Emotional Impacts of Stormy Weather

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slowtraveler
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Emotional Impacts of Stormy Weather

Post by slowtraveler »

I notice I feel more gloom during storms.

Hiking and biking happen less often for me and those are my main forms of exercise-I've only gone hiking once in the past 2 weeks. I've heard of seasonal affective disorder affecting more people in northern climates and this seems to result from less sunlight to some degree. So less exercise coupled with less sunlight seems like it could lead to less warm emotions.

Does anyone else experience this?

Farm_or
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Re: Emotional Impacts of Stormy Weather

Post by Farm_or »

Definitely try vitamin d first.

When I first experienced SAD, I thought it was just a let down from the end of a great cycling season. I tried light therapy, spin class, gym membership, cross country skiing, st John's wort. Nothing really worked. Just endured the heavy black cloud compression.

Years later, discovered it was cheap and simple vitamin d. It doesn't work automatic. You need it at least a day ahead. Now, when the days get short and the sun is behind clouds, I just take a supplement. No more suffering if I stay ahead of it!

vexed87
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Re: Emotional Impacts of Stormy Weather

Post by vexed87 »

Vitamin D is fat soluble so it is stored within our body fat reserves. Assuming you are consuming enough and/or producing enough during exposure to sunlight in the summer months, you should have sufficient stores to last through the winter. A typical diet plus two weeks of summer sun should be sufficient to replenish stores for a year, except if you continually sit in the shade wrapped in sub blocking clothing!

You can overdose on vitamin D if consumed rather than produced by sun exposure, so be mindful of supplements. It's always less toxic to get vitamins from your diet in a complex matrix rather than in refined tablet form so add mushrooms, and fortified foods like soya milk, cereals, breads or tofu, if you eat animal produce, fish and cheeses are also good sources.

Can't say I have suffered with this, personally, but continue to get outdoors in the day time, and keep up the exercise to improve your mood. Don't let inclement weather keep you from enjoying the great outdoors, if you are prepared with the right clothing nothing can stop you :)

Chad
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Re: Emotional Impacts of Stormy Weather

Post by Chad »

If you are supplementing with vitamin D make sure it's vitamin D3 and you also supplement it with vitamin K-2 (MK7). Without K-2 your body doesn't use vitamin D as well. Neither is very expensive.

Good primer on vitamin D.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc815fQn8iY

I don't see why getting it in fortified foods is better than supplementation, as fortified foods are just foods with supplements added in. These foods are fortified because many of them are just empty calories (cereal). Plus, you don't get to choose the quality and the details of the supplement unless you do it yourself.

Also, most foods, other than certain fish, don't have high natural quantities of vitamin D.

Farm_or
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Re: Emotional Impacts of Stormy Weather

Post by Farm_or »

Over the years, I have met at least two other people prone to vitamin d deficiency. Both were over forty. It is not uncommon, but I fear many are victims of pharmaceutical industry because the simple knowledge of vitamin d is not common.

400 mg is the usda recommended daily allowance. Case in point, many dairy products are fortified. It's a sad fact that most of our diet is made of processed ingredients that strips all the vitamins and minerals. Then we have to hope they a fortified back sufficiently.

EMJ
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Re: Emotional Impacts of Stormy Weather

Post by EMJ »

Skin darker than pasty white?
and/or
Live in northern regions?

You may need Vit D.

Riggerjack
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Re: Emotional Impacts of Stormy Weather

Post by Riggerjack »

Hmm. I am the opposite. I love stormy weather! But being in the Puget Sound, we just get overcast and rain. I live in the land of drizzle and fog.

I've never had SAD problems, but the folks here who have seem to find light therapy helpful. With the LEDs available today, this seems a simple and cheap solution. Just be aware of the enormous difference between typical indoor lighting and daylight levels of light.

ducknalddon
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Re: Emotional Impacts of Stormy Weather

Post by ducknalddon »

EMJ wrote:Skin darker than pasty white?
and/or
Live in northern regions?

You may need Vit D.
There is some quite strong evidence that type-1 diabetes is linked to lack of vitamin D.

Farm_or
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Re: Emotional Impacts of Stormy Weather

Post by Farm_or »

EMJ wrote:Skin darker than pasty white?
and/or
Live in northern regions?

You may need Vit D.
I never thought of it, but now you mention it, I am and my two friends are all dark complexion. Could have something there?

enigmaT120
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Re: Emotional Impacts of Stormy Weather

Post by enigmaT120 »

Farm_or wrote:
EMJ wrote:Skin darker than pasty white?
and/or
Live in northern regions?

You may need Vit D.
I never thought of it, but now you mention it, I am and my two friends are all dark complexion. Could have something there?
I'm white and I take it. Working inside all day means I never get out in the sun (OK, you get more of that in the winter than I do!) even when it's not raining. An article in Scientific American got me started on that several years ago.

