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Can the cold affect us psychologically?
Psychology
Experts reveal whether, beyond the discomfort and discomfort caused by adverse weather conditions, the sudden drop in temperature can actually influence the mood
A “meteorosensitive” person is one who may experience discomfort or symptoms related to weather changes, whether they be sudden drops in temperatures or adverse weather phenomena such as heavy snowfalls or frosts that Filomena has brought to Spain. Some of these signs of “meteorosensitivity” can manifest in the form of headaches, mood changes or muscle and joint problems, as explained by the meteorologist and Physics doctor from eltiempo.es, Mar Gómez. However, from a psychological point of view, beyond those aforementioned mood swings that can actually occur more due to the discomfort that the storm can generate, the cold does not have to influence us on a psychological level, as Jesús Matos clarifies, psychologist
of “In Mental Equilibrium”.
What actually happens and what we may perceive on a psychological level, according to Matos, is that the body is trying adapt to new weather conditions. Therefore, as animals that we are, it is normal for the mind and body to concentrate energy in keep warm and in seeking well-being. We put ourselves in “survival mode” and this means that “we are not here for other things” such as wanting to interact with other people or wanting to unleash creativity, for example. Does it mean that the cold makes us less sociable and less creative? “It doesn’t have to, but it is true that when the body tries to adapt to the environment, what it does is mobilize and focus its resources to seek shelter, warmth and well-being,” he says.
According to the experts of Avance Psicólogos, what can occur in a context of extreme cold is that those capacities that have to do with the lateral thinking, with unconventional ways of reasoning and with the search for associations between concepts, they may be diminished. And, although that does not mean that one cannot be creative in places where ice and snow prevail, it does emphasize that it is important that the person who performs such creative activity is fully acclimatized to that context and to the cold.
They also suggest that, with the cold, there appears a slight psychological tendency to show us more closedPlus suspicious with the rest. A distant attitude that we usually capture even in language, since we associate the cold character to the way of behaving of someone who does not express signs of affection or friendly character in general. “The reason why this psychological effect occurs is unknown, but it may have to do with a strategy to save energy and preserve body temperature (keeping the extremities relatively close to the trunk),” they say in Advance Psychologists.
The consequences of cold affect more
What can affect us on a mental level, as Matos points out, are the consequences derived from that extreme cold (closed streets, snow, ice …) or from inclement weather such as not being able to go to work, not being able to circulate with normality on the streets, not being able to go shopping or even not being able to take the children to school is what can create a discomfort, but it does not have to create a psychological problem because, as it clarifies, it is something that will be solved in a reasonable period of time. «More worrying on a psychological level is what the people who have had to double shifts these days, as has happened in the case of some doctors and nurses, people in the emergency services or other professions who could not be relieved for hours and who had to perform their work at the highest level during that time. That can generate StressHe says.
The psychologist believes that there is a tendency to lead any circumstance that we live to the pathological and that, just as at a certain moment the heat or spring allergies can cause us discomfort, it can also be caused by the cold or even the fact of having the heating at the top these days at home, as it is something that can become overwhelming, annoying or uncomfortable. Perhaps what is being lived these days, according to Matos analyzes, is the lack of clear guidelines for how to behave in the face of the unknown or the “unusual”. The “surprise” effect or the “novelty” effect or not knowing how to act in the face of something that is not often experienced or that one does not know how to deal with, can cause some concern.
The solution is to have healthy habits
But also, on days when it is cold, we can fall into a “vicious circle”, according to Blanca Tejero Claver, a doctor in Psychology and director of the Master in Special Education at UNIR: “When we spend more hours at home, we exercise less. It is more lazy to go for a run or play sports outdoors in dark or bad weather. This makes us gain weight and also lowers our level of Serotonin, the hormone that gives us happiness. We enter a loop in which we feel worse about ourselves and more discouraged.
That is why in general the best formula for the negative effects of weather changes is to have a healthy lifestyle: eat healthy, exercise, include foods rich in vitamin D in the diet (to counteract the least amount of exposure to sunlight ) such as cheese, egg yolks or fatty fish such as salmon or tuna and try to make the most of daylight hours: go out when we have sun, and if we cannot go outside, at least to the terrace or to the window