I have always been fascinated by the weather. I grew up just outside New York City and every season brought it’s own ups and downs. Each day was unique in that type of climate, and I quickly figured out what kind of weather I preferred. I dreaded the rain and wind but loved sunshine and snow, both in moderation. My sister on the other hand, loved the rain and hated the snow, in any kind. That always puzzled me- how people living in the same conditions could have such different preferences on the weather. For both of us, the different types of weather seemed to impact our outlooks on those days. I wondered if these outlooks were indeed because of the weather or based on some confounding variable. It made me ask the question, how does weather affect someones mood?
Null Hypothesis: The weather does not affect people’s moods in any way
Alternative Hypothesis: The weather affects people’s moods in different ways, depending on confounding variables
I began to research this topic, and came across a March 2016 article written by Dr. Joseph Mercola. In his research, Mercola sought out ways in which the weather was in fact related to someone’s mood. The first thing that stuck out to me had to do with serotonin. Serotonin levels, which are associated with mood elevation, increased with brightness and decreased with a lack of sun exposure. Dr. Mercola stated that this was one explanation for why people who suffered from SAD (seasonal affective disorder) benefited from bright light therapy. Later in the article, Mercola stated established research on this topic was gained from two primary factors: the season and how much time is spent outside. He went on to list many ways in which the weather and moods were indeed related. These included:
-A research study published in The Journal of Finance associating sunshine with higher stock returns, but not rain or snow
-Department of Justice records stating crime rates increase during the summer months
-Research taken on 682 actual university admissions showing favoritism towards academics over extra-curricular activities on cloudy days as opposed to sunny days
The list went on and on. From all of Mercola’s research, I concluded that I should reject the null hypothesis. It seemed clear to me that weather had some sort of impact on a person’s mood.
A second study I examined was done by John M. Grohl. Like Mercola, Grohl sought out to prove that their was a clear relationship between weather and mood. One major piece of work he covered was that of Klimstra (2011). In his experiments, Klimstra studied 415 adolescents and the change of their moods with the weather. He found that about half of his subjects were impacted by the weather, while the other half were not. He accredited this to different types of personality regarding the weather. He further broke this down by assigning four groups linked to weather personality: Summer lovers, summer haters, rain haters, and unaffected by weather. These groups were based on statistics showing that the summer caused the most drastic behavioral changes among seasons, and the same of rain in terms of precipitation. What he found was that:
17% of people were summer lovers. “Happier, less fearful, and less angry on days with more sunshine and higher temperatures. More hours of precipitation was associated with less happiness and more anxiety and anger.”
27% of people were summer haters. “Less happy and more fearful and angry when the temperature and the percentage of sunshine were higher. With more hours of precipitation they tended to be happier and less fearful and angry.”
9% of people were rain haters. “Angrier and less happy on days with more precipitation. By comparison, they were more happy and fearful, but less angry, on days with more sunshine and higher temperatures.”
And lastly, 48% of people were unaffected by weather. “Largely un-impacted by changes in the weather.”
Based on this experiment, Grohl concluded that weather seemed to have a real impact on a person’s mood, but that it was dependent upon many factors.
After researching this topic through the works of two different people, I’ve concluded to accept the alternative hypothesis. I think the majority of people can agree that the weather does have some type of impact on most people’s thoughts or moods. After the research backed up that, I was quickly able to eliminate the null hypothesis. At that point, I narrowed in on the idea that confounding variables could be responsible for the affect of weather on people’s moods. Through the studied research it was clear to me that other variables such as time spent outside, climate, and age all play huge roles on the other variables of this study.
Works Cited
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2014/08/29/can-weather-affect-your-mood/
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/03/31/weather-affects-mood.aspx
The weather most definitely has an impact on someones mood. No doubt in my mind during winter I am grouchy sluggish and depressed. The summer is when I feel my best because of the fresh air and sunshine. I think for certain people there are many other factors that go along with your mood and can also have an affect on how your mood is during a certain season. I was surprised by one piece of your study. It was the low percentage of people who don’t like the rain. I thought for sure that it would be a lot higher and I also thought that more people would like summer better. The study you found was very interesting! Here is an interesting link to an article that gives you way to adapt in the weather you don’t like: https://www.bustle.com/articles/113278-6-scientific-ways-weather-affects-your-mood-so-you-can-adapt-your-mind-and-body-through
This blog struck my eye because I tend to attribute my winter time sadness to this “SAD”, but wasn’t sure if I was just making excuses for myself. I think you were safe to accept the alternative hypothesis because fit seems as if from that experiment, moods change is not likely due to chance alone. I do have to agree with the fact that third confounding variables, perhaps such as clinical depression could trigger this mood change. Even the placebo effect could come into play in these situations because people could tell themselves that since it is cold or rainy out, they will be sad. Part of it could be due to people’s preexisting attitudes. This article suggests getting more light or exercising in order to beat the sadness http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/pages/winter-blues-sad.aspx , however I do not think there is one solid solution to solve this problem. Perhaps live some place with a warm climate if you feel as if the cold negatively affects your mood, but I do not think there is enough solid evidence to back up that suggestion.
I’ve always been interested in Seasonal Affective Disorder and how it works and this post taught me a lot! I was interested in looking into more of the symptoms and how seasons can affect people in some ways, and I found Make this webpage lists some symptoms and even talks a little bit about the way seasons effect patients with bipolar disorder.