Meteoropathy is a key word for many of us, a good excuse, and a great start to a social conversation, crowned with exchanging blood pressure results. It comes to a situation that a person who feels completely good during rain starts to wonder what is wrong with him.
Meteo or nocebo?
Sometimes it seems like complaining about sleepiness and a headache on a rainy day is downright social responsibility. From childhood, we hear the following messages: “I am raking in my temple, I think there is a storm” or “Grandpa cannot get out of bed, nor will it rain”. Brought up in the cult of omnipotent weather, do we not accidentally tell ourselves that when it is cloudy, we do not want anything, and when the weather changes, it hurts us? Is common meteoropathy fact or nocebo the inverse of placebo, i.e. a perceived bad effect with no real cause?
– The phenomenon of meteoropathy does exist, of course! – says Anna Martynuska, a biometeorologist from the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management. – Man evolved from nature, so it is natural that he must react to it, and his body adapts to the state of the external environment. However, a young and healthy body will adapt to the weather conditions quickly and painlessly. The aura can take its toll on those whose health is failing.
It turns out, then, that our organisms remember better than ourselves how much physiological creatures we are and where we come from: our ancestors were downright dependent on weather conditions: rainy seasons, droughts, sunny days and catastrophic anomalies decided about their existence or not. much more than today. We are disturbed by a flood or a snowstorm; once a prolonged drought meant that entire families could starve to death.
Who and why?
We already know that the weather affects everyone, but not everyone feels its changes – because it is about change, not the weather itself, emphasizes Anna Martynuska from IMWM, change is a physiological stimulus. So what determines the susceptibility to the vagaries of the aura? There are several risk factors:
-age – This category catches representatives of the opposite ends of the age axis: very young children and the elderly. The first group has not fully developed physiological mechanisms, in the second group they start to work less effectively due to their age.
– gender – Due to the complex hormonal balance, women in all age groups are more exposed to the unpleasant effects of weather changes. It is especially noticeable during periods of hormonal fluctuation, i.e. during puberty and menopause.
– chronic diseases – All chronic diseases of the most important systems, ie the nervous system (mental and neurological diseases), circulation, respiratory and skeletal systems, predispose them to be particularly sensitive to weather changes, which exacerbate the ailments associated with a given disease.
– the so-called “This is his beauty” – that is, without any specific medical reason, a person reacts to changes in the weather and that’s it. They are often inherited tendencies.
– health history – there is also an acquired meteoropathy, which may be caused by diseases in the past, even distant ones, serious injuries: bone fractures and surgeries, and the scars remaining after them may, in critical weather situations, become noticeable after years.
No change in the west?
Breaking with nature takes revenge on the townspeople. The inhabitants of big cities, who, regardless of the season, spend their days in air-conditioned rooms, work long hours, travel by car, and see grass and trees on TV, pay a high price. Due to the unnatural environment and unhygienic lifestyle, there are many more meteoropaths in urban agglomerations than in rural areas. So it is much healthier and more physiological to cultivate the system: working in the city, at home on the outskirts. If we can afford it, it is worth ensuring our nature returns to Nature.
Risky seasons for meteoropaths are the so-called transitional seasons, i.e. spring and autumn. Although they seem to be less “defined” than at first glance, winter and summer are more radical, from the meteorological point of view they are more intense.
Is it possible to identify regions of Poland whose inhabitants are particularly exposed to the unpleasant effects of weather changes?
– There is a phenomenon of the organism adapting to the local climate. There is a significant difference between the inhabitants of north-eastern and south-western Poland in terms of adaptation to the harsh climate, which has been tested at our Institute. Those from the West tolerate it much worse – explains Anna Martynuska. – A resident of Wrocław in the Suwałki region is shaking with cold when the locals feel completely comfortable.
The rain says: Stop!
And does the weather have a real impact on health, apart from the mythical drowsiness, bad mood, headaches, breaking bones, and sometimes unhealthy arousal? Doctors from hospital emergency rooms note a correlation between the weather and the number of patients with a heart attack and stroke. It is not a myth that the circulatory system is very susceptible to changes in the barric field, i.e., as Anna Martynuska from IMWM explains, to a change in a set of factors that change together. It goes, among others about pressure, temperature, wind. Reducing meteoropathy to just fluctuations in atmospheric pressure is too much simplification or even a distortion.
Untreated gastric and duodenal ulcers are eager to respond seasonally, while certain seasons sleep and give the illusion of recovery.
You should also be vigilant when we suddenly become meteoropaths, although we have never felt any discomfort under the influence of the weather before. Then you need to focus on yourself and consider whether these symptoms may be the result of insufficient sleep, poor diet or lack of exercise in the fresh air. If we take care of the hygiene of life, meteoropathy may turn out to be a temporary condition.
– But if it does not pass – sensitizes Anna Martynuska – it’s good to go to a medical examination, because maybe the weather tells us that something in our body is going wrong. In general, let’s listen to the directions that the aura gives to our bodies. These natural signals most sensitively inform that the weather conditions are difficult and unfavorable, so you should wait them out, rest and accumulate the energy that is evidently lacking.
A natural man
There is no cure for meteoropathy because it is not a disease, but an indicator of whether the body is functioning well and responding properly. Its condition is influenced by diet, amount of sleep, exercise, fresh air, stress reduction; no miracle pills. But in times of crisis, you can take comfort in the fact that meteoropathy proves that whether we are aware of it or not, we are children of nature, weather and nature. Hundreds of thousands of Poles were delighted with the film “Avatar”. So the next time we get a headache in the rain, let us proudly think that this is how Mother Nature speaks to us.
Julia Wolin
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