Many factors affect the brain and its activity, however, would you have thought that even weather affects it? Studies have shown that extreme cold weather has the ability to disturb our neurological activity since our brains are organs that love warmth, especially being soaked in warm blood. Very cold weather has the ability to encourage stressful responses, strange behaviors, and nerve damage. Therefore, it is extremely important to make sure that your brain is warm, as much as you would care for keeping your body warm. Here are some of the ways in which cold can affect your brain!
1- HAVING TO STAY INSIDE TO AVOID COLD, INCREASES YOUR STRESS LEVELS
It has been proved, that cold does not affect your brain directly only, but also indirectly. When it is cold, you spend more time inside the house or workspace, rather than going on strolls during your breaks. Feeling trapped inside due to cold weather can produce dissatisfaction, irritation and depression. These feelings are induced by stress which is the result of the production of the cortisol hormone. A lot of studies have proved that the average level of cortisol is the highest in winter. So if being in the house for more than a day or two gives you anxiety, it is because of cortisol levels!
2- EXTREME COLD HAS THE ABILITY TO ANNOY DAMAGED NERVES
Some damaged nerves, due to past conditions or injuries, can send pain signals to your brain, when subject to extreme cold, even when there is nothing painful going on. Long exposure to cold slows down the blood circulation to the hands and feet in order to maintain the core of the body’s temperature. This can strengthen the neuropathy symptoms which may cause more damages to the affected peripheral nerves.
3- COLD CAN LEAD TO A SERIOUS HEADACHE
This headache is also known as the cold-stimulus headache which is a more serious phenomenon than the brain freeze you get when you eat a big piece of ice cream. A study conducted in 29017 has proved that the area in the brain stimulated during serious headaches, is the same one stimulated during cold-stimulus headache.
4- SOMETIMES, EUPHORIA IS THE STRESS RESPONSE TO COLD
In some brains, exposure to extreme cold does not lead to a high level of stress, but instead to euphoria. These brains are able to encourage a stress response neurologically that turns their body's normal responses to cold into euphoria and encourages the production of natural painkillers in their blood.
5- DISORIENTATION AND MENTAL CONFUSION CAN BE CONSEQUENCES OF EXPOSURE TO EXTREME COLD
While a little bit of cold is healthy for your brain and helps in making you feel more alert and awake, too much of it is harmful. The extreme cold could lead to hypothermia which means that the body loses its heat fast and becomes unable to warm itself. This affects the organs of your body that depend on the warmth of your blood and could lead to losing their functionality. Unfortunately, the brain is one of these organs! One of the symptoms of hypothermia is confusion and could make it hard for people with this disease to know what is happening to them.
