--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Yet the ailment is virtually nonexistent…" description: "\"“Yet the ailment is virtually nonexistent in Iceland. There is a higher prevalence of the disorder in the northeastern United States than in Iceland. P..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ed/eric-weiner-1843_iceland_yet-the-ailment-is-virtually-nonexistent_438610.png" --- # Yet the ailment is virtually nonexistent in Iceland. There… ![“Yet the ailment is virtually nonexistent in Iceland. There is a higher prevalence of the disorder in the northeastern United States than in Iceland. Perplexed by the results, psychologists theorize that over the centuries Icelanders developed a genetic immunity to the disease. Those who got SAD…” quote by Eric Weiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ed/eric-weiner-1843_iceland_yet-the-ailment-is-virtually-nonexistent_438610.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ed/eric-weiner-1843_iceland_yet-the-ailment-is-virtually-nonexistent_438610.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ed/eric-weiner-1843_iceland_yet-the-ailment-is-virtually-nonexistent_438610.png) > ““Yet the ailment is virtually nonexistent in Iceland. There is a higher prevalence of the disorder in the northeastern United States than in Iceland. Perplexed by the results, psychologists theorize that over the centuries Icelanders developed a genetic immunity to the disease. Those who got SAD died out, taking their gene pool with them. Survival of the felicitous.”” [Eric Weiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-weiner/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Iceland’s low rates of seasonal affective disorder suggest a genetic adaptation that eliminated vulnerable individuals over generations. **In simple terms:** Genetics may protect against certain mood disorders. Key Takeaway Consider environmental and genetic factors in mental health. Themes health genetics environment Mood inquisitive balanced Type scientific inspirational When to use this quote - public health planning - genetic counseling - mental health research - policy making Key Concepts evolutionary biology psychology Questions to Reflect On - What role does environment play alongside genetics? - How can societies support those at risk despite genetic factors? A Different Perspective Genetic explanations can oversimplify complex social and environmental influences. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Developed Genetic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/developed-genetic-3851180/) [Iceland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/iceland/) [Iceland Perplexed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/iceland-perplexed-3851179/) [Icelanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/icelanders-1822140/) [Icelanders Developed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/icelanders-developed-3851178/) ## Related quotes > [Fifteen hundred years is ample time in which to lose mutual comprehension. Iceland was colonized by the Norwegians at the end of the ninth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luigi-luca-cavalli-sforza/fifteen-hundred-years-is-ample-time-in-which-to-lose-mutual/) [Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luigi-luca-cavalli-sforza/) > [Icelanders are grateful to meet foreigners who have heard of their country. And even more grateful to hear someone say it deserves better.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/halld-r-laxness/icelanders-are-grateful-to-meet-foreigners-who-have-heard-of-their/) [Halldór Laxness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/halld-r-laxness/) > [“Paganism, it turns out, was the original Icelandic religion before a mass conversion in the year 1000. That was largely seen as a business…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-weiner/paganism-it-turns-out-was-the-original-icelandic-religion-before-a/) [Eric Weiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-weiner/) > [“Island populations often breed strange and interesting genomes. Because Iceland is so small, with a precisely known chronology of inhabitation to the present day,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-rutherford/island-populations-often-breed-strange-and-interesting-genomes/) [Adam Rutherford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-rutherford/) > [For us Icelanders, the Sagas are like the Bible, only much better.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hallgr-mur-helgason/for-us-icelanders-the-sagas-are-like-the-bible-only-much-better/) [Hallgrimur Helgason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hallgr-mur-helgason/) > [We must become Icelanders in soccer, Israelis in defending our land, Japanese in technology.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/volodymyr-zelensky/we-must-become-icelanders-in-soccer-israelis-in-defending-our-land/) [Volodymyr Zelensky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/volodymyr-zelensky/) > [“Icelanders are among the most inbred human beings on earth—geneticists often use them for research.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-lewis/icelanders-are-among-the-most-inbred-human-beings-on-earth/) [Michael Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-lewis/) > [There is this stereotype of Icelanders all believing in spirits, and I've played up to that a bit in interviews.