Does Weather-Related Pain Exist?
Recently, the weather in my region has shown an extremely sharp change, due to which many people began to complain about their well-being. But are these complaints scientifically based?
Weather Show
Meet, this is a rainbow:
It would seem that what is strange here? And indeed, a rainbow is not a rare phenomenon. But this particular rainbow was photographed in the middle of January in western Ukraine. Western Ukraine is located in a temperate climate zone, and at this time it should rest quietly under a large layer of snow. This makes this rainbow an interesting and unusual case.
The very next day, in the same place, the landscape looked like this:
It snowed all night and periodically the next day. This created a fabulous snow picture:
In some places, there were whole piles of snow:
All this was accompanied by a sharp drop in air temperature, although it still did not drop below 1 degree Celsius.
Seeing such sudden changes in the weather, people began to complain en masse about their well-being. I have heard such complaints from employees, neighbors and even passers-by. Some had problems with blood pressure, some had headaches, others complained of weakness, dizziness, etc. But do changes in weather really affect the human body so much?
What does science say?
Weather pains, weather-related pain, or meteoropathy have long been known. For a long time, it was almost officially believed that sudden changes in the weather negatively affect the human body. But evidence-based medicine did not have enough arguments to support this, so a number of studies were conducted.
In 2016, an interesting study was published in the journal Nature: Revisiting the connection between Solar eruptions and primary headaches and migraines using Twitter. As part of this study, 63 million tweets containing the words "migraine" or "headache" were analyzed. Then a graph of the activity of such messages was created, which was later compared with the graph of the activity of the Sun. The goal was to check whether magnetic storms affect human health. As a result, these graphics did not match at all.
In general, most scientists claim that weather-related pain (weather dependence) as people imagine it is a bit of a myth. People often believe in the almost magical ability of the body to predict the weather. However, if we talk about blood pressure or pain in the joints, then the research did not find such a dependence on the weather. If the weather changes, and a person at this time has an exacerbation of a certain disease - she connects these facts. But when the deterioration of well-being does not coincide with changes in the weather, the brain does not notice this. In addition to the weather itself, other factors must be taken into account.
A report published in December 2017 by the Harvard School of Public Health indicates that the weather has no effect on back and joint pain. Researchers pay attention to other factors, such as prolonged bad weather, sitting at home, lack of sunlight or fresh air. According to them, this can worsen the symptoms of various chronic diseases.
For this study, the medical data of more than 11 million patients between 2008 and 2012 were analyzed.
However, it cannot be said that the weather does not affect our health at all. Especially if we are talking about drastic changes. In a healthy person, dilated or spasmodic vessels quickly return to normal due to their elasticity. But if they have lost their elasticity, they may not be able to quickly rebuild themselves in accordance with the dynamics of the environment.
There is research that shows a correlation between geomagnetic storms and the risk of stroke in certain groups of people. However, the mechanism of connection between these phenomena needs to be studied further.
Another interesting study was conducted in 2015 in Japan. In it, 34 patients with chronic migraine kept diaries of their health under the supervision of doctors. All of them felt good at an atmospheric pressure of 759.8 mm of mercury. But the study participants suffered from migraines even with relatively small decreases in atmospheric pressure - only 5-8 mm mercury.
In 2011, an international group of scientists from Taiwan, the USA and Great Britain analyzed a large array of statistical data. They found that in different geographical areas, migraine attacks in study participants were correlated with completely different weather factors: air temperature, low pressure, strong winds, approaching typhoon, approaching cold atmospheric front. At the same time, some studies do not reveal a connection between weather factors and headaches at all.
Conclusions
Our body is a very complex system. Its condition is influenced by many factors, and the influence of various factors coincides in time. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to set up an experiment that could unambiguously analyze, for example, the impact of a sudden change in atmospheric pressure on human health.
The above studies do not give an exact answer to the question of whether weather-related pain exists. However, it can be argued that the majority of scientific data refutes the existence of such a phenomenon.
At the same time, it does not affect people's belief in the existence of weather-related pain. If you type this query into Google, almost all the results will tell you what weather-related pain is, how to relieve it, and offer you a number of expensive medications that will definitely help you.
Very interesting topic!
In principle, I don't believe in supernatural connections, but rather in scientific ones. In this respect, the studies are very interesting.
I myself have often noticed that I have a bit more of a headache on some days. I have to say that I am more prone to headaches than my wife, for example. When I have more intense headaches, I often tell myself that the weather is changing. But of course I can't determine whether that's actually true. The weather changes all the time, so to speak.
Basically, I also want to look for a reason for the headaches. Since there are no other (detectable) influences, I just blame the weather for the sake of simplicity ;-)
So I agree with your conclusion that our body is a very complex system...
