Weather affects us all the time—often in surprising ways—but there are steps we can take to work with the weather and not against it, benefiting our mental health in the process.
For Professor Trevor Harley, understanding the weather and how it impacts our well-being saved his life. Here, he draws on this deeply personal journey, the experience of others, and robust research to show how the weather affects our psychology and behavior and, importantly, what we can do about it.
From the rise in climate anxiety to the sweeping impact of Seasonal Affective Disorder, Professor Harley invites you to discover how adverse weather conditions affect different people. He offers practical advice on how to mitigate the negative effects of weather (or at least learn how to accept them) and make the most of the positive ones. After all, you can’t change the weather—but you can change how you respond to it.
Author
Trevor Harley
TREVOR HARLEY is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of Dundee. His early interest in science led to a degree in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, followed by a PhD in Experimental Psychology. He then pursued an academic career in psychology, first at the University of Warwick, then at the University of Dundee where he became Head of Department and then Dean. Trevor has been obsessed with the weather since childhood, particularly with how it influences our behaviour and wellbeing – an interest inspired partly by his own struggles with mental health, including anxiety and seasonal affective disorder. Trevor has written extensively about the weather and how it affects us in academic books and journals, and is frequently interviewed on the subject for television and radio programmes, as well as by publications including The Guardian, The Sunday Times, Time Magazine and The Psychologist.
Learn More about Trevor Harley