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bjork/there-is-this-stereotype-of-icelanders-all-believing-in-spirits-and-i/) [Bjork](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bjork/) > [We Icelanders are an excellent animal model for humans. 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I think they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fiona-bruce/most-visitors-to-iceland-tend-to-spend-just-a-few-hours-in-reykjavik/) [Fiona Bruce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fiona-bruce/) > [Iceland is so small; classical musicians play on pop projects and pop musicians play with jazz musicians.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laufey/iceland-is-so-small-classical-musicians-play-on-pop-projects-and-pop/) [Laufey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laufey/) > [The Earth's population will be culled from today's 6.6 billion to as few as 500 million, with most of the survivors living in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-lovelock/the-earth-s-population-will-be-culled-from-today-s-6-6-billion-to-as/) [James Lovelock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-lovelock/) ## More by Eric Weiner > [We can't love a place or a person if we always have one foot out the door.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-weiner/we-can-t-love-a-place-or-a-person-if-we-always-have-one-foot-out-the/) [Eric Weiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-weiner/) > [“Money sometimes buys happiness. You have to break it down, though. Money is a means to an end. The problem is when you think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-weiner/money-sometimes-buys-happiness-you-have-to-break-it-down-though-money/) [Eric Weiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-weiner/) > [“My way of thinking is completely different,” he says. “I have no such mountains to scale; basically, I find that living itself is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-weiner/my-way-of-thinking-is-completely-different-he-says-i-have-no-such/) [Eric Weiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-weiner/) > [“Social scientists estimate that about 70 percent of our happiness stems from our relationships, both quantity and quality, with friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-weiner/social-scientists-estimate-that-about-70-percent-of-our-happiness/) [Eric Weiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-weiner/) > [“It is not the skills we actually have that determine how we feel but the ones we think we have" ... we experience flow,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-weiner/it-is-not-the-skills-we-actually-have-that-determine-how-we-feel-but/) [Eric Weiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-weiner/) > [“In a nutshell, Gross National Happiness seeks to measure a nation’s progress not by its balance sheet but rather by the happiness—or unhappiness—of its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-weiner/in-a-nutshell-gross-national-happiness-seeks-to-measure-a-nation-s/) [Eric Weiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-weiner/) > [You look around the world at geniuses, and they don't appear randomly, they appear in genius clusters. Athens in 50 BC, Florence 1500, Silicon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-weiner/you-look-around-the-world-at-geniuses-and-they-don-t-appear-randomly/) [Eric Weiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-weiner/) > [What is the ideal audio atmosphere for creativity and it turns out it is not complete silence, and it is not a very loud…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-weiner/what-is-the-ideal-audio-atmosphere-for-creativity-and-it-turns-out-it/) [Eric Weiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-weiner/) > [“Bhutan is the land of la. The monosyllabic word serves as all-purpose affirmation, honorific, and verbal tic. Mostly, it is a softener, appended to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-weiner/bhutan-is-the-land-of-la-the-monosyllabic-word-serves-as-all-purpose/) [Eric Weiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-weiner/) > [“He tells me of one American woman, forty-five years old, who was able to conceive only after being blessed by the Holy Dildo. That’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-weiner/he-tells-me-of-one-american-woman-forty-five-years-old-who-was-able/) [Eric Weiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-weiner/) > [“We need to a new word to describe Swiss happiness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-weiner/we-need-to-a-new-word-to-describe-swiss-happiness/) [Eric Weiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-weiner/) > [“The narrator, in a voice-of-God tenor, explains the experiment.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-weiner/the-narrator-in-a-voice-of-god-tenor-explains-the-experiment/) [Eric Weiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-weiner/) > [“Yes, but it doesn’t matter, Csíkszentmihalyi argues. Either way, we experience flow, a state of mind where we are so engaged in an activity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-weiner/yes-but-it-doesn-t-matter-cs-kszentmihalyi-argues-either-way-we/) [Eric Weiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-weiner/) > [“Maybe happiness is this: not feeling like you should be elsewhere, doing something else, being someone else. Maybe the current conditions in Switzerland .