Hacker News Reader

Comment by rodrigodlu | Hacker News Reader

Well, it's definitely weird this year.

I'm in Rio, but I'm from south Brazil, my entire family is using more meds to counter allergies due to temps and humidity changing a lot.

I'm changing from using winter clothes (long sleeves) to use air conditioner to feel less a change from 14oC to 30oC that is usually associated to autumns in south, not winters in Rio, that are usually stable around 22oC without a high amplitude that I'm feeling now.

The city my dad lives near Porto Alegre already suffered twice due to extra tropical cyclones. Something that I heard only few times in my childhood.

Uruguay facing water challenges is new - droughts in the south plains of Rio Grande do Sul (south state bordering UY) and UY is not new - but the severity is.

View on HN

>my entire family is using more meds to counter allergies due to temps and humidity changing a lot.

People don't get sick from temperature changes. I'm in Canada and in winter go from a 25C house to -25C outside. We'd all be dead of that were true. Late winter early spring I am outside in a t-shirt shovelling show in -7C.

"People don't get sick from temperature changes."

But you were used to it from being raised in such a climate. Those who are not (or lived in air conditioned houses all the time) can get serious trouble adopting.

Edit: I know people who like walking bare foot, but cannot really, because they had floor heating all the time as a child. So now they get sick really fast, if their feet gets a little bit cold. I had no floor heating and I can walk barefeet in the snow (for some time. And today I like floor heating in the bathroom). My point is, be conscious how you raise your kids and live yourself. Don't make it too comfortable ..

Edit2: you can train it even in the shower: switch from cold to hot a couple of times, as intense as you can manage with conscious breathing. That helps me, if I don't overdo it.

I have to pound mucinex to not get a sinus infection every damn season change.

We are not used to such changes. And people here are not used to change from winter clothes to summer in the same day. Like I said, it's usually associated to autumns in the south (carrying both types of clothes).

Since people is not prepared correctly, the number of people I see coughing in the subway is definitely higher.

Not extreme deaths like covid, but impairs people more than usual.

Also my daughter is bringing more stuff from the school that are not learning and knowledge, but viruses of all kinds.

People definitely get sick from weather change

I am from South America and moved to Canada and find Canadians are most of the time either inside their cars or indoors, both places they can control the temperature

Heaters are not common at all in South America, nor are thermostats. Air conditioners are somewhat but I wouldn’t say a majority of the population has them. And a smaller percentage of the populations owns a vehicle because it’s expensive for them.

I'm also from Brazil's south region, and rapid climate changes, mostly caused by quick changes on humidity, makes my upper airway irritated as hell. Allergic rhinitis is a hell of sickness depending what triggers it :)

That's right. But allergies are usually related to trees or insects. I think with warm weather trees are confused and they start pollination.

Weather is more than temperature (e.g. headaches correlating to bariometric changes are well known), and in general I would refrain from "people..." statements based one your personal n=1 sample study :/ There is also a large spectrum between sick and dead, you know? Individuals differ a lot, just be happy if not affected and all is fine for you :)

Also kind of funny to read such hero experiences of someone stepping out for a short amount of time of his controlled climate, pure luxury, enjoy but stay calm!

One cultural difference between the US and much of the rest of the world is that even though the US is very religious, it is not at all superstitious.

I don’t understand what this points to since the conversation was about South America and Canada.

> The city my dad lives near Porto Alegre already suffered twice due to extra tropical cyclones. Something that I heard only few times in my childhood.

One thing I noticed is that local governments (and their respective climate departments) are being much more vigilant and proactive with climate events. And we are in a way paying much more attention to the frequency of climate events. Trying to correlate your own experience of "frequency of events" is a very tricky thing, since we can pretty much condition ourselves to rememeber pretty much anything we want.

Back in the day there were tropical storms and cyclones, and we just moved on. But now local governments will proactively cancel school days if there is a even a hint of a heavier storm. Which is great, but it does mess with our ability to actually estimate frequency of events.

I'm in upstate Sao Paulo and we are having a mild winter. Cooler than prior years. Northern Argentina and Chile are having above normal temps alright [having El Nino next door], but the eastern [high elevation] SA [Brazil] is definitely cooler.

I would do anything to avoid getting sick from June to November due to constantly changing weather in this part of India. Is there some method? Already have medicines.

what is the pathology (IE what about the changes makes you sick, and in what way)?

that info might help narrow down options

Doctors and other people alike say weather change make people sick. Hence never got help that way.

what is the pathology (IE what about the changes do doctors and other people say makes people sick, and in what way do they say it makes people sick)?

e.g. what is happening on a physical/molecular/cellular/biological level when weather changes make you sick, and what type of sick (do you get cancer, vomiting, contract smallpox, etc.?)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com