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Friday, March 4, 2011

Weather Got you down?

The present study examines the effects of weather on daily mood. The studies says that it can be positive and negative, also that it can cause tiredness. Data was gathered from an online diary, linked to weather station data, and analyzed by means of multilevel analysis. The results revealed  main effects of temperature, wind power, and sunlight on negative effects. Sunlight had a main effect on tiredness and mediated the effects of precipitation and air pressure on tiredness. In terms of explained variance, however, the average effect of weather on mood was small. Weather does appear to impact our moods, and that effect may become serious, there is no further evidence of this than the real condition called SAD Seasonal Affective Disorder is characterized by feelings of sadness and depression that occur in the winter months when the temperatures drop and the days grow short. So what Denissen's study really shows is that more research is needed to better determine the strength of the link, and whether it affects people in different geographical regions. Nearly 40 years of research suggests there's a strong link and on that, in some people, can lead to significant seasonal problems.
References:
Denissen, J.J.A.; Butalid, Ligaya; Penke, Lars; van Aken, Marcel A. G. (2008). The effects of weather on daily mood: A multilevel approach. Emotion, 8(5), 662-667.

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