IT’S typical wintry British weather – one day you’re basking in crisp, frosty sunshine, the next you’re fighting through sleet and hail.
But the weather can affect more than just your mood – or your wardrobe – according to data showing 72 percent of us suffer some degree of joint discomfort because of the weather.
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Sadly it doesn’t stop with your joints and can trigger everything from migraines and asthma to even heart attacks.
Keep an eye on these forecasts to keep in good health…
The forecast: High winds
Weather worries: Stress and Migraines
When it’s blowing a gale outside, the body can react as if it is under attack and produce so-called fight or flight reflexes, such as raised heart rate and heightened emotions.
A migraine can be triggered by windy conditions.
One reason is the effect on the hypothalamus, the area of the brain that monitors the body’s functions; it can lead to constriction or swelling of the blood vessels in the head which can cause the pain associated with migraine.
Canadian scientists at the University of Calgary looked at the link between migraine sufferers who experience an attack and Canadians who are affected by it. ‘Chinook’wind – Warm, westerly winds, Alberta, Canada. These winds are a sign of severe weather changes and have a specific onset time.
Studying 75 patients, 32 of them were more likely than others to experience migraines when there was Chinook weather.
The forecast is for torrential rain
Weather concerns: Weight gain, E.coli, and sore joints
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Aberdeen University researchers found that it was more difficult for dieters to lose weight when the weather is bad.
The researchers found that overweight people had lower levels vitamin D, which is produced when the body is exposed sunlight.
Vitamin D levels in blood can influence the function of the hormone leptin which tells the brain when it is full.
The average person with normal weight produced 10 times less vitamin D than the obese.
And crops might well welcome the rain, but those living in rural areas won’t as it raises the risk of catching E.coli.
Farmers’ slurry includes E.coli O157 bacteria from cattle muck. Heavy rainfall can cause the slurry to flow into streams and form puddles.
War vets and anyone carrying significant scars won’t be relishing the rain either.
Normal tissue may expand or contract if pressure is outside.
But because scar tissue isn’t elastic, but rather dense and rigid, it’s unable to adapt to the change in pressure, resulting in a pulling sensation that may lead to an aching pain.
As the old wives say, damp weather can make osteoarthritis and joint pain worse.
This phenomenon is not supported by any evidence. However, pressure receptors (baroreceptors), in the joint sense the atmospheric pressure drop when the weather changes to wet or dry.
This causes fluid levels in the joints to fluctuate, which can trigger pain in the nerves.
Thunderstorms are forecast
Weather worries: Headaches and asthma
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Headaches are often caused by the sudden change in atmospheric pressure before thunderstorms.
Head pain is caused by the brain and nerve cells reacting differently to low pressure.
Many asthmatics also find their condition worsens if there’s a thunderstorm when pollen counts are high.
Windy weather can whip up pollen.
The storm’s electrical charge can also affect the length of time pollen remains in the lungs. This could lead to an attack.
Thunderstorms were responsible for a sixfold increase in asthma emergency admissions in Britain in June 2005.
“Thunderstorms move at tremendous speed and changes in air temperature cause cold air to sink, replacing warm air at ground level,”Shuaib Nasser, an allergy and asthma consultant at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, says:
“Unfortunately, this causes allergens such as pollen to be lifted off the ground, into the air and up to a level at which they can be inhaled into the lungs.”
The forecast: Scorchio
Your weather concern: The blues
According to the British Institute of Psychiatry (BIP), suicide rates increase in hotter weather.
Researchers examined 50,000 suicides in England and Wales for 10 years. They found a 3.8% increase of suicide rates for every 1C temperature rise above 18C.
Dr Jan Wise, consultant psychiatrist, suggests that suicides most often occur when people are drunk.
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The prediction: Brass monkeys
Weather worry: Heart attacks or strokes, colds or flu
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An estimated 20,000 people die each year in the UK as a result of strokes and heart attacks linked to a dramatic drop in temperature – it’s believed cold temperatures cause the arteries to narrow, restricting blood flow and reducing oxygen supply to the heart.
Because of the increased oxygen requirements to keep body heat warm, cold weather can also make it harder for the heart.
It could cause a heart attack in elderly people or vulnerable individuals.
German researchers also found that only five days of colder-than-average weather resulted in increased levels of two blood chemicals, which can cause inflammation of the vascular system.
Stroke is also more likely to happen, according to a report by John Moore’s University, Liverpool, because blood thickens in cold weather, increasing the risk of coronary and cerebral thrombosis.
According to research by Cardiff University’s The Common Cold Centre, we are more susceptible to colds in winter due to the slowdown in infection-fighting cells.
According to it, cold also slows down the tiny hairs that sweep away viruses in mucus.
The US National Institute of Health believes that flu viruses are more likely to be caught in cold temperatures. This is because a hard rubbery layer forms around the virus during low temperatures, providing protection and protection.
The virus can infect cells by melting the coating at higher temperatures.
The forecast: Sticky/high humidity
Weather worries: Gout and ear infections
Humidity is more prevalent in high humidity because the ear canals are more likely to become damp.
This provides the ideal environment for bacteria growth.
Otitis refers to inflammation of the skin lining your ear canals and can lead to itching or discharge. Nahdha Hospital in Oman discovered that people who live in high humidity areas were twice as likely than those who lived in low-humidity areas to develop ear wax problems.
Gout attacks are more common in high humidity days, possibly due to dehydration effects, according to a Boston University study.
The forecast: There is not a cloud in sight
Weather worries: Skin cancer and skin ageing
Although we all should be aware of the dangers associated with sitting in the sun without using UV protection, it is possible to prevent other cancers by using a burst or two of the rays.
A study by the Institute for Cancer Research in Oslo examined what happened to people diagnosed with cancer, and found that the risk of dying within three years of diagnosis with prostate, breast, colon or lung cancer, or with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, was up to 50 per cent lower for those diagnosed during summer and autumn compared with winter.
Vitamin D may be able to stop the growth and spread of cancerous cells.
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