Wednesday, October 19, 2011

3 Reasons To Loathe Rain

Rain is one of those beautiful things in nature that nourishes all the wild life, both creature and plants alike. However, rain can often be a big problem for various reasons that you may not know about. I'm not talking about obvious reasons like massive flooding and stuff like that, but the passive, everyday things that rain can do to make your life a little bit worse.

"Nobody needs you!"

3. Joint Pain

For most people, spring showers bring trees, flowers, and wildlife back to life. For others, it brings unbearable joint pain. But wait, isn't joint pain only for old people that have nothing better to do but complain all day? False! For one, I experience joint pains in my knees and fingers when the rain arrives. So rain-related joint pain isn't only restricted to Aunt Marge in the retirement home.

So how does it exactly work? Why do peoples' joints hurt before a bad storm arrives? The reason for this is actually quite simple. Inside of everybody's joints, are nerves called baroreceptors which detect the change of blood pressure inside of your body. But the thing is, these nerves can sometimes be sensitive enough to detect the change of pressure in the atmosphere when the rain is about to hit.

Wait, since everybody has these "baroreceptor" nerves, why don't we all clench our joints in pain when the rain passes by? Well, a large majority of the people who experience joint pain before a storm, usually have some form of arthritis. Due to the arthritis, some people tend to feel the change in the atmosphere more significantly because of the reduced cartilage between the body's joints. But heck, at least you can predict weather like a pro right?

When I sense danger, I spontaneously combust. What a cool power, right?


2. Rainy Day Blues

Don't we all feel a little depressed after an entire week of rain? It's like life has suddenly become a little bit more 'grey' and boring. Well don't worry, you aren't bipolar, it's simply the lack of sunlight. Hold on, sunlight? Really Norman? Really? What are you going to tell us next? Genetically modified food is good for us? Hah!

Actually, rainy days are scientifically proven, to be "depressing days". The reason for this is unrelated to your soaking wet clothes and cold weather. The actual reason is as simple as "lack of sunlight". The thing about sunlight is, it's one of the only things preventing the earth from becoming a cold, dry, barren chuck of rock, Insufficient sunlight has been one of the leading cases for seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. That's right, the abbreviation itself pretty much speaks for itself.

This mini gun sorta speaks for itself too.

Studies have shown that sunlight is directly linked to the levels of serotonin, melatonin, and vitamin D which all play a role in one's mood. Since serotonin one of the most well-known hormones that determine "well-being" and mood, it'll certainly be a shame if we removed it. The cloudy skies that often accompany rain storms, obviously block out the sunlight, therefore decreasing sunlight, therefore decreasing serotonin, melatonin and vitamin D. Along with horrible joint pains, this Friday is shaping up to be a bad day.

1. Sickness

Don't all parents tell their kids to not go outside on cold stormy days, otherwise they'll get horribly sick and bedridden? In reality, this is actually half-true. You actually do have an increased chance of becoming sick by going outside during a cold, rainy day. But why? Is the rain secretly holding deadly cold and flu viruses inside of their liquid forms? Is rain actually a large-scaled bombardment of disease?

This seagull mildly disapproves of  you. Just so you know.

The actual reason people get sick isn't because of some disease that flies into your body during a bad storm, because the disease is already inside of you. If you ask anybody in a medical profession, harmful pathogens are most likely already inside of your body. The reason you don't get 'sick' is because of your helpful neighborly immune system that fends off these minor pathogens. When you go outside during a bad storm, you suddenly become wet and cold, which weakens your immune system. After that, it's only a matter of time before those pathogens take advantage of this time slot, and make you sick.

Along with joint pain, depression, and sickness, rainy days aren't as great as they used to sound, do they?

Absolutely horrible!