The Effect of Weather to Our Mood

We often heard people talk about how weather affects their activities and eventually their moods. There are instances when weather condition ruins a person’s day. Take for instance a family taking a picnic in a park. The weather was supposed to be sunny, as summer is only around the corner. However, due to unfortunate incident dark clouds suddenly enveloped the previously crystal clear sky. Imagine the time and the effort spent in order to plan the weekend activity and the hassle involved to come up with what was supposed to be a family’s day out.

All was ruined by the unpleasant weather condition. We cannot deny that weather affects our mood. Warm, pleasant and fair weather makes us smile. It brings cheery atmosphere and happy feeling to everyone around. For kids, warm weather signifies the start of summer season. It means end of classes, no assignments, seatwork and projects to rush. It means a drive in to the park and a deep in to the beautiful beaches or a trek in a mountain (Horton 43).

Rainy weather on the other hand makes us blue. For some reasons it makes us sad and sentimental.

Maybe the cold ambience brought by rain and the melody of the falling rain makes us all romantic creating a feeling of longing for people who are dear to us. Weather condition does not only affect our moods. Together with our moods, mental health condition is also affected. It is believed that warm weather has positive and encouraging effect to our mental health condition.

Taking trips during sunny days and going into different activities set our mood (Catherall 22). The new environment and activities we are engaged on create an aura of self fulfillment and provides us time for relaxation.

Thus, our moods are set. Once our moods are set, we then are able to learn new things, we are open to more ideas, our memory broadens and we are able to feel a sense of belongingness. With good weather condition we are able to obtain good feeling about ourselves and the people around us by venturing to different activities. Though the effect may be indirect, the different weather conditions we are experiencing are factors that contribute to our personality and are important issues for development of our characters and values.

For instance, hotter weather condition especially during summer lowers our mood intensity and often times result to irritation, frustration and annoyance. Disputes often result as frustration enveloped every man during very hot weather condition. There are researches that connect violent and vicious behaviour to hot weather. For Americans the allowable temperature for proper behaviour is approximately about room temperature and as temperature increases and weather becomes hotter mood decreases.

It is also noticeable that the effect of weather condition to our moods depends on what season being experienced and the time spent staying outside. To understand the effect of weather to our moods a study which was divided into three stages was conducted which includes 600 participants as sample. One of the studies was conducted during spring and summer. People who were involved in this study were engaged into various activities such as camping, fishing and sports and other form of entertainments (Horton 45).

Remarkably they showed tremendous improvement in mood and memory capacity. However, those who were studied during winter showed little improvement compare with their summer and spring counterparts. Because people tend to stay inside their house, people were mostly disconnected to the environment and to the varying weather pattern (Branley). They were introduced to fewer activities that make the passing days dull. Furthermore, people are bluer in winter and better in summer. Spending time indoors during fair weather also affects the mood of the people.

People spending their days inside the house tend to be irritated and loose their mood. The numerous activities that can be done during days with better weather compare to activities at home make the day boring. Thus, people tend to loose their mood as they aspire and hope for a great way of spending the day. Weather affects our mood, because it also affects our health condition. Colds and fever are obtained because of the changing weather and varying climate pattern. In addition, we can also catch allergies. With these ailments our mood goes down and we feel so tired.

A disorder also known as “winter blues” or Seasonal Affective Disorder is caused by lack of sunshine (Branley 34). Hot humid days causes period of sleeplessness. It also creates poor reaction time as we tend to be lazy. Persistent strong winds can lead to tiredness (MacDonald 12). Not only is our mental health affected, but more importantly our physical health. If physically we are not fit, then how do we expect our mood to be okay. With weather condition affecting our physical health, our moods are also affected.

We tend to be down, depressed and lonely during days when we feel sick. There are many things that affect our moods and emotions. Problems, personal expectations and issues all play important roles that contribute to a person’s mood. Although weather and climate condition are not major parameters that sets or ruins a person mood, it still provides a difference. A sunny and fair weather can lighten the stress and burden a person is carrying, while winter and rainy seasons normally make people blue.

Researches has been conducted and made in order to support these beliefs which have been known to us, and today they are able to provide connections and explanations how mood is affected by the different weather conditions.

Work’s Cited

Page MacDonald, E. The very windy day. New York:Willian Morrow and Company. 1992. Catherall, E. Exploring weather. Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughn. 1991. Horton, B. S. What comes in spring? New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1992. Branley, F. M. It’s raining cats and dogs: All kinds of weather and why we have it. New York: HoughtonMifflin. 1987.