Your Body on Weather: How Climate Affects Your Health

By: Annie Hauser

Published: August 27, 2013

 

 

 

 

 

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Heart attack. Each 1.8 degree Fahrenheit the temperature drops is associated with around 200 additional heart attacks, according to a study in BMJ. Higher blood pressure, an increased risk of blood clots and challenging activities like shoveling show contribute to the risk. (ThinkStock/Photos.com)

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Do your joints hurt when a storm's coming? You have the change in barometric pressure to thank — though your joints aren't the only part of your body affected by the weather.
In fact, the weather's impact on your body and the natural world is so varied, there's a whole scientific study devoted to it: biometeorology. It's a small, but diverse field of atmospheric scientists who study how — and why — the weather impacts animals, plants and humans. From changing symptoms of existing diseases, contributing to new conditions and prompting temporary physiological changes inside your body, the weather's effect on your health is far-reaching.
(MORE: How Climate Change Already Affects Your Health)
But figuring out what exactly specific weather events do to the body is an imprecise science that's still developing, particularly when it comes to pain and emotional health, Grady Dixon, Ph.D., an associate professor in the department of geosciences at Mississippi State University, said in an interview with Weather.com.
"When weather changes, it's not often just one variable that changes," he said. "Is a change in temperature that's affecting a person well-being? Or is it the change in wind or cloud cover? It's hard to figure out which change is affecting humans, and because we're largely relying on human perceptions, trying to quantify how these changes affect humans is another challenge."
As climate change continues to impact human health, Dixon said he believes this study will become more important. Dixon studies climate, weather and emotional health and suicide and said that his discipline is moving closer to a space where scientists believe they will be able to predict some human behavior based on weather patterns.
Some things, however, we know are impacted by the weather — and why. One of the biggest? Blood pressure. As changing pressure systems change your blood pressure, a host of health consequences can follow, Jennifer Vanos, an assistant professor in the department of geosciences at Texas Tech, said in an interview with Weather.com.
Above, find out what they are, plus more ways the weather affects your body.
MORE: Do You Live in the Fattest State?

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31. Delaware (tie): 26.8 percent of the population was obese in 2012, according to the CDC. (Jupiterimages)

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