Yesterday, I was lost in a weather-induced coma.
The rain, the colder temperature: I welcome with an open umbrella to our valley. But the effect on my mood I do not.
At about 2 p.m. yesterday, while sipping my fresh Rock Star energy drink, I found attentiveness was just about impossible. Looking up, I discover my coworker, head slung deep in her hands and her hazed eyes reflecting the clouds outside. “I’m having a really hard time concentrating here.”
It was a mutual response from all of us.
Let me state here for a moment that I love this weather. I love how crisp the mornings are and general feeling of fall. When the fall storm clouds roll in, refreshing the earth and doing the watering I have neglected to do all summer, and I hear the furnace kick on for the first time – a kind of “pop” and “whoosh” that sends happy shivers through my spine – my reaction is simple: All I want to do is curl up on the couch, with hot cocoa, soup and a really bad movie.
I do have a bit of science on my side. According to a BBC article, researchers in the Ukraine have found that fluctuating atmospheric pressure can influence mental activity. And the University of Michigan did some extensive research on weather and mental health in 2004. But their findings are of a kind of “well duh” variety – when it’s sunny and nice, we feel good and when it’s cold and stormy we feel melancholy and lethargic.
In the end, fall is officially here and I welcome the changing weather. Yesterday was a bit of a reminder that the winter here can seem interminable and a bit depressing. As long as I also keep in mind the sun soaked snow, the clear nights with full moons casting blue hues on fresh powder and those brief moments when I can curl up on the couch with a good book or some bad TV – I think I’ll make it.
And who knows, maybe I can call in sick from work due to an atmospheric pressure induced gloom.