Beyond that, I find something else interesting:
From the above graphs on the tweet rate about headaches (B) or migraines (C), it can be seen that the rate always increases in the middle of the month and decreases around the turn of the month. I find that very astounding! Because it is also quite regular. Do the studies say anything about this?
BTW: It's nice that it has snowed in your region yet :-)
To be honest, I used to think that the weather affected my health. I also often suffer from headaches. I even had an MRI scan, but the doctors found nothing. So the weather was a convenient explanation. But I soon realized that headaches are more related to the sleep mode and the number of hours spent in front of the monitor screen.
I reread the article but couldn't find anything about it. In their findings, the researchers paid more attention to Twitter as a great source of data. They focused on their conclusion that headaches and migraines are not related to the activity of the Sun, without trying to explain other things.
Thank you, we had a wonderful two days, like a real winter with sledges and snowmen. But it rained last night and now there are only traces of snow. Nevertheless, forecasters predict that February will be more like winter. To be honest, for economic reasons I have nothing against the winter that has been until now :)
Yes, I think so too. People like to make external causes responsible first, rather than looking for them in their own person. :-)
Sleeping is very important for the immune system. I have to admit that sometimes I don't sleep sufficiently.
On top of that, there may also be one's own vulnerability.
Very strange. The regularity is very noticeable. I can't believe this hasn't been followed up. But may be, this wasn't die question in the study...
This is exactly what I think! ... at least this year ... ;-)
😆
... ja dann laß uns das doch 'mal mit den Mondphasen vergleichen... ;-))
Ja genau, der Einfluss des Mondes auf das Wohlbefinden steht bei einigen ziemlich weit oben auf der Liste der möglichen Faktoren...
I love the term "meteoropathy". The data is mixed, but I'm inclined to believe there is a correlation between weather and health.
I've lived in very cold climates and my joints suffered more than usual, and the same is true with hot climates and sleeping problems and migraine.
Still, it'd be cool to gather more data. Very interesting topic.
Unfortunately, each individual study does not give a clear picture. More comprehensive work is needed.
For example, my parents claim that on very windy days, when there is a sudden change in atmospheric pressure, they have an exacerbation of hypertension. I tend to think that a healthy person doesn't feel the effects of the weather, but those people who have chronic illnesses are more likely to experience worsening symptoms.
Of course, I cannot scientifically prove such a connection. But I can't disprove it either ;-)) In this respect, it remains a question of personal conviction what one thinks about your question. For my part, I have never had to deal with headaches, so I cannot make any assessment. But I know rheumatics, for example, who can predict changes in the weather with great certainty, especially in terms of humidity. In this respect, I would be more of a believer. On the contrary, I would even be surprised if our wonderfully complex and perfectly set-up body did NOT react to changing weather conditions!
Natürlich kann ich auch keinen derartigen Zusammenhang wissenschaftlich beweisen. Allerdings auch nicht widerlegen ;-)) Insofern bleibt es eine Frage der persönlichen Überzeugung, wie man zu Deiner Frage steht. Ich für meinen Teil hatte noch nie mit Kopfschmerzen zu tun, kann da also gar keine Einschätzung vornehmen. Ich kenne aber z.B. Rheumatiker, die mit großer Sicherheit Wetterwechsel, vor allem in Sachen Luftfeuchtigkeit, vorhersahen können. Insofern wäre ich eher gläubig. Es würde mich im Gegenteil sogar verwundern, wenn unser wunderbar komplexer und perfekt eingerichteter Körper NICHT auf die sich verändernde Wetterlage reagieren würde!
In my opinion, a healthy person does not notice the influence of the weather. But those who have chronic diseases probably feel the sudden changes in the weather.
I used to think that the influence of the weather on health is an established fact. But most likely due to the complexity of both systems (the human body and the weather), there cannot be a clear answer here. Everything is very individual.
I often get headaches a few hours before rain storms - not migraines (I think), but sinus headaches. Sometimes, that's my first inkling that rain is on the way. I have always assumed that it has to do with rapidly changing barometric pressure.
I don't understand... where's the Snowman?
the-mrs-gorilla will often complain of head aches around the time that there's a sudden change in weather.
Not directly related to the research you've shared but there's a recognised "disease" called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) where people are more depressed in the winter - when there's less day light. I'm no expert on the subject so I won't pretend to be but it's a good example of how "weather" can affect mental health in particular.
It's my fault, I thought too late to photograph it.
Yes, I am aware of that. And I really think that prolonged cloudy weather affects a person's mood. You don't even need to do a lot of research here, it's self-explanatory to me. In good sunny weather, the mood is better, there is more energy, and the desire to work is much greater :-)
Unless it's too hot 😉
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Веселка - фантастика!!! А у нас сніга не було і немає! Лише один день була пороша...)))
Може це і на краще. Нам зараз дуже потрібна тепла зима.