ICYMI: ‘Fed up with the rain? You might be meteorosensitive’

The Measurement Lab were very excited to have team member Maximilian Hepach’s research featured in the article ‘Fed up with the rain? You might be meteorosensitive’ in The Times earlier this year.  

Meteorosensitivity, the translation of the German term Wetterfühligkeit, is a complex and contested phenomenon in which changes in weather (for example, temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind) affect physical and mental health. Common complaints in people who are ‘meteoro-’ or weather-sensitive include headaches, migraine, joint pains, fatigue and nervousness or anxiety.  

In The Times article, Maximilian explains that while it wasn’t until the 20^th century that the concept of meteorosensitivity began to be studied systematically in the maturing field of medical meteorology, the ideas date back to the ancient Greeks. “Doctors had not only to be experts in human health but also in the weather, because there was thought to be such a close interconnection between [them] and the change of seasons on the body and mind … Historically, it’s been the rule rather than the exception that there’s been this concern with how weather and atmospheres influence health and wellbeing.” 

In terms of contemporary examples, Maximilian points to Germany’s long-standing concept and everyday use of the aforementioned ‘Wetterfühligkeit’, tracked through national population surveys since the 1950s. In 2021, for example, 46 % of over-16s in Germany reported that the weather had an impact on their health. 

Maximilian’s current research project ‘Under Pressure’ is a historical and cultural geography of meteorosensitivity which examines the different ways weather’s impact on health and well-being has been understood historically, and how those differences play into present-day weather-health warning practices under pressure from climate change. 

The problem of measurement features prominently in both past and present weather-health research. Which measures of the weather, individual or complex combinations of several variables (e.g. temperature, air pressure), are meaningful indicators for changes in health and well-being? Who are such measures for, if people’s individual sensitivity to changes in weather differs greatly? What measures can we still agree on to effectively issue weather-health warnings for the wider public in the face of unprecedented weathers due to anthropogenic climate change? The Measurement Lab supports exploring these questions, examining the social, cultural, political and historical forces that shape the meaning and function of measurement in medicine, health and health sciences.