“Are we living barometers?” I happened upon this article from Wellness Options Magazine and had to share it, as many of us with chronic illnesses experience a worsening of our symptoms when barometric pressure changes and wonder “Why”? Through the years I have searched the web and asked questions of doctors as to why my symptoms and level of function worsen when the weather changes–warmer storm fronts moving in and out, in particular. I have found it difficult to find answers or information.
This article directly addresses and contemplates the effect of barometric pressure changes on physiology. Here is an excerpt:
Are we living barometers?
Many animals and plants can sense changes in weather. Birds feel a drop in barometric pressure before the arrival of ñbadî weather and increase their foraging. Cats become restless, and ants prepare their mounds for the expected rain and wind. Some people claim they can predict weather based on how their bodies feel, and scientists have detected some physiological evidence that this may be true.
Rapid changes in temperature affect blood pH, blood pressure, urine volume, and tissue permeability. Epidemics may also be related to sudden, large changes in weather conditions. A longitudinal study of 59 years of data demonstrated that sudden increases in influenza outbreaks in Germany, Norway, and Switzerland most frequently occurred between January and March, when cold air masses moved over the areas.
Medical conditions that are sensitive to weather changes include: rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, low back pain, gout, fibromyalgia, phantom limb pain, scar pain, headaches, trigeminal neuralgia, and pain influenced by mood disorders. Weather is also associated with changes in birth rates, sperm count, outbreaks of pneumonia, influenza and bronchitis.
Changes in weather can also induce short-term swings in mood, emotional well-being, and behavioural aberrations. Some of the meteorological variables implicated include: temperature, barometric pressure, rainfall, humidity, thunder-storm activity, sunshine, and the level of ionization of the air.
Click here to continue reading this article (full of more enlightening information, including- why we might feel worse January through March)
Great article Kerry~ I have lots of clients who experience this as well as friends. Glad folks are finally able to acknowledge that this is happening. Golly…guess folks HAVE NOT been making it up!!!!!!
Love ya~
What a great piece of research. I’ve just come back from a blustery, wet walk along one of my favorite beaches. The ions are healthy out there now … and my soul knows it…it CALLS MY NAME. Science is catching up with Nature, and it makes being in sync more than anecdotal. Funny, ha. There are gems of useful info in this article, we all thank you **Sally and the Family**
Sally, Your beach sounds so wonderfully ionically negative (which means makes us feel healthier and happier) that I can hear it calling my name.
It really is exciting when science finds what we (and nature) intuitively know (and experience) then puts out a research report and makes it official!
Lynnes, Glad you shared that you hear about the barometric pressure changes from many of your clients. Seem everyone I know who is challenged by chronic illness is effected in some way.
Won’t it be great when research about weather change, pressure change, ion change makes it into the Medical Journals…and we can all talk to our docs about it, without a lot of them looking at us like “what?”
In all fairness my CFS/FMS doc. shares with me that many of her patients with FMS/CFS are effected by weather changes. She’s smart and down to earth and I can talk to her about whatever I’m experiencing. She seems to see unanswered questions as intersting puzzles, as mysteries to be solved.
So here’s to the docs. who arn’t afraid to hear about barometric pressure triggering our symptoms before research on it makes it into the journals!
Great article, Kerry! Thanks for posting it.
One hundred years ago (or more) doctors would send folks to the seashore to recuperate from “consumption.” They had the intuition to know it would help. Or maybe it was just rich folks who did that.
We already have light therapy for treating SADD. Maybe we’ll see prescriptions for ionizers and hyperbaric chambers, too!
This was a great article, Kerry! Thanks for posting it. You had stopped by my blog after I described an incident with this. I found it so helpful that you knew what was going on with me!
Thanks!
Terri
Great article, thanks for sharing. I always feel better in the heat of the summer and in the dead of winter because there are no daily temperature swings. Fall and spring are the worst for me because often it’s hot in the daytime and then the night temps drop 30-40 degrees and then bounce back up the next day. I can always tell when a storm’s on the way, too
I am my family’s own weather station!
Prof S
As someone who struggles with depression I can tell you, without a doubt, that bright sunlight immediately changes my mood for the better.
It’s absolutely like a light switch for me. I notice it particularly in the winter months when the sky is routinely gray or simply white and filled with clouds.
Once in a while a beautifully sunny day will appear for a couple of hours and I truly feel a 180 degree turn for the better in my mood, attitude and well-being.
I can quickly conjure up the sight of sunlight bouncing off the hardwood floors in our living room and dining room. For me the effect is truly magical.
I’ll have to try to use guided imagery for the rest of this winter to see if I can recreate the feeling.
What an interesting post.
[...] Today Square Peg Guy took me up on my offer to showcase one of his favorite bloggers. He recommended Kerry’s post, “Barometric Pressure’s Effect on our Physiology.” [...]
Interesting idea.
It seems possible to me. I used to know a guy who got migraines according to the weather. And there’s the anecdote about the old person with arthritis being able to foretell a storm coming.
My gran always used to say that people got more angry and upset around the new moon. At the risk of sounding sexist, I wonder if there’s a connection between the moon and menstruation. There seems to be, in a lot of cultures. But that begs the question, by what method does the moon affect the timing of a woman’s period? And what is the evolutionary benefit of that?
Having been in the UK this last week with all the snow I can tell you moods change lol.
