by Rylie Wendt, 8

Weather is seasonal and has a feeling to it. Not just human feeling, but feeling in the air. You know that kind of feeling when the breeze hits your face just right and you take a deep breath and it smells so good, or when you step outside and it’s so cold your face hurts? I feel like weather is something you choose to like or not like, but in Missouri we experience four seasons and each of them come with their own struggles regarding our mental health.

Research from 2008 by psychologist Jaap Dennison shows that scientists figured out that the climate’s usual influence has always impacted people’s gloomy state instead of supporting someone’s positive mood. Hotter temperatures were linked to an increase in people’s feelings of being more irritable, distressed, or jittery. The scientists also found  that more sun and less wind helped people feel better!

I want to explore how the seasons of Missouri can affect our moods, starting with winter.

We are headed into a frigid season. The Farmer’s Almanac describes it as a potential “hibernation zone, glacial and snow filled.” So what will that do to our moods?

People often feel sad or more tired during the winter. Society’s hours have humans stuck indoors during the hours that the sun is out – and when we go home around 5pm, it’s dark. And if you don’t think less sunlight during winter months can affect you, your mood, or your energy levels, think again. A decrease in sunlight can disrupt your body’s circadian rhythms, and cause a drop in serotonin levels and vitamin D levels, which can lead to depressive symptoms.

Some people even get diagnosed with a clinically recognized disorder known as SAD. PsychCentral.com says, “Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a very real kind of depressive disorder (technically referred to as a depressive disorder with seasonal pattern where in a person’s major depressive episode is connected to a specific season.”

Throughout winter, there are a few things you can do to help improve your mood during the season. First, and most importantly, try to get as much sunlight as possible – whether that means moving your desk closer to a window or going for a walk at lunch, the more sunlight you can get, the better! Additionally, keeping your schedule regular, eating right, and drinking plenty of water will help you stay on track throughout the winter.

But winter can’t last forever and spring is just around the corner, so as flowers bloom, so will you. This time of the year the weather is unpredictable. Summer is hot, winter is cold – but spring can be either!

People who have headaches a lot say that they have more headaches in spring weather than in summer or winter. Most people with arthritis or chronic back pain feel more pain on stormy, cold or damp days, which usually happens in the spring. But spring also gives more hours of sunlight which helps your mental state with sunlight.

As spring turns into summer and the days get hotter, some people start to really feel better as they spend lots of time in the sunlight. PsychCentral.com says, “The sun gives us more vitamin D, which raises energy levels and just simply makes you feel happier.” The length of daytime and nighttime, and our exposure to light have such an enormous effect on our biological clocks, levels of serotonin which affects our mood, and levels of melatonin which work with mood and sleep. It’s easy to understand why summer is such a better time for many of us.

However, there is a downside to summer in the midwest. heat (and extreme rain) can bring out the worst in people. According to PsychCentral.com, “Hsiang et al. (2013) found a link between human aggression and higher temperatures. As temperatures rose, the researchers noted that intergroup conflicts also tended to jump — by 14 percent (a significant increase). The scientists also found interpersonal violence rose by 4 percent.”

As the summer fades away, fall slowly settles in, more people begin to fall in love, and nature begins to slow down. It makes sense, then, that humans should begin to slow down, too, but instead, our society keeps us running at full speed.

Fall is the season of Halloween, which brings up a lot of stuff to do with your mood. According to PsychCentral.com, “Fall can bring on more than beautiful colors, cooler temperatures and shorter days, but the shift in weather can lead to a dip in mood and energy.” Because the length of the day changes, as well as the temperatures, our bodies can literally be thrown off their rhythm or cycle. This can affect sleep, eating habits, general mood, and even your social life.

What does the weather do to you? Whether it be summer, winter, fall, or spring the weather can always have an impact on your mood – but we do know that sunlight has a positive effect on all of us. We’re just like flowers – we need sunlight and water! So get outside, bask in the sunshine, and drink your water. We’ll see you on the other side of winter!