Akureyri; Iceland; University of Akureyri
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1946/47889

Some people experience seasonality of mood, which means that they find their mood to fluctuate across seasons. In extreme cases, people suffer from seasonally recurring depressive episodes, a condition called seasonal affective disorder. Depression in general has been linked to a variety of physical symptoms and both depression and some physical complaints have been shown to be correlated with physical activity. Additionally, some research found seasonal patterns of physical symptoms and physical activity. This study’s research questions are the following: (1) Is there an association between physical symptoms and seasonality of mood? (2) Is there an association between physical activity and seasonality of mood? (3) Do physical activity and physical symptoms follow any seasonal patterns? Data from the Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ), intercultural Quality of Life Comic (iQOLC), International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-SF) and from the depression module of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) were used for analysis. Participants were assessed up to four times, once per season, as part of a larger project at the University of Akureyri on Environmental, Physiological, and Cognitive risk factors for Seasonal Affective Disorder (EPiC SAD). Partial correlational analyses revealed that higher seasonality of mood was associated with significantly more physical symptoms in fall, independent of age and depression. In all other seasons, no significant correlations between physical symptoms and seasonality of mood could be found when controlling for age and depression. No significant correlations between physical activity and seasonality of mood could be found after correcting for multiple comparisons. Non-parametric Friedman and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests revealed no seasonal fluctuations of physical symptoms and physical activity, independent of seasonality of mood and level of physical symptoms. Future studies should use more objective measures, obtain a larger sample that is more evenly ...