Weather and Health
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Weather Sensitivity
‘My grandfather’s rheumatic knee hurts; we will get rain.’ Many people trust their hips and knees and forecast the weather almost as accurately as can the meteorologists with their supercomputers. But why do some people respond to weather and others don’t? Many theories abound, many surveys have been completed and much research conducted. But scientists agree to disagree.
Rapid and frequent weather changes appear to be the main culprits. Statistical evidence links increased numbers of many disorders and behaviour to certain weather conditions. Biometeorologists subdivided the passage of weather fronts into weather phases and compared the occurrence dates of each phase with hospital records. They found and published some startling relationships between weather and health. Critics could not dismiss the statistical evidence as pure coincidence.
Weather-
Fight weather sensitivity:
- Avoid overheated and stuffy rooms
- Harden your senses by enjoying the outdoors in all weather conditions
- Ensure regular sleep
- Have a balanced and healthy diet
- Treat sour moods with sunshine
- Take alternating warm and cold showers
- Participate in anti-
stress therapies
Many animals and plants can sense changes in weather well in advance. Birds feel the drop in barometric pressure before the arrival of ‘bad’ weather and increase their foraging. Cats become restless, not only because they see Tweety foraging on the ground. Perhaps we have inherited some leftover weather sensitivity from our primeval ancestors as well.
Weather Sensitivity symptoms:
- Increased irritability and aggressiveness, anxiety, depression, listlessness, fatigue, lack of concentration
- Sleep disorders
- Weather headaches and migraine
- Heart and circulation irregularities
- Nausea, Dizziness
- Scar pain or ‘phantom pain’
- Rheumatic pain.
The symptoms vary from person to person and their intensity generally increases with age, lower level of fitness and a body weakened due to illness. Of course, they can also mask or be the result of an underlying disorder that has nothing to do with weather. Therefore, see your doctor if uncertain of the cause.
Patients who have had a heart attack are susceptible to weather sensitivity, sometimes extremely so. The rate is three times higher than it is in persons who never had a heart attack. Sensitivity persists for two to ten years after the attack. Scientists are now trying to find the weather situation that most influences these patients. Also, they are not sure whether the sensitivity is a result of the heart attack or the precursor to future problems.
