sensitivity to weather
I keep talking about the weather. My younger self would be sorely disappointed. What’s going on there?
Summer and sun in Hamburg – wonderful. On the other hand, if bad weather affects your mood: is that weather sensitivity?
© Picture Alliance
I didn’t care about any of that before, but today my mood depends very much on whether it’s raining, gray or sunny. Is that due to age or is it sensitive to the weather or both or something completely different?
In my childhood memories, my grandfather knocked his knuckle on the disc of the barometer several times a day. This is often followed by “Oh dear” or “Oh wow”, which can only mean that the small device on the front door is once again announcing bad weather. My grandpa is still sighing when my grandma calls out from the kitchen that she has long felt that the weather was about to change. The joints, the head, “the “weather sensitivity”.
Together they consider whether they should wait a little longer before watering the garden and how the summer will turn out and what the last 60 summers have been like and I can’t believe they’re talking about the weather again. Can’t we play don’t fret man? This can be done on the terrace when it’s sunny and in the dining room when it’s raining.
My first-year self is determined never to become one of the weather adults. It works fine until my early 20s – out of ignorance, laziness and privilege, because I sit in lecture halls or not and the weather is more of a backdrop than a protagonist in my life. With the first full-time job, the weekend and the hours of sunshine become more valuable. Today the weather has a pretty big influence on me. I’m in a much better mood and more active when the sun is shining, and it’s much harder to get out of bed on rainy days, which is not exactly the best conditions in Hamburg. If a bad weather period is announced, I am lazy. I also talk about the weather all the time – like a weather adult. Why is that? And what exactly is weather sensitivity?
It’s not so easy with weather sensitivity
I call Andreas Matzarakis, who heads the German Weather Service’s Center for Medical Meteorological Research in Freiburg. “Weather sensitivity is a bit of an unfortunate term because we are all weather sensitive. And what does that mean: weather-sensitive?” Because even the expert has no answer, he speaks of weather sensitivity when the weather actually has a stronger influence on a person’s health. According to surveys, around 50 percent of people in Germany say that the weather has an impact on their health, usually a negative one.Headaches and migraines, tiredness, exhaustion, joint pain and insomnia are the most common symptoms.
The biometerologist emphasizes: “People don’t get sick because of the weather.” The weather is an intensifying factor. “It makes the glass overflow.” For example, if someone tends to have a headache or has cardiovascular problems, a change in the weather could trigger the symptoms Cold and high humidity can put a strain on people with respiratory diseases. This knowledge flows into Matzarakis’ treatments: “If I know that a low-pressure area is coming and a weather-sensitive patient with cardiovascular problems will suffer from it, then as a doctor I can help him help with advice and medication.”
However, it is difficult to say exactly how the weather will affect us. “We assume that the weather affects our hypothalamus, our control center in the brain. Fluctuations in air pressure, for example, could have an impact here.” In short, “People suffer from the unrest in the weather.” Like my grandmother.
“There are weather conditions that we generally find pleasant”
I’m not yet 90 and healthy. I sometimes have a back, sometimes I don’t sleep well, but I don’t have any major ailments and I’m very grateful for that. Nevertheless, I have the impression that the weather affects me more and more from year to year. According to Matzarakis, weather tends to play a bigger role with age because of medical history and chronic illnesses, and poor diet also plays a role. “If the body isn’t doing well, then it’s not surprising if we perceive a change in the weather as a burden.” Better nutrition and more exercise – I definitely see room for improvement there.
Another factor is the seasons. “When the days get longer and brighter in spring, we release more serotonin, the happiness hormone, and less melatonin. We are and can be more active.” And there are weather conditions “that we generally find pleasant,” as Matzarakis says. “Like mid-March, 17 or 18 degrees with sun and a light wind. If you dress appropriately and go outside, it stimulates the body and is good for us. That’s also the reason why many people go to the North Sea or Baltic Sea for a cure driving where there is a stimulating climate. 18 degrees with wind and alternating sun and rain is ultimately even better for us than anything from 25 degrees with sun, which we commonly call nice weather.” The reason: when it gets too hot, it becomes exhausting for our body because it cannot get rid of the excess heat. “In the worst case, we then have the higher mortality in previously ill people.”
“Air the interiors, go outside a lot”
Matzarkis has a few tips to make it less difficult for people like me to cope with periods of bad weather. “I recommend: contrast showers. Ventilate the interior, go outside a lot, especially when it rains, keep the room temperature a little lower, not warmer, it’s better to wear a sweater over it.” Recommendations that seem all the more helpful with a view to Corona, climate change and energy supply. And hardening doesn’t do me any harm. As a relatively young and healthy person, constantly talking and whining about the weather doesn’t exactly make you the most pleasant person to talk to. Matzarakis from sun-kissed Freiburg takes a positive approach: “We talk a lot about the weather because it gives our counterparts the opportunity to express themselves positively. ‘Today the weather is wonderful’ is a nice introduction. The weather can be a harmless door opener.”
I would love to watch my grandfather tap the disc of his barometer and discuss the summers of the past 34 years with him. Unfortunately he passed away a few years ago. But I’ll see my grandma again soon. We will definitely also talk about the weather. I look forward to it.
Source: “Medical Journal“