Do you notice weather changes in your health? This is how it affects having sensitivity to the weather

The effects of weather phenomena remind us that we are part of nature and that our health depends to a large extent on knowing how to adapt to changes in our environment.

Still we are linked by a close bond to everything that happens on earth and in the skyalthough we are often unaware of it.

Cold, heat, winds, humidity, the proportions of negative and positive ions, or changes in atmospheric pressure can throw us off balance. and favor the appearance of a wide variety of symptoms.

Weather conditions can affect virtually every organ and body system.

Headache with the change of time: is it real?

The database of the Canadian Medical Meteorology Network accumulates scientific studies that demonstrate the relationship between time and the evolution of disorders neurological, endocrine, circulatory, cardiac, respiratory, digestive and musculoskeletal.

according to canadiansthe most frequent symptoms caused by changes in weather are irritability and aggressiveness, anxiety, depression, fatigue, lack of concentration, sleep disorders, pain, cardiovascular irregularities, nausea, dizziness and, above all, migraines.

A study carried out in the New England Headache Center in Stamford (United States) concluded that 51% of patients are affected in some way by timealthough many cannot specify what is the specific climatic factor that acts as a trigger in their case.

What is meteorosensitivity or sensitivity to climate

Not all people have the same sensitivity to weather. Susceptibility increases with age, poor physical condition, and weakness due to various diseases. It is estimated that between 30 and 70% of the population suffers from what is now known as “meteorosensitivity”.

Such a high incidence justifies that in Germany the forecast of the national weather service includes warnings directed to the “time sensitive patients”.

In addition to reporting on ground level ozone levels, pollen counts and ultraviolet radiation index, German weathermen warn migraine and arthritis suffererss when the weather circumstances that may affect them occur. After the well-known map with suns, clouds and rains, another one appears. with smiling, indifferent or upset faces.

Among us the theme of health and time tIt is still not considered important in either the prevention or treatment of disease. Instead, It is part of the foundations of traditional Chinese medicine.

In his diagnosis, a Chinese doctor may state that the outside wind and cold have invaded the lungs. According to the Chinese medical system, the energies of the five elements act on the body. -fire, wood, earth, metal and water-, which are linked to many other meteorological phenomena: heat, wind, humidity, dryness and coldness, respectively.

Like is logic, each has specific effects on health.

pain associated with cold

In Spain, symptoms associated with cold are related to the entry of winds coming from the north: from the Arctic, Siberia or the Atlantic. These the latter, which are also humidresult especially annoying.

According to Chinese medicine, cold blocks the flow of energy., which contracts and stagnates, causing pain in the joints and other places. This action explains, for example, the sharpening of the discomfort in people suffering from osteoarthritis.

Howeverin Western medicine there is an intense controversy between skeptics and believers about whether the arrival of cold and wet weather influences joint pain.

It is not enough that thousands of patients assure that they feel it, since they could attribute to bad weather some discomfort that they would feel anyway. The problem is that the mechanism of cause and effect is not known.

One theory states that cold can irritate nerve endings and increase their sensitivity. In addition, the drop in temperature causes a contraction of bones and muscles which, as they have different densities, could produce painful micro-stretches.Another theory maintains that the cold requires an effort from the body to maintain its interior at 37.5 ºC.which causes a constriction of the blood vessels that irrigate the skin and peripheral areas so that the blood concentrates and heats the central area of ​​the body where vital organs are located.In places where blood does not flow as before, neither do oxygen and nutrients that transports The tissues swell and holes appear that fill with air or fluids and end up producing pressure on the diseased areas, what causes pain.

A side effect of this redirection of blood circulation is a increased diuresis, that is, the need to urinate, which many people feel when they are cold. The reason would be that the brain captures an increase in the internal concentration of liquids.

The cold has more consequences. Some people have an allergic reaction, with large red patches on the skin that can sting

Besides, the heart has to work harder to maintain temperature and push blood through the narrowed vessels. The effort can be excessive for a heart weakened by disease or age and can lead to angina and heart attacks.

