Scaramouche said:
Sun Glasses?...Noo they starve the Pineal Gland,create depression...
Whoa!
That's a very good point, Scaramouche.
It's relevant, to an extent, and yet somewhat irrelevant. Not going outside because you are stuck in a cubicle is more depressing than being outside with sunglasses, however. But, for folks like myself, and the OP from Canada, "Seasonally affected disorder" or "SAD" is an issue, for the reason you describe.
In the northern areas, the sheer lack of sunlight in the short-days of winter causes annual depression. Some folks combat it with tanning sessions, winter vacations to sunny beaches, or deliberately watching sunsets. Sunglasses in these snow-bound areas can be a non-option. My retinas just don't shrink down enough to be able to adequately see when driving or otherwise out during mid-day. "Snow blindness" happens where the sun, whose rays aren't dissipated by ambient atmospheric humidity (freezing cold!), glares off the snow in huge amounts, in addition to the regular direct contact. The result is a "sun burn" on your eye itself, like the flash-burn of welding, and it feels like a handful of sand in your eyes and pain such that you want to keep them closed until they heal.
In the winter, even trees are fuxed up by the winter sun: they defrost on the sun side, start flowing sap, then freeze again at night. The result is the sap freezes, expands, and trashes the bark on the sun side, essentially girdling that side of the tree. This is why the trunks of the trees in orchards are painted white: to reflect the winter sun, and the glare of the sun off the snow.
The closest thing to snow blindness, or the effects of glaring sun, for you in Australia is being out on the water on a lake or the sea in a boat. Despite a hat, you'll still get a sunburned face from the glare off the water. What I describe is much like that effect.
Still, if given the choice of some pineal gland deprivation, or scowl lines and "laugh lines", I'll still choose sunglasses. But, I'll likely let my eyes chose in the future, based on their comfort, in consideration of your point. See, since I'm not squinting or scowling because my eyes are straining, I don't have deeply cut scowl lines or the wrinkles at the corners of my eyes. After all, mommy was right when she said: "If you keep making that face, it will stay that way." Add some sun to your already wrinkled-up face and you're effectively "baking-on" that face you're making. It's specifically those "crows feet" and scowl lines that we're trying to avoid, right?