Pluviophile or Monsoon Blues? Embrace the Beauty of Rain

The rain embarks Indian cities giving a relief with heatwaves. With the onset of rain, people’s reactions are on polar ends. Some love it and some hate it. What is its psychological interpretation?

Olfactory Stimulation

Rain often brings with it an experience of olfactory stimulations. One of the most prominent is the smell of soil, usually associated artistically as “mitti di Khushboo”. The smell receptors are found to be one of the most intense triggers of nostalgic encounters. Many people find themselves attached to their experiences like those of childhood or the relief from the heat of the first rain.

Apart from this nostalgia, the odour of rain can bring with it a sense of earthiness and belongingness with nature. To feel connected with nature is a great detoxification from daily hustles which usually get delayed, but rain can help us to seek this association in our own comfort schedules.

Rain as White Noise

White noise is sound that has equal frequencies distributed. These are utilized to enhance concentration while studying or such similar tasks, or even to relax and sleep. They act as a barrier to avoid unregulated background noise as well. Rain sounds are often in the top playlists of white noises available across various platforms, whether Spotify or YouTube. Achieving concentration with such sounds helps in developing a calm composure throughout. Even for tasks like doing mathematics, people utilize rain as white noise.

Rain as an Art of Expression

When we discuss mental health and well-being, communication, and expression of our state of mind are the foremost steps. The ability to express what one actually feels, be it to a person or your journal might take out the burden from your chest and remove the cloud of clarity. Many artists like writers, poets, dancers, singers, and playwriters- have taken rain as an expression of their emotions at one time or the other. With such metaphors and figurative expressions, rain has always come up as a representation of ourselves.

Why do some people dislike rain? One of the misconceptions that comes along with rainy weather is that it makes everyone jolly which might not be the case. Seasonal Affective Depression can also be found in some people, while extreme summer and winters have more struggles with seasonal depression, rain disruption often gets neglected.

Many times individuals can feel gloomy with the atmosphere of dark clouds. While rain acts as a white noise, it can be an annoying trigger for another. Thunderstorms and lightning can be a nightmare for people who have a fear of sudden loud noise, further increasing the probability of panic attacks and symptoms of anxiety. Avoidance of tasks like driving due to safety reasons can disrupt daily living routines along with the infrastructural plans turmoil that comes even in urban areas of India.

Serotonin and Melatonin

Being the crucial hormones of our body, their disruption results in emotional turmoil, labelled as monsoon mood swings. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter often called the happy hormone. Melatonin regulates and controls our biological clock, the day and nighttime. These two hormones are directly manipulated by the amount of light that we are receiving from our environment.

With clouds covering up the sky, the quantity of light coming to us gets disrupted, resulting in a disturbance of secretions in the hormones Serotonin and the hormone Melatonin. Even going outside for some time can help in elevating the mood.

Does Rain Make You Sleepy?

Getting cosy in blankets on a rainy evening is not so uncommon. Many of us feel an urge to take a rest in the rainy weather, but why is it so? With human evolution, our brain has evolved into a complex structure that signals the body by certain sounds. Rain, identified as a non-threatening sound, slows down adrenaline, the hormone associated with fear. Rain sounds with consistent frequencies also block sudden loud noises from the background.

Research has found that rain can increase efficiency even to 38 per cent! Along with this, consistently listening to rain or watching rain droplets fall over the window glass slows down the torrent of constant thoughts in the mind. This is because watching and listening also appear as a new task in the perception of the brain, thus reducing the pace of multitasking.

Dealing with Monsoon Blues

As the rainy season arrives in the Indian context, the concern extends beyond psychology. Due weak infrastructures of even metropolitan cities increase anxiety among people about the difficulties that rain will bring along with it. Be it water clogging in the home or turmoil of transportation with jammed roads, a pause in the daily routine can trigger the symptoms of people who are already dealing with mental illnesses since maintaining a routine is one of the best habits as a coping strategy to deal with mental disorders, functional abilities often act as a form of validation to ourselves that we are strong enough.

To sustain such disruptions, you can take little steps, such as seeking the support of an emotionally available loved one, going out when possible, taking things slow, and inculcating hobbies that make you happy.

These tips may seem small but can go a long way in helping you deal with monsoon blues. In conclusion, the rainy season has set its first step in the Indian subcontinental region. Like having a raincheck before going out, let’s do a small mood check to enhance our self-awareness with the changing season