Contents
Why do we feel discouraged when there are fewer hours of sunlight
Psychology
Human beings are part of nature and biology. This is why the weather affects our mood
Why does the time change in spring
When the time changes in Spain
Like that of “the days begin to get longer” our spirits rise, from the summer solstice in June, the days start to get progressively shorter, and when the autumn time change comes, they are reduced so much that our spirits fade.
The shortest day of the year is Winter Solstice. This year it will be on December 22nd and the day will last 9 hours and 17 minutes in Madrid and 9 hours and 11 minutes in Barcelona. In total, there are almost six hours difference between the shortest and longest days of the year. “Around that date, the days are the shortest of the year. What’s more,
In winter it is also common for gray days or days with little sunlight, a factor that can affect mood, ”explains Mar Gómez, head of the meteorology area at eltiempo.es and a PhD in Physics.
Does the rain make us sad?
But How bad weather can affect our mood? Rafael San Román, ifeel psychologist, explains that as human beings, we are part of nature and biology. Therefore, “something as important as the weather has to affect our mood and our behavior.” He comments that there are many people who, with the reduction of hours of sunshine or the increase of cloudy days, “tend to” go off “, in the same way that they are later” reborn “in spring or summer.” “There are people to whom the opposite happens: the suffocating heat of summer makes them feel worse physically and that influences their mood, while they find more beauty than melancholy in the autumn environment,” indicates the professional on the other hand.
Another example is the impact that heat has on our well-being. For example, on extremely hot summer days we can be in a bad mood, it can even increase our aggressiveness, while in other circumstances, such as when the heating is turned on on a very cold day, it comforts us. “In any case, although there are common elements from one person to another, the influence of the weather on people is highly variable, relative,” summarizes the psychologist.
If we focus on why we are negatively affected by the “grayest” days, Rafael San Román comments that our bodies are configured in such a way that we function during the day and sleep during the nights. ‘We need light for important biochemical processes to take place in our bodies. That, in our consciousness, usually manifests itself in the form of activation, good spirits, joy, a feeling of comfort, “he says. For this reason, he comments that in general “we experience light as life and going outside while darkness is recollection and rest.”
Cultural associations
We are part of biology. Our rhythms, although we are capable of consciously changing them, are those of nature: the climate is one of the fundamental axes. «The human being is him and his circumstances. One of these is the weather, just as there are many other circumstances beyond our control that affect us, in fact our entire daily existence is full of these events “, explains the ifeel psychologist.
Finally, the professional talks about what resources can we use to not “get carried away” through these cold and gray days. “We have very internalized the idea that” rain is bad weather “or that” cloudy days are sad “, but in reality there is nothing intrinsically true in this, they are cultural learning”, says Rafael San Román. Continue and comment that sunny days are beautiful, because that is what they have taught us, and just the opposite occurs with gray days. “They may not be the gentlest from a climatological point of view, but there is something very beautiful also in the rain, clouds and gales. There are many people who find pleasure in being at home. Changing our definition of atmospheric phenomena can be a good step to start enjoying them more », he concludes.