Why are my emotions so affected by the weather?

Weather can play a significant role in mood shifts, especially with abrupt temperature changes. For many, warmer weather brings an uplifted spirit, more energy, and motivation to socialize or exercise outdoors. Conversely, colder or gloomy days can make us feel sluggish, even a bit down. The science behind this lies in how our bodies respond to temperature. When temperatures rise, our body releases endorphins, the feel-good hormones, which can improve mood. In colder, darker months, this hormonal release is reduced, impacting our overall sense of well-being. With shorter daylight hours, our body’s circadian rhythm—a natural internal clock—becomes disrupted. This disruption can lead to lower energy levels, mood changes, and difficulty concentrating. The shorter, darker days can also impact melatonin production, which is essential for regulating mood and sleep.

We expected that there may be a reasonably strong relationship between actual weather conditions and whether or not people reported it being hot or cold, comfortable or uncomfortable. If we looked at the relationship across all of the people in the study, our results showed a pretty weak relationship between the actual weather and perceptions of temperature or comfort. Even on days when it was over 90 degrees F, some people were perfectly comfortable, and on days when it was 73 degrees F and sunny, some people were uncomfortable and found it too cold. More importantly, we did see a relationship between temperature discomfort and negative emotions—if people reported feeling uncomfortably hot, they felt more tired, distressed, and generally unhappy. However, we only see this relationship if people said that the heat made them uncomfortable—which means on a 95-degree day, plenty of people said it was very hot but they weren’t uncomfortable, and therefore, the scorching heat didn’t seem to harm them. What is more important and more surprising to note is that these individual differences in comfort and perceived temperature are much larger and more important than the actual weather conditions themselves. There’s a lot of evidence that physiology plays a role—depending on body composition, age, physical fitness, hormones, etc., you may thermoregulate better or run hotter/colder. Preliminary results from my lab and other research have identified that trait neuroticism may amplify the relationship between temperature discomfort and negative emotions.

Grey rainy days can pull most people’s moods down, especially if it’s day after day. One theory is due to the increase in social isolation and inactivity that this causes, whilst cloud-filled skies obscure the sun meaning less daylight exposure and gaining less of the ‘feel-good’ hormone serotonin which we require to regulate our moods and lower stress. Yet research has shown that rainfall can improve our moods too. This unique earthy aroma is called petrichor - caused thanks to bacteria in the soil releasing the fragrance resulting from a chemical reaction between the water and organic compounds built up in the ground. This smell has been linked to fostering positive emotions and giving a sense of calm, possibly because there is an evolutionary link within us that our ancestors relied upon this scent for survival. Physical benefits of getting outside in the sun includes gaining a vital source of the ‘sunshine’ vitamin D that is key in strong bone health, a reduction in skin complaints and auto-immune diseases due to UV exposure, possible prevention to some cancers, rise in weight loss due to increased inclination for physical activities and increased metabolism, and an increase in serotonin production meaning a boost to our overall mood and focus. Everybody is different and we will all have our preferred temperature, however, research has found that there is a commonality in our relationship with temperature and mood - either extreme is correlated to negative moods, and if continually exposed will have potential health impacts too. Perhaps less obvious is the pressure changes in the atmosphere, which some people are more sensitive to than others - for example, some migraines can be triggered by excessive pressure changes or an increased sensitivity to pain has also been linked to a high atmospheric pressure. Headaches, fatigue and poor sleep have all been attributed to low barometric pressure.

The weather can have a direct impact on both health and wellbeing. If you’re in a good mood, the chances are the bad weather won’t bring you down too much and you’ll carry on with your day. However, a bad mood can be worsened by cold and dreary weather, negatively impacting the level of your mental health. Limited sunlight during waking hours can lead to lower levels of serotonin being produced in the human body, the happy hormone. Lower levels of serotonin can leave the brain feeling chemically unbalanced which can, in turn, negatively impact mental health during the cold and dark months. Cold temperatures can also lead to physical lethargy, reducing the rate of sensory feedback, dexterity, muscle strength, blood flow and also balance. In contrast, exposing your skin to direct sunlight increases the amount of Vitamin D your body produces, Vitamin D is known to increase the brain’s production of serotonin which naturally helps lift the mood. Cold and dark days can lead to lower levels of serotonin in the body – which is the natural feel-good factor.