Question from Viewer:
Hello, I have been suffering from chronic GAD, panic attacks and crippling depression for nearly 5 years. It’s been so bad that it led me to severe alcohol abuse for 4 years. I am now sober. I know some past traumatic events may have contributed to my condition however, I have noticed that I get seemingly worse when there are extreme changes in the weather. Are there any proven theories that weather or barometric pressure can contribute to worsening anxiety?
Answer from Dr. Carlo:
Interesting question. There is some correlation between weather changes and mood and anxiety, but there are too few studies to answer this question convincingly. From this highly cited study, rising barometric pressure was associated with increased concentration, decreased sleepiness, and increased feeling of control. So rising barometric pressure is associated with improved concentration, alertness, and confidence. There was no correlation between barometric pressure and anxiety.
With regards to other weather variables, anxiety increased when it was raining or snowing, but anxiety decreased when sunshine hours increased and the temperature increased. Concentration decreased with increased humidity. Sleepiness increased with rising temperature and humidity, but sleepiness declined with increasing barometric pressure. Aggression increased with decreasing temperature. Scepticism decreased with increased hours of sunshine and higher temperatures. And optimism increased with increasing hours of sunshine.
Answer from Another Viewer:
Hi, how you feeling? I moved to Ireland in 2005 and I never had issues with anxiety or depression before. In 2017, I started to get panic attacks and then I got strong anxiety. I notice whenever we have heavy cloudy sky or rain my anxiety is strong , and I literally feel like something heavy is sitting on me, and I get low mood. As soon as the clouds lift and the sun gets through, I am fine, like nothing happened. But I experience this only here in Ireland. And I also think it’s related to the pressure.
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Is there a comment section or discussion about this? I have had extreme anxiety for over two decades now. I have anxiety and panic attacks so often and so severe that I am on disability because of it. So I have made every attempt to discover the sources of my anxiety, whether it be I past trauma, an emotional struggle I’m dealing with, my diet, the social environment and friends I keep in my life, a physiological imbalance in my body, or any specific changes in my environment. I have thankfully been successful over time figuring out quite a bit of this stuff, but one of the things I have racked my brain trying to get to the bottom of has been when all other aspects are in check on my anxiety checklist yet I still get unrelenting anxiety. It seems to happen almost always when there is a significant temperature change or pretty much always when it’s raining or snowing. However thinking this way made me feel like maybe I was a bit crazy (I mean being allergic to the weather haha LOL), but isn’t that what anxiety does it makes you crazy 😉 LOL. I have been convinced that is has something to do with temperature changing or the barometric pressure now for several weeks and have been searching online desperately seeking anybody else discussing this. And here I find this post. Today it is snowing, the temperature rose over a few hours today, and my anxiety is through the roof, I have not been able to cope with anything today.
Could we have a discussion about this? Is there anybody else out there noticing these same problems with panic attacks and anxiety during times when the barometric pressure or the weather changes?
Thanks for sharing…hopefully, others will share their experiences with barometric pressure and anxiety.
I too get very bad symptoms when rain comes all over including stomach issues head ,neck , joint pain and severe anxiety I know it is weather related because usually one day after rains gone I feel ok
Thanks for sharing.
I always notice a huge change in my mood and especially my anxiety when the weather changes. Up here in Canada we get extreme shifts where it can literally go from cold and snowy to plus 25 or 30 in a couple weeks (or less!). I notice that my panic attacks and anxiety come on strong for about a week or so around the changing of the seasons and then I get back on track. This last one was really bad. My short term memory was completely gone and I was confused and disoriented to varying degrees for many days. Just remember it can and WILL get better. No matter how bad it gets for me I always find my way back. Sending love and happiness to everyone ❤
Thanks for sharing. Try these relaxation techniques to help you through these tough times: https://anxietyboss.com/anxiety-treatments/relaxation-strategies/
I also have increased anxiety when the weather is cloudy/ rainy. It is bad with electrical storms as well. I just wanted to comment to let everyone know you are not alone.
