Meteorotropy

The Meteorotropie (as Meteoropathologie, medicine meteorology or Wetterbiotropie called) describes reactions of biological systems such as plant and animal organisms, ultimately, the people weathering nontrivial (not everyday) way. The Meteorotropie also describes the underlying previously known mechanisms of such reactions. The similar term of biotropy describes reactions of biological processes in general, e.g. B. on the molecular or organ level, on weather and climatic influences. In principle, weather influences can have a negative as well as a health-promoting or even healing influence. The exact scientific descriptions and modern research in the field did not begin until the 1950s, with the dawn of biometeorology , and is closely linked to medical and meteorological research. However, there is no independent “weather sickness”.

The weather is a constant phenomenon, an event that affects the entire population synchronously, from which we cannot or only partially escape and which is also subject to constant changes. The weather itself does not make you sick or healthy, but represents a conditioning, conditional factor. One speaks here of a weather stimulus or weather stress. With some diseases, a certain weather influence can be the "trigger" for the onset of an illness. Non-trivial weather influences on the health of humans, animals and plants have been known for many thousands of years, were and are the subject of many conjectures and myths in addition to today's knowledge of modern research (the principle of hardening is also described as a myth). However, the importance of meteorotropic influences is also subject to cultural influences and can express itself in different ways. Paradoxically, the same weather stimulus can make itself felt differently in the same individual, especially in the context of weather sensitivity. Man, like all biological systems, reacts to weather influences with what is known as adaptation : He tries to adapt his organism as optimally and energy-efficiently as possible to a change in his environment, be it short-term or long-term. The ability to achieve this adjustment unnoticed or without any particular discomfort seems to be a hallmark of healthy people. Previously ill, weakened or elderly individuals do not always succeed in this, and there is then noticeable impairment of the state of mind. Rheumatics, for example, are said to have impaired thermoregulation . Whether it is possible to make the body more resilient as part of a preventive influence is controversial - as is the thesis that the modern way of life in industrialized countries intervenes in a predominantly negative way.

Meteorotropic reaction types

The meteorotropic reactions, especially in humans, take place mainly on the unconscious vegetative level, thus evading arbitrariness and, in part, our own observation.

A distinction is made between:

• the weather reaction to which every living being and every plant is always subject. This reaction corresponds to the physiological adaptation process. Typical reactions are muscle tremors, a piloerection , altered breathing rate, changes in the release of certain hormones and corresponding mood swings.

• the weather sensitivity , which can only be observed in weather-sensitive people after a certain latency period, corresponds more to the pathological adaptation process. Typically, functional disorders usually occur here. These are mostly reported during the so-called nontrivial weather changes. This includes strong deviations of individual parameters from the seasonal course, special weather conditions such as foehn or inversion weather conditions , extreme humidity . On the other hand, significant changes in air pressure, such as those that occur on flights in commercial aircraft, or sharp changes in temperature, such as those that occur when leaving living spaces, strangely enough, usually do not have such an effect (Dirnagel 1982). According to the researcher Faust, weather sensitivity should be observed frequently, especially in Central Europe, and is considered one of the diseases of civilization. Frequently reported symptoms are headache, increased tiredness, difficulty concentrating, insomnia, joint pain and decreased performance. The controversial foresight is used to describe the occurrence of weather-related symptoms several days before an actual weather event; evidence has not yet been provided. Depending on the survey, between about 30 and 70% of the healthy population describe themselves as sensitive to the weather, in a narrower sense 55% (Höppe 2002). Women (especially during menopause) are more likely to see themselves as sensitive to the weather than men, older people more often than young people. A minimum of such complaints are reported over the weekend. In times of war and emergency, complaints about weather sensitivity decrease. Goethe's conclusion: "... it is precisely the finest minds who suffer most from the harmful effects of the air ...".

• the sensitivity to weather in the context of existing pre-existing illnesses, as a change and extension of existing symptoms with a likewise limited ability to adapt. Certain chronic illnesses (eg "rheumatic" illnesses) or people who have been operated on, but also amputees, can make the symptoms worse. This is often the case with fibromyalgia , “rheumatism”, a condition after a heart attack, chronic back pain.

• The meteorotropic temporal correlation of certain weather events with life-threatening, acute events such as heart attacks , colic, and strokes could be statistically proven as a weak effect in several diseases. This also applies to mortality and weather influences. Myocardial infarction (heart attack) and its mortality correlate with certain weather conditions (Kveton 1991 and MONICA Projekt / Danet 1999). Summer heat waves affect general mortality, as do extreme cold spells. At low temperatures there is an increase in strokes.

