5 scientific reasons to embrace a rainy day

Feeling blue during July showers? Please don’t! Monsoon can be a nightmare for our streets anf power outages but certainly not for your well-being. As compiled by Reader’s Digest magazine and the Telegraph, discover surprising ways rainy days actually benefit your mood, productivity, and relationships.

You’re more productive at work

Need to meet an unrelenting deadline? Wet weather may be the incentive you need. In a 2012 study, Harvard Business School researchers found that employees at a mid-size Japanese bank finished projects faster on gloomy days than they did on sunny ones. According to researchers, we’re less likely to get distracted by thoughts of outdoor activities so it’s easier to stay focused on work projects. To maximise your effectiveness at the office, you may want to plan work tasks for rainy weather and save creative tasks—feeling distracted may actually help you come up with new ideas—for sunny ones.

Read: Monsoon memories: A memory unfolds with every drop of rain

You’re probably not as sad as you think

Think people with more sunny days have it easy? In a UCLA study, college students in the Midwest and California were asked to rate their own level of happiness, or were asked to guess how happy a similar student in the other region was. Students predicted that those in sunnier weather would be happier than their counterparts who experienced more rainy weather, but researchers discovered that people in both areas reported similar levels of happiness. Your perception of the weather is what brings about negative feelings, the study authors suspect. “If it is sunny every day you get used to it and the sunshine doesn’t make you any happier,” Paul Dolan, professor of behavioural science at the London School of Economics, said to the Telegraph.

Read: Crazy about cricket

Post-rain scents have a serene effect on you

Here’s a word that’s probably not in your everyday vocabulary: petrichor. The name of the aroma released after a storm, petrichor is a combination of aerosols carrying viruses and bacteria released after raindrops hit the ground. When raindrops break through the soil’s permeable surface, they form bubbles that float upward. Once these bubbles burst in the air, they create that soothing, comforting fresh scent that releases feel-good hormones and promotes a sense of relief and positivity. Scientists say light rain on dry ground will create a stronger scent due to a higher production of aerosols.

You may burn more calories on a rainy day

On a cooler, drizzly day you may be tempted to throw on a shawl or hurry inside, but spending time in rainy weather could provide an extra calorie boost. When your body shivers in mildly cooler temperatures it burns energy, which boosts metabolism and burns fat. In a study published in the journal Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism, scientists from Maastricht University in the Netherlands noted that “regular exposure to mild cold and rain may provide a healthy and sustainable alternative strategy for increasing energy expenditure.” If you’re trying to lose a few extra pounds, consider sitting on the rooftop or in the garden once rain stops pouring.

You may feel closer to friends and family

This reason certainly sounds weird but it’s absolutely true: In a 2012 study, Newcastle University found that when the weather is especially rainy, cool, or moist, the length of phone calls to close friends and family increased, while the actual number of calls decreased. In other words, when bad weather strikes and we huddle indoors, we’re more likely to reach out to close connections and shut out our wider network, lead researcher Santi Phithakkitnukoon said in a press release. Use the monsoon as an excuse to indulge in a long chat with your loved ones.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th, 2015.

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