When I was working in Eastern WA (Connell) back around 1990 I used to like working nights so that I could go around in the daylight for several hours before I had to go to bed. Not much out there but pretty skies and no claustrophobia at all.

halfmoon
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Re: Emotional Impacts of Stormy Weather

Post by halfmoon »

Riggerjack wrote:Hmm. I am the opposite. I love stormy weather! But being in the Puget Sound, we just get overcast and rain. I live in the land of drizzle and fog.
Yep, this is me. I joke about the rain and the mold, but I actually love the climate. I do miss exciting thunderstorms, but the rain and mist are soothing and beautiful in their own way. They also say to me: it's okay to stay inside and work on the computer.

The sun is so judging. ;)

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Ego
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Re: Emotional Impacts of Stormy Weather

Post by Ego »

Evidence suggests that Vitamin D deficiency is the consequence NOT the cause.....

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 12708/full

The field of vitamin D research is now in a period of evidence-based deflation.....

People with depression (or any chronic disorders) have an increased risk of vitamin D deficiency because of changes in their behaviour (e.g. less outdoor exposure to bright sunshine). There is no debate that mental and physical disorder can increase the risk of subsequent vitamin D deficiency – vitamin D deficiency is a consequence of the disorder, not the cause of the disorder. These individuals often need vitamin D supplements to optimize bone health, but we do not expect that this treatment will cure their preceding mental disorder.

Randomized controlled trials provide the most robust evidence when it comes to whittling back hypotheses, and we can expect that several large trials currently underway will help us reject many vitamin D-related hypotheses. This is how science is supposed to work. Researchers should never fall in love with their hypotheses – most are wrong and need revision. With respect to the hypothesis that vitamin D deficiency is a causal risk factor for depression, the current evidence does not support this hypothesis.

enigmaT120
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Re: Emotional Impacts of Stormy Weather

Post by enigmaT120 »

"People with depression (or any chronic disorders) have an increased risk of vitamin D deficiency because of changes in their behaviour (e.g. less outdoor exposure to bright sunshine)"

Mix up cause and effect. The lack of any available outdoor bright sunshine for 9 months can cause depression. At least I got outside over the weekend but it was too cold to strip and sunbathe. The article is saying people who are depressed don't go outside. Trust me, it would be more depressing to go outside and sunbath in the rain. Until hypothermia got you all warm and comfy. Then your depression would go away too.

vexed87
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Re: Emotional Impacts of Stormy Weather

Post by vexed87 »

@enigma, you are assuming that rain and overcast skies means you can have no fun outdoors, well, I wager it's not true for most. Some of the most thrilling rides I have had while out on my bike where during torrential downpours/thunder storms. Although, it would probably get old fast if it happened every day and I had no clothes to change into after a trip outdoors, pretty much any weather can be mitigated and doesn't need to impact your mood, but if you only get your kicks from sun bathing, you're stuffed! :lol:

Farm_or
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Re: Emotional Impacts of Stormy Weather

Post by Farm_or »

It doesn't happen very often in the semi arid desert, but I like biking through a storm also.

The most memorable storm sent me scrambling into a calf shed off the highway about 100 ft. I'd never been in anything like it. The rain was going sideways, lightening flashing! I had to wedge myself into a corner of the shed with a black widow spider to escape the torrent.

It passed quickly though and I pedaled the twelve miles home staying dry. I turned on the tube as I started getting ready to go to work and they reported a tornado touching down right where I had been. That would explain it!

IlliniDave
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Re: Emotional Impacts of Stormy Weather

Post by IlliniDave »

Stormy weather makes me feel more alive. Long periods of cloudy, maybe a little drizzly, (not enough to call stormy) weather gives me a feeling of contentedness and a surge in imagination. It is endless days of searing sun and oppressive heat that deflate me. Yes, I'm weird. Also the periods around sunrise and sunset are the peak times of day for me. Guess that makes me a crepuscular fellow in addition to weird.

When I was doing a lot of weight lifting I would take Vitamin D supplements occasionally (along with magnesium). I didn't notice any mood or weather preference changes. But I did have very vivid dreams.

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Ego
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Re: Emotional Impacts of Stormy Weather

Post by Ego »

enigmaT120 wrote:The lack of any available outdoor bright sunshine for 9 months can cause depression.
That may be so. I believe light therapy has been shown to be effective in treating depression. Taking Vitamin D has not.

enigmaT120
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Re: Emotional Impacts of Stormy Weather

Post by enigmaT120 »

vexed87 wrote:@enigma, you are assuming that rain and overcast skies means you can have no fun outdoors, well, I wager it's not true for most. Some of the most thrilling rides I have had while out on my bike where during torrential downpours/thunder storms. Although, it would probably get old fast if it happened every day and I had no clothes to change into after a trip outdoors, pretty much any weather can be mitigated and doesn't need to impact your mood, but if you only get your kicks from sun bathing, you're stuffed! :lol:
Oh yeah, you can do stuff. But you can't make vitamin D. I just get tired of the advice that you don't need additional vitamin D if you would just get outside in the sun.

Eastern Oregon storms are awesome. My folks moved me over here when I was 8 but it still feels like home to me when I cross the pass.

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