Humans, Weather and Moods

Do humans change with the weather?


It’s a common belief around the world that weather somehow affects your mood. There might be some truth to it. Although most of the statistical analyses done in that regard are contradictory at times. Some studies suggest that there is really a relation among the mood and the weather but other psychologists, researchers put it into question.

Lets begin with a random term called SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) which could be called “Winter Blues” in idiot lingo, I mean in Layman terms. If one is suffering from SAD, they are prone to mood swings almost at the same time every year and side effects could include oversleeping, weight gain, general gloomy behaviour etc. It is even argued that stock returns in various countries are higher in winter due to the mood changes among the investors. That could be due to lack of daylight and cold weather generally pushing people to find cosy places. Nights are longer so people naturally like to party and sleep more instead of spending time in offices. Although studies like these have been argued against, psychologists insist that any correlation between higher activity in stock market and weather variations might be spurious and to suggest that there is a direct relationship between the two is premature.



Change in humour is not just because of the weather itself, but rather it’s due to the behavioural patterns which we repeat every year. We have learnt those patterns from parents just like they did from theirs. If a person is born in a hot tropical area, they’d be told as a child to be careful during the summer and don’t push too hard when it comes to going out in the blistering heat, try to stay under a shade and keep themselves hydrated. These things translate into their general behaviour while growing up and it doesn’t matter how rebellious they are, elderly advice is practical, they find it the hard way sometimes. Same goes for people born into harshly cold climates, they are also advised as children to be mindful of the cold. It’s comforting being cosy in the weather as compared to drinking vodka and skiing on rooftops. Sense of something fun also changes with the weather. This results in people generally being cautious around some seasons in their climate and relaxed and loosened up in others.




Although winter or summer both can be harsh weathers depending on where you are from but usually there’s a big chunk of a year containing mild, tolerable weather for most nations around the world. People like to take vacations in that weather, and have time for their friends and family.


People’s propensity to be adventurous and bold in a particular season can be related to proverbs, old wisdom or common sayings in that region. As a child, If you’ve been told in fables to find fortune and prosperity during summer, you are likely to follow it.

Old Latin proverbs might have even influenced the way we do agriculture and the cycle of our crops. For example,

“It is the season, not the soil that brings the crop”.


To avoid risk of low yields due to weather variations was a great challenge for farmers just a couple of centuries ago. Now it keeps us on our toes because we know that it’s possible to avoid crops from being destroyed by extreme weathers so it’s worth an effort to be ready all the time.




In fact, WRM(weather risk management) is a very important factor while formulating economic policies in low income countries, which heavily rely on agriculture and businesses related to it. Devastation and anxiety that comes with the anticipation of natural disasters is immensely higher in underdeveloped countries as compared to developed nations because urban lifestyle is better equipped to deal with it. So ultimately it puts you in a state of mind, where even though not all worries and anxieties are not suddenly vanished but basic problems like access to dry, clean roads during the rainy season, heat strokes due to lack of shades and air conditioning during sizzling hot summers etc are not a threat anymore.


The notion that something is missing just doesn’t slip through the creeks of your worldview in a day. It takes a considerable time before your mind accepts the newly found anxieties worthy enough to deal with. It’s possible for a farmer in South Asia to live his whole life without getting any PTSD from people dying in front of him from totally preventable diseases. He might regard it as the survival of the fittest or the workings of the fate but if you start showing him western movies every week where no-one dies from malaria or common cold, his consciousness will grow accustomed to the idea that life could be longer and he will be worried for the first time in life for a thing he wasn’t used to worrying about.


There are not many objectively stressful things about a wet, dark and cold winter yet it triggers something inside you. It does feel like a trigger for perceived stress among us. The anticipation of something bigger than humans can handle is a gruesome prospect and the mind of an individual can crumble under that pressure. Human mind has the proclivity to be amazed by its own progression. Sometimes all it takes for the mind to become strong is a procession of malevolent prospects gone without harming.