Reflection

For my final blog post I decided for it to be a reflection post, to look back on all my posts and react to comments. I thought this would be a good way to wrap everything together.

On my very first post I mentioned some ideas that I was worried about. I said that I was worried that people would disagree with what I was trying to say. I realized that this was not the case at all. On all of my posts I got encouraging positive feedback that said they could all relate to what I was saying. The fact that everyone was agreeing with me gave me confidence to keep going.

Lauren responded to my interview post and brought up the question if it was bad weather when I interviewed my mom. When I think about it, I asked her the questions when it was late at night, so it was dark outside. This goes hand and hand with my research! The theory that we get our energy from the sun would make complete sense in this case. It is funny how I did not even put these two together and Lauren did!

Catherine brought up the point that sometimes the weather doesn't affect our mood like we think it will. For example sometimes when it is raining I have this burning desire to go jump in the mud puddles and dance in the rain. Naturally we would think that this wouldn't happen because since it’s raining outside we might be all sad and depressed. My response to this is because it is probably still sunny outside. The sun is the main factor of almost any weather related mood. Therefore, since the sun is out we are still able to receive its Vitamin D. Now I do not believe this is always true because I believe that we are somewhat in control of our own moods and how we feel. But I also believe that the sun plays a HUGE role in what our moods are. Be observant, next time you are feeling down or depressed look outside! It might just be because the sun isn’t out!

Coming to conclusion I think that I should have done my topic on some idea that would have interested me more. I say this because I always put off writing each one of these blog posts because I just did not want to do it. I always found myself shopping online or on Pinterest instead of blogging. This makes me think I should have picked a topic on fashion or why so many girls like me are obsessed with Pinterest. I’m not sure why I picked my topic on the weather because I'm not extremely fascinated by the weather. Although, I did learn some interesting facts that made total sense with my daily actions. 

Interview Questions

do you feel more energy when you go running in the morning?
   - yes
why?
   - I'm not as tired and I'm more fresh
what if its dark outside?
   -i dont like to run in the dark
how do you feel when it is dreary outside when you are out running errands?
   -its just blah and sunshine makes me happy.
do you find that the weather can affect your actions?
   -i am more observant when the sun is brighter. i observe peoples yards more that i would when it is dreary outside.

The Interview

           As mom and I were making cookies I told her that I needed to interview her for my blog. Her immediate response was “ugh are you kidding me?!” This being her reaction, I had a feeling that the interview was not going to be much of a success. The reason I chose my mom is because she always outside, whether it is running, gardening or out running errands. I was a little surprised by some of the answers I got from my mom.

I started with some basic questions like how do you think the weather affects you? I only got a very broad answer so I realized I was going to have to be much more specific. I asked her if she prefers going running early in the morning or later in the afternoon. She answered in the morning because she feels fresh and she isn’t as tired. I was expecting later in the afternoon because it would be brighter therefore I thought she would have more energy then. In her perspective she related her energy to how much she has done in the day, not necessarily to the weather. I asked her what if it’s dark? My mother quickly responded and said “I do not like to run in the dark. I choose not to go outside when it’s not pretty.” At this point I’m thinking well okay my mother is not helping me one bit. I continue to pry more information out of her and ask her about the weather when she is out and about running errands. I specifically asked her how she felt when she was driving around when it is dark and gloomy outside. She said that it makes her down and dreary. I followed up and asked her why she maybe thought this was so. “It’s just blah and sunshine makes me happy”, was her response. After I gave her this look of mooommmmmm, she finally dug deep. She went on to say how she is more observant when it’s brighter outside. She observes peoples yards like what type of flowers they have in their gardens or the color of their house. But when it’s dreary weather and rainy, she is just thinking about getting her errands over with so she can go home and relax.

          I wouldn't exactly say this interview was a complete success. I don’t think that I view my topic differently or have any new epiphanies. I did not tell my mom what I knew about this topic because I did not want her to tell me what I already knew. Even though this theory was a little bit of a failure she did reinforce my views. I completely agree with what my mom was saying about how she is less observant when the weather is dreary. This goes perfectly with my research. When it is dreary weather and rain it is dark outside therefore we do not receive the suns energy.  If I could go back and re-do this interview I would make it more formal so my mom would feel like she has to give me stupendous answers instead of being so broad. In conclusion this reinforced my views on how the weather plays a big role in our daily lives and the decisions we make. I also learned that my mom is not a good person to interview if I need some specific information. 