Thanks for sharing Bradley.
I noticed that anytime it’s rainy, snowy, windy or overcast I want to jump out of my skin. An overwhelming amount of anxiety kicks in. It also tends to make me dizzy during these times. I’ve been trying to find info online but there isn’t much regarding this phenomenon. It’s not fear OF the weather. It’s merely a kind of panicky antsy feeling that kicks in. If anyone can relate, please do. I’ve actually had to call of work many times in Fall and Winter/early Spring due to this. It’s awful! It kind of feels like when you’ve been prescribed a steroid to knock out an infection. If it helps, I already am prone to panic and have Type 1 Bipolar.
Thanks for sharing- there are more and more people sharing these types of experiences of anxiety associated with weather changes.
I heard from a few people that they feel the barometer pressure affects them or others around them significantly. I, myself, have never noticed it affecting me, but I do suffer from SAD during the winter. Perhaps we don’t know enough yet to determine whether or not barometer pressure affects mood. For now, I’m certainly not going to discount others feelings that it does affect them.
Thanks for sharing Lisa.
Since I’m reading this, I too wonder if barometric pressure changes can cause anxiety. Today I feel tachy and anxious. For no obvious reason. This irritates me that I can’t explain it away. But there’s a tropical storm brewing off our coast and the pressure is dropping. It’s seeming familiar. Maybe a little PTSD associated with past hurricanes? In the middle of a pandemic? I just don’t know. But thanks for listening. Stay strong.
Thanks for sharing Sue. I hope you can get help to figure it out.
Hello, I Have recently been struggling with anxiety, and I have found that during storms and low barometric pressure it gets really bad for me. Right now Hurricane Cristobel is passing near me and the barometric pressure has dropped. This correlated with some extreme anxiety over the past day, nightmares, racing heart, etc.
I really wish they would do a study on this, as I seem to be in good control of my anxiety in good weather, but storms, even if I’m inside and cannot see/hear it, still affect me greatly and fortunately since I’ve identified it, its helped to keep me calmer till the low pressure passes.
Thanks for sharing. Being able to identify your triggers will help you to manage your anxiety.
Hello, I’ve been struggling with anxiety for 3 years and can hardly go outside anymore. When it rains I feel heavy, tired and anxious. When it’s hot outside I feel the same but what’s awkward is I feel quite awake when there are thunderstorms. There is going to be two hurricanes hitting my area and I’m afraid they will make me too tired and heavy if I need to evacuate or hide somewhere.
Unfortunately, you can’t control the weather, so these weather triggers will always cause anxiety. What you can do is to calm your overall level of anxiety, so that you can deal with these weather triggers better:
https://anxietyboss.com/anxiety-treatments/relaxation-strategies/
https://www.kalmpro.com/
Hi
I am based in the UK and have also experienced this, I’ve noticed it a lot more this year and now check barometric pressure if I feel anxious, antsy and pent up (exactly what another poster said). I’ve been finding this particular feeling is always connected to stormy periods – either in low pressure periods before a storm, or high pressure (1025mb upwards) I get dizziness with it too.
I live on the south coast of England which is quite stable but am currently back in Wales where I grew up and finding it’s really hitting me here – another poster mentioned Ireland so perhaps it’s very similar weather here. I had bad anxiety as a teenager living here and am now wondering if pressure was a factor.
I find checking the pressure and finding it is unusually high or low actually really reassures me when I’m feeling like this – that I’m not going mad and there is likely a physical underpinning and wait for it to pass, it helps me downplay the anxiety. Maybe it would help others too to keep notes of symptoms and correlating air pressure so they can see a pattern emerging and know it will pass. Definitely agree a lot more work needs to be done in researching this area. I work in the field of psychology and have spoken to psychiatrists who have also observed this phenomenon but admit more work needs to be done to investigate it.
Sending warm wishes to anybody experiencing this, it is not in your head! Hopefully we can find ways to self soothe and literally ‘weather the storm’ when this happens and know it will pass! Take care, Alex