Question: What does it feel like not having much sunlight

Beth Healey answered on 13 Oct 2015:

Hello! This is Adrianos from Greece, I am Beth’s predecessor as a research doctor for the European Space Agency in Antarctica and I am filling in for her today due to connectivity problems over there.

Lack of sunlight is a problem we have to deal with in Antarctica. Concordia, our research Station is so far south that for 3 months in the winter the sun never comes up! The good news is that in the summer you have 3 months of constant sunlight, even in the middle of the night! But how does the winter feel, the long polar night? The change (from normal days to total darkness) is gradual. The hours of sunlight become less and less every day until one morning you notice that it’s still very dark at 12:00. I think our minds can partially adapt to this and accept that there is no light even at midday. However, our bodies have a hard time telling when it’s morning and when it’s night time, so we face problems with our sleep. It’s difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep when your body wonders if it’s 10:00 am or 10:00 pm! There are other challenges too, for example with no sunlight for 3 months, our bodies produce less vitamin D and this affects our bones. Psychologically, it feels great when the sun comes back after such a long period of darkness. So altogether i would say that the lack of sunlight is a unique experience with some challenges but also some interesting mystery in it!