Aging Capriciously

I decided to do a little take off on the classic Andy Williams song “The Happiest Time of the Year.”  Did you know there are more suicides in December than any other month in the year?  Actually, that is not true. Suicides peak in the Spring.  It is a myth held by many people that suicides peak at Christmas time.

( https://www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/news/suicides-dont-spike-around-holiday-season-americans-think-they-do)

One major study of suicides done Internationally found that suicide risk was highest on Mondays and increased on New Year’s day in most countries. However, the risk of suicide on weekends and Christmas varied by country and territory.  This study stated that:

“Public holidays seem to provide a protective association with suicidal events, however, several studies have reported an increase in risk in the immediately following days.812 However, a few other studies reported no strong linkage between suicide and general holidays.”1314

“The broken-promise effect theory has been widely adapted to explain short term temporal variations in suicide. It states that individuals may postpone committing suicide due to the hope of a “new beginning” when the cycle ends (e.g., weekends and the end of the year),810 while people may be prone to suicidal reactions when they encounter a sense of hopelessness from a new cycle” (eg, Monday and New Year). —- Association of Holidays and the Day of the Week with Suicide Risk.  A Multicountry Study.  BMJ 2024; 387 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2024-077262 (Published 23 October 2024)

This is probably much more technical than you wanted to think about today.  Perhaps my song will cheer you up.  Grab a cup of eggnog, dump some rum in it, put on your favorite Christmas carols and be lulled to sleep while humming my song.

IT’s the Most Stressful Time of the Year. 

It’s the most Stressful time of the year

With the kids out of school

Everyone expecting you to be of good cheer

It’s the most stressful time of the year

It’s the worst season of all

With fake holiday greetings

So called friends come to call

Relatives you can’t stand

It’s the worst season of all

There’ll be Christmas parties for finding gifts

Artery clogging Junk foods for getting obese on

Than slogging out to shovel the snow

There’ll be old family stories

And boring tales of the glories of

Christmases long, long ago

It’s the most stressful time of the year

There’ll be much flues and colds

And phones will be chiming

When loved ones get sick

Just to tell you they’re not coming

It’s the most stressful time of the year

There’ll be parties for pay for

Crowds to fight through

Numerous debts will be accrued

With bank accounts depleted

There’ll be worries about spending

Endless pleas for donations

And advertising never ending

It’s the most stressful time of the year

There’ll be much grousing and moaning

For who to buy presents

And how much to spend

For gifts to throw in their garbage bin

It’s the most stressful time

Yes the most stressful l time

Oh the most stressful time

Of the whole fucking year

My Apologies to those of you who love Christmas