Mwalimu-G
Elder Lister
A day so gloomy we have to have lights on inside at nine.
Here comes the sun: how the weather affects our mood
October 22, 2013 9.44pm SAST
Author
Sunlight has repeatedly been found to boost positive moods, though the link is weaker than many people imagine. Image from shutterstock.com
The weather supplies many metaphors for our changeable minds. Moods can brighten and darken, dispositions can be sunny, futures can be under a cloud and relationships can be stormy. Like the weather, our emotions sometimes seem like fickle forces of nature: unstable, enveloping and uncontrollable.
Weather provides a vivid language for describing our emotional atmosphere, but does it also influence it? Do grey days bring grey moods? When the mercury rises, does our blood boil?
Of the many aspects of weather, sunshine is the most intimately tied to mood. Although the link is weaker than many people imagine, sunlight has repeatedly been found to boost positive moods, dampen negative moods and diminish tiredness.
Anything that alters our moods can affect our behaviour. Happy people are more favourably disposed to one another, and accordingly people are more helpful when the sun is out. One study found that Minnesotan diners tipped more generously on sunny days. Investors may benefit in the same way as waitresses; American studies have observed better daily stock returns in sunny weather.
theconversation.com
Here comes the sun: how the weather affects our mood
October 22, 2013 9.44pm SAST
Author
Nick Haslam
Professor of Psychology, The University of Melbourne
Sunlight has repeatedly been found to boost positive moods, though the link is weaker than many people imagine. Image from shutterstock.com
The weather supplies many metaphors for our changeable minds. Moods can brighten and darken, dispositions can be sunny, futures can be under a cloud and relationships can be stormy. Like the weather, our emotions sometimes seem like fickle forces of nature: unstable, enveloping and uncontrollable.
Weather provides a vivid language for describing our emotional atmosphere, but does it also influence it? Do grey days bring grey moods? When the mercury rises, does our blood boil?
Of the many aspects of weather, sunshine is the most intimately tied to mood. Although the link is weaker than many people imagine, sunlight has repeatedly been found to boost positive moods, dampen negative moods and diminish tiredness.
Anything that alters our moods can affect our behaviour. Happy people are more favourably disposed to one another, and accordingly people are more helpful when the sun is out. One study found that Minnesotan diners tipped more generously on sunny days. Investors may benefit in the same way as waitresses; American studies have observed better daily stock returns in sunny weather.
Here comes the sun: how the weather affects our mood
The weather supplies many metaphors for our changeable minds. Moods can brighten and darken, dispositions can be sunny, futures can be under a cloud and relationships can be stormy. Like the weather, our…
theconversation.com
