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Sunshine and the Aspie: When the Weather Affects Our Neurology

Ohh…the happiness of Summer (As long as it is not too hot!)

When I woke up this morning I still felt exhausted because I had not fallen asleep until after 2 a.m. last night. I have been having tremendous difficulty falling asleep lately (again): enter the famous Aspie insomnia.

This morning, however, unlike the rest of the mornings this week I did not wake up to grey skies or the pitter patter of rain drops, the sunshine was shining. In fact it was streaming through the curtains in my room, and although I was exhausted, I looked forward to getting out of bed to see the daylight-the sunshine.

I am aware that grey dreary days make many people feel “gloomy” or “sleepy,” but for me the problem goes far beyond feeling glum. For me, my entire body is affected, my mood, my energy, even my outlook on life itself is affected. I guess you could say that my moods quite literally changes with the weather.

Seasonal Affective Disorder, more commonly known as Winter Depression, is among the host of diagnoses I have received over the years. It is true that wintertime has always brought on depression for me, and the summer sunshine brought happier days. The problem is that even Seasonal Affective Disorder did not explain the drastic change in how I felt from day to day and sometimes even from hour to hour.

I had not considered, until I read something in a book by William Stillman called Autism and the God Connection, that this could be connected to my autism. Stillman stated that some people with autism are so sensitive that they can sense even the smallest ionic changes in the weather, and it wreaks havoc on their neurology.

That’s when it clicked! With a bit of help from psychologists like those at Psychreg for the best psychologist in Sydney and the realization that I had not read the entire book, but it is on my to-do list mainly because this particular statement has resounded so strongly with me, I finally figured something out. I can feel the slightest change in weather pressures, humidity, and temperature, but again, never realized that all other people do not feel the same things.

I am literally uplifted and energized when the sun is shining and drained when the sky turns grey-even if little times had passed between the two. The slightest change in humidity affects my breathing, and temperatures changes have always wreaked havoc. While having appliances like air conditioning installed by experts like Morris Jenkins, for example, can help a home feel more comfortable, they can’t control the weather.

My issue with temperature is a part of my sensory processing disorder, or deregulation is this case. With my sensory processing issues, comes a temperature regulation issue. I cannot adjust to the changes in weather. I am easily overheated when it gets warm, cannot stay outside during very humid times, and even need to rest, relax, and cool down after a warm bath or shower. It takes my body a very short period of time to overheat, and an extended period to cool down. It’s why it’s so important that any AC Repair that’s needed in the home is taken care of long before the heat of summer arrives, as that constant temperature flow is something that I do not take for granted.

The same is true for cold weather-I cannot adjust well. Despite how warmly I dress, I will immediately be frozen down to the bones, and have a difficult time warming up. Sometimes after long periods out in the cold it will take hours of shivering indoors to “warm my bones.” Feeling cold down inside my bones is the best way I can describe the feeling, but again, I just always assumed that everyone felt this way-apparently, they do not.

Part of my temperature regulation problem is that when I finally “cool-down,” it is usually followed by a quick shivering chill and a feeling that I need to warm up. And when I try to “warm up my bones”, it is usually followed by a period of overheating-very annoying. I live in a state of discomfort, many times putting on a sweater or blanket one minute, and throwing it off in a sweat the next.

I had never considered that these sensitivities could have been in any way related to autism-now, I know that they are. I am super sensitive to all kinds of stimuli-including ionic weather changes. Maybe I need to move to Hawaii…

Jeannie Davide-Rivera

Jeannie is an award-winning author, the Answers.com Autism Category Expert, contributes to Autism Parenting Magazine, and the Thinking Person's Guide to Autism. She lives in New York with her husband and four sons, on the autism spectrum.

9 Comments:

  1. Hi Jeannie,

    Please let us know if you consent to how your blog is listed on our Actually Autistic Blogs List (anautismobserver.wordpress.com) or if you want the listing changed (if so, how).

    Thank you.

    Judy (An Autism Observer)

  2. this is interesting. it’s the exact opposite for me. i’m blissful when it’s overcast and raining. sunshine makes me angry. i blame it on my sensitivity to light but i never considered to think about it more deeply than that. i also hate the heat of summer. any extreme in temperature is uncomfotable but i can warm up more quickly when i go inside in winter. in summer though, once i’m overheated, it takes hours to cool back down and makes me feel ill. being hot affects my brain too. i can think of nothing else except getting out and i panic.
    i have problems with regulating my own temperature too. freezing one second, hot the next.
    i’m just learning about all this autism stuff and it’s fascinating. “ohhhhh. that’s why!” 🙂

    • Temperature regulation is a huge problem for me, and like you once I am hot and overheated it takes forever to cool off, so I definitely cannot take the heat of the summer. I just really feel better when the sky is blue–even if it is cold. As I get older I am finding that heat in particular is being harder and harder handle. And yes, that panic. I get it even if I overheat myself in the shower! Which, by the way, I do quite often.

      My son, unlike me, hates the sunshine! He is happiest on the cloudy overcast days. I think the take-away here is to the extremes that we “feel” the differences. Both him, and I, and you, have a strong reaction to the daily weather even though I like the sunshine, and you guys are happiest in the overcast. Additionally, my guy here does not like the sun to touch his skin so he will cover up everything–even wear a hoodie and boots and jacket in 90 degree Florida sun while at Universal Studios! I thought he was going to have heat stroke, and needed to watch him very carefully to ensure he stayed hydrated.

      • Rhonda Renkenberger

        Oh my goodness how I have missed you. I just read this temperature thing, which I then read the comments below and you mentioned your child hating the sun… YES thats my son too. AS well as all the other weather things. I miss you at Autism(A Mother’s support group) where you once were. I also just read where you mentioned your son’s issues became more noticeable with age… I need access to your info again, and would love to have you back on that site if you were willing to share your parenting journeys again… My son’s has become SO MUCH more noticable with age. I wish to understand your son’s issues to compare. My son is crumbling, is all I can say. Thank you for writing in this.

        • I am very sorry to hear about the crumbling, but I sooo understand! My oldest is going to be 18, EIGHT-FREAKING-TEEN and I am sooo not ready. So bad that I am having nightmares of something terrible happening to him…horrible nights sleep last night. So much worry. Somethings I need a little..NO A LOT OF HELP, getting out of myself and back into the world. I am trying to remember what it is that I loved about writing int his venue. And I suspect that the fear or perfection is peeking its ugly head out at me again and again. The worry that NOW I am SUPPOSED to have all the answers, but don’t. I should be navigating well, but can’t. The whole, what the hell is wrong with me damn it woman get your shit together, feeling!

          Age…aw yes. Much more noticeable with age. Much. Both for the boys, and for me. Spinning our wheels.

  3. Hawaii doesn’t have perfect weather either. Sorry. But it’s not horrible weather and it is gorgeous.

    I have also noticed that the burden of sensitivity is that I turn into a cranky person best avoided by man and beast occasionally. Since i started being sensitive to my sensitivities I have done better. For me allergies are the worst! They cause me to be irritable in the extreme at times aside from the misery of the symptoms.
    I’m not crazy about being a delicate flower but if that is who I am I’d best accept it and go on. Accepting it means to me that i deal with it by considering what to do if it gets to be all too much and to try and takes steps not to get to that all too much stage.

    I also know i don’t and can’t control much so I will have to slog through some unpleasant times such as very hot or cold days. I just hope my depression doesn’t kick in. I really wish you well with the SAD.

  4. Me too!!

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