Long time no sunlight may surge railway suicides

A group of researchers from two Japanese universities said that railway suicides cases tend to increase due to less of sunlight, such as after a series of cloudy and rainy days, according to local media. The study that published in the Journal of Affective Disorders on Wednesday examined the length of daylight on the days prior to the days that had suicide-related train cancellation or delays over 30 minutes during a five year period from 2002, finding the number of the incidents tend to increase on the days preceded by three straight rainy or cloudy days. The trend was more apparent than those on days preceded by consecutive days of poor weather including at least one clear day in between, said the study that was conducted by Kyoto University and Shiga University of Medical Science. The study data were taken from Tokyo, Kanagawa and Osaka, which are with highest number of railway suicide cases in the country. Hiroshi Kadotani, a professor at the Shiga university, said that, however, the poor whether had no influence on the trend. "Rather than the weather of the day of suicides, having not been exposed to sunlight during the preceding days may have a greater influence on the symptoms of depression and decline in mood," the professor was quoted as saying. The researchers said that patrolling train stations and railroad crossings on such poor days and installing high-intensity white light bulbs designed for treating depression at platform and train cars may help prevent such suicides.