Weather can have more than a little impact on your mood. Researchers in Germany branched out beyond just sunny and cloudy and looked at temperature, wind, sunlight, rain and snow, air pressure, and how long the days were. The study was led by Jaap Denissen of Humboldt University in Berlin. The study had 1,233 participants, all living in Germany at the time. Most of the participants were women, the average age was 28, with ages spanning from 13 to 68 years old. Study participants were first given a personality test that measured extraversion, neuroticism, how open one is to experiences, and how agreeable and conscientious they are. Then, participants were given a daily online diary and asked to respond to a questionnaire that measured tiredness and positive and negative mood. Examples of positive mood included feeling "active," "alert," "attentive," "excited." Examples of negative mood included feeling "irritable," "scared," "upset," "guilty." Tiredness was measured by terms such as "sluggish," "sleepy," and "drowsy." The researchers found that when it’s sunny outside you’re in a more alert, happy, focused mood than when it’s raining, cloudy, snowing, and cold. Wind, temperature, and sunlight were found to have a negative effect on your mood. The researchers said that sunlight played a role in how tired people said they were. Also, Sunlight had a mitigating effect on whether people reported they were tired on days when it rained.Being out in the sun boosts our mood, improves sleep, and promotes vitamin D production. Some people get better sleep when they were exposed to the sun during the day. A type of depression called seasonal affective disorder affects some people during the winter when they don't get enough sunlight.Psychiatrists often recommend that depressed individuals go outside in the sun for 30 minutes per day because experts now believe that sunlight has widespread mood-elevating effects, possibly because the
Weather can have more than a little impact on your mood. Researchers in Germany branched out beyond just sunny and cloudy and looked at temperature, wind, sunlight, rain and snow, air pressure, and how long the days were. The study was led by Jaap Denissen of Humboldt University in Berlin. The study had 1,233 participants, all living in Germany at the time. Most of the participants were women, the average age was 28, with ages spanning from 13 to 68 years old. Study participants were first given a personality test that measured extraversion, neuroticism, how open one is to experiences, and how agreeable and conscientious they are. Then, participants were given a daily online diary and asked to respond to a questionnaire that measured tiredness and positive and negative mood. Examples of positive mood included feeling "active," "alert," "attentive," "excited." Examples of negative mood included feeling "irritable," "scared," "upset," "guilty." Tiredness was measured by terms such as "sluggish," "sleepy," and "drowsy." The researchers found that when it’s sunny outside you’re in a more alert, happy, focused mood than when it’s raining, cloudy, snowing, and cold. Wind, temperature, and sunlight were found to have a negative effect on your mood. The researchers said that sunlight played a role in how tired people said they were. Also, Sunlight had a mitigating effect on whether people reported they were tired on days when it rained.Being out in the sun boosts our mood, improves sleep, and promotes vitamin D production. Some people get better sleep when they were exposed to the sun during the day. A type of depression called seasonal affective disorder affects some people during the winter when they don't get enough sunlight.Psychiatrists often recommend that depressed individuals go outside in the sun for 30 minutes per day because experts now believe that sunlight has widespread mood-elevating effects, possibly because the