Weather Got You Down?
Author: runsarahrun
•7:15 PM
Does the weather ever get you down? If you know me well enough, you'll know that I spend half my time lamenting over the snow, wind and bone-chilling temperatures all winter. You then may have noticed a bit of a spring in my step when our Beantown weather improved and I began to shed my layers (prime example: this past weekend with its GORGEOUS blue skies & 50 degree BALMY conditions!). With last week being wet, gray and gloomy, my mood seemed to coincide with the weather--difficulty getting out of bed, mopey, finding it hard to focus, and sounding like Eeyore every time I spoke.

So it got me thinking, can weather affect your mood? I figured I couldn't be the only fluke out there and right away, a study released in October 2008 popped up on WebMD. Only problem the results from this study done in Germany didn't produce the results I expected. I guess I've taken living in Beantown for granted and didn't even take into account how wind could affect mood. And apparently it can give you a negative mood more so in the spring and summer than the fall and winter. Not many were fans of the shorter days--I'd hate to live in the far north where it's even more dark in December--and darker moods could put you at risk for seasonal affective disorder. And I knew there was a reason I'm always eager to get outside when the temps heat up and the sun comes out more frequently. Not only do I feel better, but according to this 2004 study, my mood is elevated from spending time outdoors when it's nice out. But I'm starting to think that maybe I'm spending too much time outside in the summer so it's making that winter indoor time even tougher to struggle through. Or maybe I'm just crazy...! 
|
This entry was posted on 7:15 PM and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

0 comments:

Post a Comment