Monsoon mood swings: Experts on how prolonged rains affect your mental health

You may feel, sleepy, gloomy, or agitated when it rains, due to a series of hormonal and psychological reasons. Here's what experts say.

Can rains affect your moods and behaviour? Turns out that sudden rainfall, prolonged rains, cloudy weather or thunderstorms, all can affect our mental health and moods in a variety of ways. You may feel, sleepy, gloomy, relaxed or agitated when it rains, due to a series of hormonal and psychological reasons. Ever wondered why people wake up late when it's raining in the morning? Apparently, it's the sunlight that helps us become active in the morning and in the absence of it, our body continues to produce melatonin which make us sleepy. (Also read: Eat Lauki, avoid Palak: Ayurveda expert on list of vegetables to eat and avoid during monsoon)

The lack of sunlight for days together can trigger symptoms of depression, make you dull and even agitated (Freepik)

Many people find rains soothing and therapeutic for as long as it lasts. It may be due to the repetitive sound of falling raindrops that can act as white noise and help people who are in a restless state of mind to relax and fall asleep. The rains can transport you to another world and help beat stress. The beautiful sound, the cool breeze and the change in surroundings can have a positive effect on your psyche.

While brief rains can lift your spirits, prolonged rains can do the opposite. The lack of sunlight for days together can trigger symptoms of depression, make you dull and even agitated. This is because our natural circadian rhythm can get disturbed when it's rainy continuously for several days.

"Exposure of sunlight is important because lack of sunlight and continuous and prolonged rainfall may cause seasonal effective depression which is called sad in short. And lack of sunlight disrupts our natural circadian rhythm, which in turn results sloppy digestive system and our body actually needs sunlight as a fuel," says Dr Manisha Singhal, Consultant - Clinical Psychologist, Metro Hospitals & Heart Institute, Noida Sector-11, UP.

The monsoon depression

"Monsoon causes seasonal depression, especially in the month of August – September because of the humidity, weather is humid in these months. The more depressed mood, the more humid the weather is, the more depressed the person likely to feel. Furthermore, exposure of sunlight regulates a very important hormone which is called serotonin, and which is associated with boosting mood and helping feel calm and happy. So, these are the reason why we may feel gloomy in rainy season because of lack of sunlight, which is actually important to the human body and makes us feel happy and happy and good," says Dr Singhal.

Rains can cause anxiety, trigger PTSD

"During monsoon our mood can be affected by the experiences we associate with it. Fear of thunderstorms, lightening is not uncommon. Past experiences of being stuck in waterlogged situations or being through stressors related to floods can cause anxiety when remembering about it during rainy season leading to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Some people have such experiences of childhood and can continue to have anxiety related to rains as adults leading to depression as well," says Dr Sonal Anand, Psychiatrist, Wockhardt Hospitals, Mira Road.

Rains can lead to loneliness

"Overcast skies can overshadow the sun and lead to Vitamin D deficiency which can exacerbate depression. Grey skies, continuous rains can mean being limited to the house and being restricted socially as well which can lead to loneliness. People with a family history or people with history of depression on the past are more prone for depressive episodes," says Dr Anand.