My aunt (who I work with) was very tense during the snow but has chilled out again now it’s going away. (then again thats just her!)
I don’t think I could quite tell the weather by my moods but I know that the weather can have affect how much and the quality of sleep that I get.
(Fab blog btw!)
I once redesigned the house of a friend whose mother almost never spoke and was said to be depressed.
When I finished redoing the apartment which included breaking really large plate glass windows to bring in light in a really dim interior, the change on this lady was worth seeing.
Within days she was talking non-stop and started dressing well. Earlier she would rarely leave her room.
That taught me a life lesson about the effect of natural light and ventilation on people’s emotions.
The same principle applies to people who suffer from manic depression, They can barely get out of bed in the depth of winter and can barely get much sleep due to hyper activity in the summer months.
Oh yes, I am SO affected by barometric pressure! Spring and FAll is the worst, as it flucuates greatly and I have the headaches to prove it! My eyeballs feel like softballs crammed into that teeny tiny socket and my head wants to explode. Even on the most loveliest of days, if the pressure starts dropping, my head starts pounding and no amount of Sinutab makes it stop.
It also affects pregnant women, hence the no-fly rule for 8 or 9 month along pregnant women. It is the air pressure change that puts them into labor on flights. When I was near my due date, a severe storm was coming, pressure dropped, and tornadoes hit all around us–guess who went into labor in the closet? Yep–me and 22 other women who ended up at the same hospital! Nurses said they expected it with the drastic weather change–they see it all the time.
Good posting! I don’t think people pay enough attention to such things. Yes, we ARE affected by the subtleties in the weather changes.
i worship the sun and i suffer from sad. the dark winter months are horrible, all i want to do is hide a dark place and hibernate until spring. it’s a struggle just to go outside when it’s gloomy and dark. i find that i’m more in a funk or bad mood during the winter (like now), i feel like something is wrong, but i don’t know what. when the sun is out, i want to be out in it. it feels good on my skin. most people avoid the sun, and rightly so, but i usually grab a lawn chair and a book and just sit in it. i’m solar powered, i need it to live. during the warmer weather days my sciatic nerve hurts less, but when the cold front kicks in, i definitely feel it. living barometers? you bet’cha!
One of the members of Cardio Girl’s party posse dropping by. Great post and article. I know that there is a connection between weather and the body. Personally, I will get migraines when the weather changes, in particular when it feels like it’s going to rain. Also, like CardioGirl, I struggle with depression and weather definitely affects that.
Solomon mentioned the connection of the moon on a woman’s cycle, I remember information regarding that so I think that it is true. Also, if you think about it, the moon affects the tides. The human body is like 80-90% water. I wouldn’t be surprised if the moon did have some effect on our bodies as well.
I think we are slowly moving towards a place where both science and natural remedies, etc can peacefully co-exist and supplement each other. My personal opinion is that we need to approach such problems from a whole picture perspective and not just narrow in on the specific symptoms.
Thanks so much for pointing us to scientific validation for what I tend to experience every January. My moods have been lower this January, than Januarys of the past, so perhaps it is linked to the extreme fluctuations in weather which we have had.
At the moment, I am watching our creek rise. After receiving a foot of snow a few weeks ago, now we are in the 60s and experiencing a great deal of rain.
I’ll have to visit your site more fully, when I get time, since there are many subjects of interest. Glad to meet you, thanks to Cardiogirl’s Party Posse!
So my wife and I were visiting yet another new doctor for the first time.
When I mentioned that my wife’s symptoms get worse in the winter, he didn’t do quite what I expected, which was nod sympathetically and perhaps say, “Maybe one day insurance companies might actually allow me to prescribe tropical vacations to my patients.”
Instead, he emitted a brief guffaw-like sound and said, “Move to Arizona.”
Not only was it our first office visit to him, but it was also our last.
May you always bask in sunny warm days!
I agree with the others about science catching up with anecdotal evidence. Since moving to the Southern Hemisphere, my depression worsens in the summertime. I find that the warmer, humid weather always affects me this way. When fall/winter roll around, I feel much better. Even today, when the weather seems a bit cooler, I feel a bit more on top of things. And the full-moon thing? Not sure about that, but I know on hot, sticky days I tend to ‘lose it’ much more easily. Thanks so much for sharing this article!
I have PVC’s (Premature Ventricular Contractions) and they are a real problem to deal with. Doctor tell me that a lot of people have them, however most do not feel them. They also tell me that they are benign and will noe kill me. I hope they are right. I am convinced that they become worse when the Barometric Pressure is very high. I am bothered in each directional move, but they seem to be much worse with a High than with a Low. I would like to hear from others that may have some similar problem, or a Doctor that may have an answer.
I have Tourette Syndrome, and I truly believe that the pressures of the atmosphere effect my tics! i notice my tics worsen when stormy weather is in the area and on cloudy days! Sunny days usually make for uneventful days with my Tourettes which i love, but the one thing i dont understand is why my Tourettes get worse when there is a full moon or a new moon??? If anybody has an answer to that it would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Alyssa, Thanks for sharing. How interesting about your Tourettes. Yesterday was a stormy day here and my neuro. symptoms went nuts. Barometric pressure changes, humidity, something in the weather changes…our neuro. systems don’t like. I imagine the nerves, spinal cord, get irritiated, perhaps inflamed. The moon. I never noticed that, but now am interested and will pay attention.
Kerry