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Originally Posted by Finny61
Also on your note about Scandanavia (lack of personal and social malaise), do some of those countries not have higher suicide rates then North American countries? If we are looking objectively at personal and social discomforts I assume looking at suicide rates would be one indicator of several to look at of course.
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As the previous link noted, the rates of suicide are not statistically different from most western nations, so a correlation between non religious countries and higher suicide rate is rather a big stretch.
I know from my time in Iceland, and travels to Denmark, Sweden (where I have relatives,) those places are very desirable places to live. Iceland is a bit tougher since its relatively remote, cut off from the mainland and we deal with like other northern parts of Scandinavia a near 23hr day of darkness in the winters.
I do know suicide rates go up in the winters, and doctors here are very cognicent of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and treat it with light therapy; in fact its pretty commonly known to Icelanders and they do a great job educating people on the simple treatment for it.
I know that my experience living in both Canada and Iceland that here you feel more connected with people, people go outside and get together way more often. The amount of vacation time is typically 5 weeks paid vacation with many more long weekends than Canadians enjoy. Icelanders travel a lot, I know many who take weekend trips to Europe probably between 5-10 times a year.
I'm also stunned by how little Television people watch out here, I don't have numbers yet for it but its a very noticeable difference. Plus this country is famous for its avid reading population, there are book stores everywhere, and they are always busy.
I know for everyone happiness factors are different to some degree, but here people work hard, but play harder and the focus always is on making sure work isn't your life but that your family and your health is #1 on the list.
Its amazing how healthy food conscious this nation is, and how involved the government is on taking on processed foods, informing people of all the pitfalls of sugar in children's diets, etc..
Mind you its a small island of 300,000 so its easier to get some things done compared to a large country like Canada, but its been fascinating to get used to this lifestyle and attitude out here, its very refreshing.