Why does my head hurt when the weather changes?

We all feel when it’s cold and we can understand that it influences the body. More mysterious is the incidence of atmospheric pressure. We are not aware of its changes and often not of its effects on the body, although they may be important.

Pressure changes are announced on weather maps by cold frontsmarked with lines of blue triangles, or warmwith lines of red semicircles.

Whether an air mass arrives with low pressure -a squall- or one with high pressure -an anticyclone-the time change significantly increases the number of childbirth, heart attacks, migraines, hemorrhages and deaths due to illness or old age.

The reason that explains the effect of pressure is that In the body there are many cavities, filled with air or liquids under different pressures. that can be altered when external conditions change.

Examples of these cavities are the heart or veins, where there are nerve endings that function as barometric sensors They help maintain optimal pressure in the blood flow.

A study carried out by the National University of Ukraine and the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich (Germany) has discovered that these sensors are disturbed when minimal changes in atmospheric pressure occur.

Another finding of that research is that messages from barometric sensors reach the hypothalamus, the brain center that controls emotions and the physiological balance of the bodywhich explains the varied effects of atmospheric pressure and the influence of individual sensitivity.

Some people act as authentic barometers that anticipate the arrival of bad or good weather by one, two or even three days.

Sensitive people immediately feel discomfort, buzzing, dizziness, vertigo and even loss of consciousness before the change in weather becomes evident for everyone else. This predictive ability is surely based on the reactions of the ear and hypothalamus to changes in pressure.

Migraines when a storm comes: the “electric” origin

Since a pioneering study was carried out in Israel in 1969, it has been known that storms are preceded by an increase in the proportion of positive ions.

This change alters the electrical functioning of the brain of sensitive people and with it increases serotonin productiona neurotransmitter related to migraine attacks.

Positive ions also increase the nervous tension and worsen the asthma.

Instead, after the storm the atmosphere is invaded by negative ions that increase the feeling of well-being and promote relaxation.

That’s why We enjoy contemplating the sea, because when the waves break million are released into the atmosphere negative ions.

Effects of wind on health

The abundance of stressful positive ions explains the effects of certain winds.

The extremely dry (less than 10% humidity), which overcome the ridges and descend the slopes, heating up and charging themselves with positive ions, cause dehydration, headache and mental disturbances. They are related to the increase in traffic accidents, assaults and suicides.

In Central Europe they receive the name of foehnand the judges have considered it a mitigation in cases of assault on more than one occasion. Similar winds are the chinooh of North America, the sirocco of Sicily or the sharev of Israel.

These fearsome air currents combine the effects of extreme dryness, high temperature, ionization, and the nervous exhaustion of enduring them for days or weeks.

As for dryness, it favors dehydration, drying of the mucous membranes (which favors respiratory infections) and asthmatic attacks.

Besides, dry and cold windswhich come from the interior of the great continental masses, trigger asthma attacks or worsen symptoms.

Impact of bad weather on the lungs

It is logical to think that the respiratory system is one of the most affected by weather changes, since it is the protagonist of air exchange. And so it is.

Along with the days of higher environmental pollution, the symptoms that affect the respiratory system are exacerbated when a sudden drop in temperaturewith strong, dry winds and rapid increases in pressure atmospheric.

Sudden drops in temperature cause bronchial spasms that restrict the passage of air through the airways. Strong winds increase the concentration in the air of all kinds of particles that can irritate them. For asthmatics, hot winds are fearsome that drag dust.

Similar weather conditions are also conducive to allergic reactions, especially during spring. The first hours of the day are the worst for allergy sufferersbecause that’s when plants release most of the pollen.

On the other hand, rainy days are better because the water washes away the pollen, but the relief is momentary, because when the weather improves the discomfort returns with more force since the production of spores, which are added to the pollen, is maximum about two hours after the shower.

Excess moisture in the body

Moisture and rain have a direct effect on the skin, which expands slightly when the vapor concentration increases…