Reseach

     Research was my next step in writing this blog. As I did some research I was very surprised to find out that studies show that the weather actually has very little to do with your daily mood. I thought to myself well okay there goes my whole blog, what am I going to do now? I went on looking at some more websites and found that the amount of sunlight and temperature do effect your mood. I found some interesting information that explains a lot about why my mood changes when it does.

     One research that I found showed that there was a great connection between sunlight and tiredness. In his study, Denissen found that the less sunlight people were exposed to, the more they showed signs of depression-like symptoms. One example of what Denissen learned is that as the days get shorter, some people may start to experience the feeling of fatigue during the day. Another example that I can certainly relate to is having trouble waking up when it is still dark outside. Naturally our bodies think it is night time still, so our brain tells us to go back to sleep. This goes along with the next point that I learned.

     I learned that when we are not exposed to the sun, then we may start to have depression like symptoms. This is true scientifically because the amount of sunlight people are exposed to can have a tremendous impact on mood because it affects the amount of vitamin D people absorb. Denissen found that, “Vitamin D, which is produced in skin exposed to the hormone of sunlight, has been found the change serotonin levels in the brain, which could account for changes in mood.” So what is serotonin? Serotonin is a hormone that plays a huge role in mood regulation. Depression-like symptoms correspond with low levels of serotonin. The less you are exposed to the sun, the lower your serotonin and Vitamin D levels will be. In conclusion Denissen realized that “Lower levels of Vitamin D could be responsible for increases in negative affect and tiredness”. This makes sense because when most people think of bright sunny day they think happy. An example of when we would not be exposed to the sunlight would be a stormy, yucky day and on stormy days we are usually tired and have depression-like symptoms.

     Because some people are more sensitive to weather changes than others, they will have a different reaction. Someone who is prone to a low mood on dark cold days are likely to experience a winter full of depression when there’s a extended sequence of like-weather days. This behavior is called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). One researcher described this disorder well, “At the extreme along the continuum of seasonality is full-blown winter seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a syndrome involving recurrent depressive episodes during the fall and winter months with periods of remission in the spring and summer”.  The symptoms of SAD are more common in women and are common at higher altitudes. Doctors will tell patients who have SAD that they have the decision to decide what feelings they have and that they can always turn them into positive thoughts.

     This comes to my conclusion that the weather does affect your mood, just more scientifically than we think.

Sources: http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/fall-weather-brings-risk-of-de/18331198
http://healthyliving.msn.com/diseases/depression/does-weather-really-affect-our-mood-1

Why did i choose this topic?

     Ever wonder why you’re grumpy for no reason? Why you are so sleepy when you even got 9 hours of sleep? It is most likely the weather. The weather has all kinds of effects on your attitude. For example when it is raining you get sleepy and all you want to do is cuddle up and read a good book. Even if we don’t realize it, the weather plays a big impact in our lives; ranging from what we do to how we feel.

     How did I choose this topic? The weather changing right now is what inspired me to choose this topic. As I was driving to school the other day I noticed how dark and gloomy the sky looked. The air was also crisp and chilly. This weather didn't make me sad or depressed, it just made me want to cuddle up and get warm. Another day it was pouring rain outside. I obviously didn't want to be outside because it was wet and cold, but I was driving around in it and I really wanted some Starbucks. Because there was not a drive through and I didn't want to get in and out of the car and get soaking wet, I did not get any Starbucks. Once I got home I did make some hot chocolate myself. I finally felt relaxed when I was sitting down and that warm chocolate touched my lips.  This weather outside affected what I did. Normally I would have just gone to Starbucks, but since it was raining outside I didn't.

     For this assignment I am worried that I will not have enough to write about or that people will disagree with what I am trying to say. But I am planning on doing some research and even taking a few polls about how others think that weather affects their lives. I have already done some research and found some interesting examples. Recently, there was a group of European researchers who studied the affect of six different weather factors: temperature, wind, sunlight, precipitation, air pressure, and length of day. They figured out that cool, windy and darker days had a slight negative effect on mood. Because there was a broad range of people’s response they came to the conclusion that “people differ in their sensitivity to daily weather changes.”  

    What I am really excited about is taking a poll and seeing how my class mates react differently to the changes of the weather. This will be interesting to see if everyone is the same or not. I am really excited to get started and see what my finished product will look like!