Effects of Weather on Mood

Enhanced College Writing Cause and Effect Essay September 27, 2012 Effects of Weather on your Mood Many of us have moods that are changeable like the tides, and like the tides, for many of us those moods are dictated by many things including the weather. While you might think that you ‘just woke up on the wrong side of bed’ it may in fact be that there are other things at play here – diet, tiredness, weather and more. In fact you could probably go as far as to say that the side of bed that you got out of is unlikely to really have had much to do with your mood at all.

Weather is one particularly large indicator of how your mood is going to turn out for the day. The first and most well-known way in which is in what is known as seasonal affective disorder or SAD. This condition can also be known as winter depression, winter blues or seasonal depression and basically it describes a condition in which the individual finds their mood so tied to the changing of the seasons that they in fact exhibit symptoms close to depression every winter.

There are various explanations as to why someone might experience SAD, but generally it is believed to relate to the amount of light. This then means that it is not in fact the cold of winter that causes the depression, but rather the lack of light getting into your brain. At the same time temperature can also affect mood and this is as a result of energy usage. In the winter our immune systems are going to try harder in order to keep our bodies warm and our heart rate will speed up.

All this means that energy is directed toward those tasks and so is not available in as large quantities for other activities. At the same time this is also why you are more likely to become ill your immune system is already under pressure from the cold and thus it becomes less able to stave off the attacks from bacteria and viruses. In order to avoid getting ill then and to avoid the depression that can come from it, make sure to eat lots of vitamins and minerals that can help to boost your immune system and to get plenty of sleep.

At the same time make sure to use lots of heating in order to warm the house and to keep illnesses at bay. Sleep is also affected by the weather and this in turn can make us more likely to feel depressed. If it is cold for instance then you are more likely to sleep more lightly and that gives your body and mind less quality time in which to recover from your day’s activities. Again you are more likely to suffer illnesses and to have low energy, but this can also result in headaches and bad moods.

Furthermore you will be getting up in darkness when your body is telling you to go back to sleep and so hormonally you are unprepared for the day. There are countless different ways in which the weather can affect mood then and this includes direct effects on mood and hormones, as well as more subtle second order impacts. Make sure that you stay warm and dry and that you make up for lower energy in your diet.