How does the weather affect our mood and behaviour?
Weather is often mentioned when referring to mental health as well as being the base for many metaphors for our changeable minds and feelings. Happiness can be seen as sunshine (‘you are my sunshine’), Wind can be seen as change (‘the winds of change’), darkness can be seen as threatening (‘thoughts began to darken’) and many more. Weather can relate to our emotions like forces of nature; unstable, changeable, or uncontrollable.
We know that it provides a language to communicate our feelings and emotions. It is a universal tool to communicate how we feel as everybody experiences weather. But does weather have a direct effect on our mood and behaviour?
In a nutshell, yes. But the link is weaker than most think and here is why: The effects of weather on mood are not straightforwardly biological. They are also psychological and social. One reason why heat is associated with aggression is that people interact more in public in hot weather. Yet heat is also associated with good weather which is linked to good moods. There seems to be a fine line between each end of the spectrum.
Anything that can alter our mood can affect our behaviour. Sunshine is the most intimately tied to mood. Sunlight has repeatedly been found to boost positive moods, dampen negative moods, and diminish tiredness. Humidity tends to make people more tired and irritable. Barometric pressure fluctuations can alter moods and trigger headaches, some studies finding a link between low pressure and suicide. On rainy days people report lower satisfaction with their lives.
But we do know exposing skin to sunlight produces vitamin D, promoting the brain’s production of serotonin, which lifts mood. Exposure to bright lights, a treatment for people affected with the winter depressions of seasonal affective disorder (SAD), also enhances the mood of unaffected people.
The effects of weather on mood depend on our behaviour, social interaction and on how we think. Most basically, weather will only influence us if we expose ourselves to it.
Weather and mood is a huge subject area and there are many variables. Things differ from person to person, but the best rule of thumb is to harness anything that has a positive impact on your thoughts and feelings. For example, it was found in a study that individuals only felt an impact on their mental health from good weather after being outside for 30 min plus and those that had to stay indoors in good weather suffered a negative impact due to things like fear of missing out.
Useful sources & Information:
Some of the information sourced for this article was originally published by the below links. If you would like to access this and further information in more detail please follow the links listed here:
A study by US psychology researcher Matthew Keller and colleagues
https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/weather-and-behaviour
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For further discussion on ‘The way weather can affect our mood and behaviour’ please join us for a live webinar on Friday 23rd April 2021 at 12pm. Please register here –
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5225857135188698381
If you are unable to join the webinar live, a recording of the session can be accessed using the same link above after the webinar has taken place.