Biotropic weather factors

Usually several factors appear as so-called weather chords or stimulus combinations, so that sometimes the evaluation of individual isolated factors runs into difficulties. One example of this is the front draft . In principle, it is the changes and the rate of change of the individual parameters that are effective.

1. Telluric factors:

• Temperature : the thermal complex of effects of heat and cold. A cold stimulus can trigger and intensify rheumatic complaints, while warmth reduces them. Cold affects the function of the respiratory ciliated epithelium (mucociliary apparatus) and inhibits its ability to clean, which promotes infections of the airways due to ciliary dysfunction. Cold also has a constricting effect on the small bronchi and also has a constricting effect on the blood vessels of the mucous membranes of the nose and throat. This reduces the effectiveness of the immune system by reducing blood flow. Thecold reflex describes various unconscious body reactions to a cold stimulus. These reactions can also be used therapeutically, for example by exposure to cold (cold spray) for bruises or burns. An extreme cold stimulus, which is available in selected clinics for the treatment of rheumatic diseases ( cold therapy / cryotherapy ), also plays a special role. A low blood temperature leads to cardiac arrest (therapeutically but also in case of frostbite ), on the other hand, it extends the survival time after cardiac and circulatory arrest.
• Humidity . Increasing humidity increases rheumatic complaints. A low humidity favors infections of the upper airways.
• Air pressure and its dynamics, the weather fronts. A direct connection between the air pressure or low-frequency fluctuations ( microbaromata / Kelvin-Helmholtz waves) of the same and blood pressure has not yet been proven beyond doubt, although there are indications of an influence.
• Wind and wind chill , the individually felt temperature is a wind-dependent phenomenon. Vertical air movements increase rheumatic complaints.

2. Solar and cosmic factors (called actinic action complex):

• UV and infrared radiation from the sun . Skin tanning, sunburn and malignant melanoma
• electrical processes in the atmosphere, the sferics (AIS) as non-thermally acting electromagnetic fields. The data situation here is not uniform; there are studies that have shown a connection to symptom-free changes in the EEG (Schienle), as well as studies that deny that these fields have any influence on humans (Schuh 2003).
• Ion concentration in the air you breathe.
• Cosmic radiation.

Meteorotropically active weather conditions and constellations with deterioration in well-being

• Too high temperature for the season
• rapid rise in temperature, sliding processes of subtropical air masses
• higher humidity than the day before
• high vapor pressure
• constant temperature with inversion weather conditions
• Increase in cloud cover, fog, no sunshine, diffuse shade
• High pressure with cold air close to the ground
• Hair dryer (so-called free hair dryer)

When passing through the cold front, rheumatic complaints, angina pectoris , colic, embolism, bronchitis and headaches increase. Pulmonary embolisms, myocardial infarctions, epilepsy, migraines and indigestion dominate in warm front passages. During the passage of the occlusion , rheumatic complaints, colic, angina pectoris, bronchial asthma and appendicitis appear.

Known or suspected healing and safe climates

• Constant daily temperature curve and corresponding humidity
• a little cooler than would be expected (also typical for the forest climate , possibly sea ​​climate )
• Sunshine with clear shadows
• high concentration of negatively charged small ions in the air
• High mountain climate and maritime climate

Diseases that are known to be related to meteotropic influences

They can generally include seasonal illnesses and illnesses that are closely related to extreme heat, such as heat stroke (thermal stress), as well as frostbite from extreme cold and sunburn from unprotected exposure to UV radiation from the sun. There are indications, in the form of clinical studies, of climatic influences as predisposing factors in the case of colds . So far, however, direct evidence has not been proven beyond doubt.

Rheumatics react with an increase in symptoms to certain types of thunderstorms, pervasive lows with an occlusion front and cold front passages. About 75–90% of all rheumatics see themselves as sensitive to the weather (Sönning 1984), and thus they seem to be the patient group that suffers the most from weather influences, although this is not related to the etiology. This can also be demonstrated in climatic chambers .

literature

• Volker Faust: Biometeorology. Hippokrates Verlag 1979, ISBN 3-7773-0394-1 .
• Eccles R. in Rhinology 2002 Sep; 40 (3): 109-14: Acute cooling of the body surface and the common cold. Common Cold Center, Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, United Kingdom. [e-mail]