Meteoropathy
Encyclopedia
Meteoropathy is a disorder
, or physical condition, or symptom
due to climate
or conditions of weather
such as humidity
, temperature
or pressure
. Someone said to suffer from meteoropathy is called meteoropathic.
Meteoropathy is different from historical conceptions of "air" causing diseases and strongly influencing people's sense of well-being (see Miasma theory of disease
). There appear to be significant and measurable correlations between particular atmospherical events (such as a sudden increase in humidity and temperature) and the onset of disease (such as stroke
).
See, for example Lopez del Val LJ, Rubio E, Calatayud V, Lopez del Val JA, Sanchez E., Effect of atmospheric factors on the presentation of cerebrovascular accidents, published in Neurologia 1991 Feb;6(2):52-5
a sufferer is a meteopata, and in Croatian
a meteoropat, for example.
Disease
A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...
, or physical condition, or symptom
Symptom
A symptom is a departure from normal function or feeling which is noticed by a patient, indicating the presence of disease or abnormality...
due to climate
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
or conditions of weather
Weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...
such as humidity
Humidity
Humidity is a term for the amount of water vapor in the air, and can refer to any one of several measurements of humidity. Formally, humid air is not "moist air" but a mixture of water vapor and other constituents of air, and humidity is defined in terms of the water content of this mixture,...
, temperature
Temperature
Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
or pressure
Atmospheric pressure
Atmospheric pressure is the force per unit area exerted into a surface by the weight of air above that surface in the atmosphere of Earth . In most circumstances atmospheric pressure is closely approximated by the hydrostatic pressure caused by the weight of air above the measurement point...
. Someone said to suffer from meteoropathy is called meteoropathic.
Meteoropathy is different from historical conceptions of "air" causing diseases and strongly influencing people's sense of well-being (see Miasma theory of disease
Miasma theory of disease
The miasma theory held that diseases such as cholera, chlamydia or the Black Death were caused by a miasma , a noxious form of "bad air"....
). There appear to be significant and measurable correlations between particular atmospherical events (such as a sudden increase in humidity and temperature) and the onset of disease (such as stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
).
See, for example Lopez del Val LJ, Rubio E, Calatayud V, Lopez del Val JA, Sanchez E., Effect of atmospheric factors on the presentation of cerebrovascular accidents, published in Neurologia 1991 Feb;6(2):52-5
Non-English languages
The word meteoropathy is uncommon in English, but the concept and similar words are widespread in certain other languages. In PolishPolish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
a sufferer is a meteopata, and in Croatian
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
a meteoropat, for example.