It’s 9 a.m., and your alarm rings. Pulling up the blinds, you look outside to see big droplets of rain falling. Time to get back in bed, you think to yourself. Unfortunately, your first class is at 10 a.m., so you pull yourself out of the comfy covers and just accept the inevitable—you’re going to be extra sleepy today.
Since the beginning of time we’ve had day and night—after all, it’s undeniable that roughly half the day is dark and half is light. This daily cycle is caused by the earth’s rotation around the sun, which makes the sun shine on any one section of earth for only a portion of the day. In the mornings, the sun rising and warming our skin triggers our bodies to stop producing melatonin, the hormone that makes us tired at night. But if the skies are overcast with rain, this hormone is not triggered, and we often remain sleepy throughout the day. Moreover, the patter of rain on a rooftop might be the most soothing “pink noise” ever to grace the natural world. Pink noise improves the quality of our sleep by decreasing brain activity, and when combined with the soothing natural smell of earthy rain, puts our minds and bodies at ease and at rest.
You pull on rain boots and shuffle out the door. When you’re outside, you realize that not only is it raining, but it’s also cold! Cold weather might make your joints ache, and that’s not just an old wives’ tale. It’s possible that the body wants to conserve heat in colder weather, so it sends more oxygen to the center of the body and leaves blood vessels near the extremities to constrict and stiffen. Another hypothesis is that the change in barometric pressure causes inflammation in the joints—especially in those afflicted with arthritis or other joint problems—and leads to an increase in joint pain and nerve sensitivity.
So it’s overcast and you’re sloshing through puddles on your way to class. This is not the best way to start the day. In fact, some medical professionals have claimed a lack of sunlight can lead to increased depression in some people, especially those with winter-onset Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), and you’re thinking to yourself that you can totally see why. But in reality, this is a heavily contested subject. Some researchers claim that people who live in sunny climates are no happier than those who live in rainy locations, like Paul Dolan, Professor of Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics. Hence, although rain has the ability to put anyone to sleep, it is not a definite depressant. In fact, according to this cross-sectional study that examined over 1 million Americans from all 50 state overs a five year period, weather might not affect general satisfaction at all. Historically, rain provides a good upcoming harvest. Religiously, rain can mean favor from the gods. Most of all, rain has often been associated with love and romance.
Ultimately, though we have many physical and mental reactions to weather, positive—or negative—associations exist for all types of weather, and can vary from person to person. A windy day might resurface tranquil memories for some and fierce for others. Despite the cold, snow can trigger a sense of ease and peace brought about by associations with family, holiday, and good, warm meals. So as you walk in the rain to class, you realize that maybe it’s not a day to sleep or feel blue—maybe it’s a day to dance.