Will Sillitoe is an English teacher from UK who has lived and worked in Finland since 2007.

Now that winter’s darker days have arrived I am noticing the changes. It seems to create a hibernation tendency in me: I don’t want to leave my warm cave unless it is absolutely necessary, such as popping out for more food supplies. Terrible I know, but it would be worse if it were simply a case of laziness. The truth is that darkness is a disincentive against exploring the world. And I know I am not alone in this. The number of cancellations by my social contacts recently all seem to use the same excuse: “Hi, sorry just got in. It’s wet and dark out there and I don’t have the energy to leave the house. Maybe next week…” Well, if next week is warm and sunny!

The flip side of this can be that once people do meet up, the darkness actually promotes togetherness. No one wants to leave a warm and friendly party to brave the desolate landscape until the necessity of sleep or relieving the babysitter becomes a pressing urgent need.

For Finns, of course, the yearly cycles of short, light, warm periods followed by a long, dark, cold one affects many aspects of life. During the lighter periods it is a time for work: replenishing supplies, sorting and fixing things in readiness for the next bout of bad weather. Indeed, it might be true that the exodus of people from the cities during summer does not signify that are people not working but that perhaps they are doing a different kind of work – fixing up barns, picking berries and the like.

For all of us, light and warmth promotes the spirit of adventure too. The desire to wander and explore, ramble and roam is more pressing. In fact, there is some evidence to suggest that these factors can even affect the development of our personalities depending on which time of the year you are born.

A study on Finnish twins suggested that they showed greater independence of behaviour during the lighter, warmer months than in the intermediate months. Suggested reasons for this include the wearing of thinner clothing and a more relaxed attitude of parents when the weather is better. In contrast, those assessed during the cold, dark months showed less independence. But interestingly, this loss led to a gain in the level of security and attachment they felt towards their parents. In other words, winter seems to promote tighter bonding, perhaps because parents have to be more attentive to ensure their children are warm and safe.

Of course, winter – and particularly in a northerly country like Finland – can create more cases of seasonal affective disorder. Problems waking up in the morning, oversleeping and overeating are commonly reported. It would seem that without sunlight, brain signals that promote more explorative and mate-seeking behaviour are not triggered. Humans just seem to want to hibernate. This can bring on depression and loss of motivation. But of course, where people are living in close proximity they are kept closer together and have less incentive to roam off. In this sense, less light does promote a certain amount of social cohesion – even if it means learning to live with depressive types.

Oh well. Despite the darkness, let’s all cheer up. It is Christmas soon. A time when families come together for those close-knit gatherings that we all look forward to, right?