…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-weiner/maybe-happiness-is-this-not-feeling-like-you-should-be-elsewhere/) [Eric Weiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-weiner/) > [“Everyone has their own idea of happiness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-weiner/everyone-has-their-own-idea-of-happiness/) [Eric Weiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-weiner/) [Explore all 194 Eric Weiner quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-weiner/) ## More Iceland quotes > [The Earth's population will be culled from today's 6.6 billion to as few as 500 million, with most of the survivors living in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-lovelock/the-earth-s-population-will-be-culled-from-today-s-6-6-billion-to-as/) [James Lovelock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-lovelock/) > [Iceland is so small; classical musicians play on pop projects and pop musicians play with jazz musicians.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laufey/iceland-is-so-small-classical-musicians-play-on-pop-projects-and-pop/) [Laufey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laufey/) > [Most visitors to Iceland tend to spend just a few hours in Reykjavik before moving on to the geological wonders beyond. I think they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fiona-bruce/most-visitors-to-iceland-tend-to-spend-just-a-few-hours-in-reykjavik/) [Fiona Bruce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fiona-bruce/) > [I always had a feeling, for example, that there should be something from Verdi's "Requiem" in the film. You hear it when you see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/werner-herzog/i-always-had-a-feeling-for-example-that-there-should-be-something/) [Werner Herzog](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/werner-herzog/) > [I applied for funding to embark on an overseas field trip in Iceland, and spent six weeks there happily holed up in the national…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-kent/i-applied-for-funding-to-embark-on-an-overseas-field-trip-in-iceland/) [Hannah Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-kent/) > [I love Scandinavian brands from growing up in Iceland.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laufey/i-love-scandinavian-brands-from-growing-up-in-iceland/) [Laufey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laufey/) > [When I was young I had this blonde haircut that was shaved on one side with a rat tail and tram lines in it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kemp-muhl/when-i-was-young-i-had-this-blonde-haircut-that-was-shaved-on-one/) [Kemp Muhl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kemp-muhl/) > [No offense to Iceland, but Latin America is where the fugitive leaker Edward Snowden should settle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-kinzer/no-offense-to-iceland-but-latin-america-is-where-the-fugitive-leaker/) [Stephen Kinzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-kinzer/) > [In Iceland, book lives matter in every sense of that phrase: The shelf-life of the book, the lives in the book, the life of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hallgr-mur-helgason/in-iceland-book-lives-matter-in-every-sense-of-that-phrase-the-shelf/) [Hallgrimur Helgason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hallgr-mur-helgason/) > [I can go wherever, to Kuala Lumpur or wherever, and if somebody will ask me where I'm from and I say I'm from Iceland,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-n-gnarr/i-can-go-wherever-to-kuala-lumpur-or-wherever-and-if-somebody-will/) [Jon Gnarr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-n-gnarr/) > [Are you saying that you people knew about these amorophobots all the time?" "Of course we did. They attacked us in Iceland. Remember?" "No.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eoin-colfer/are-you-saying-that-you-people-knew-about-these-amorophobots-all-the/) [Eoin Colfer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eoin-colfer/) > [Maybe it's just a personal thing, but I get so much grounding from Iceland because I know it's always going to be there. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bjork/maybe-it-s-just-a-personal-thing-but-i-get-so-much-grounding-from/) [Bjork](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bjork/) > [It's curiosity, and always a sense of poetry. You see it in particular in the chapter "Iceland" where I'm reciting ancient Icelandic poetry. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/werner-herzog/it-s-curiosity-and-always-a-sense-of-poetry-you-see-it-in-particular/) [Werner Herzog](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/werner-herzog/) > [My dad played in Iceland and I think went over to Sweden for a couple of years.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gylfi-sigurdsson/my-dad-played-in-iceland-and-i-think-went-over-to-sweden-for-a-couple/) [Gylfi Sigurdsson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gylfi-sigurdsson/) > [Did you know there's probably more golf played in Iceland than most places in the world? They play 24 hours a day in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-nicklaus/did-you-know-there-s-probably-more-golf-played-in-iceland-than-most/) [Jack Nicklaus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-nicklaus/) [Browse all 128 Iceland quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/iceland/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Yet the ailment is virtually nonexistent in Iceland. 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