Sleepless In Tromso
While teaching and researching in Norway as a Fulbright Scholar, Concordia Psychology Professor Lisa Sethre-Hofstad uncovered new findings on sun exposure and sleeping patterns.
As it turns out, people are very adaptive in their sleeping patterns, coping with or without daily sunlight. Sethre-Hofstad spent a year living in Tromso, Norway, where she studied the effects of prolonged sunlight and darkness on children. The city rests on the Arctic Circle and is exposed to extensive periods sunlight May through July and darkness November through January. Sethre-Hofstad, who had previously researched the stress caused by disruption of morning and night rhythms, studied the long hours of sunlight's effect on the children and their abilities to learn.
Sethre-Hofstad has since brought her findings and experiences in Norway back to Concordia, giving her students a fresh, new perspective.
"Most of all, my experience in Norway was a direct example of having a dream and finding a way to make it happen," she says. "While I was a Concordia student, I dreamed of spending time in Norway, and although it took some time, I made it happen. I hope in a small way the students who hear my stories will also follow their hearts and make their dreams happen."
