The Rain Is Also Beautiful
Rain often has the unusual power to relax our senses and our minds. He intoxicates us with his petrichor, renews the atmosphere, brings out flashes of color in our boring cities and often invites us to that serene, almost magical introspection where we can make contact with ourselves through the raindrops …
Although it is true that it is often said that “ in life it is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but about learning to dance in the rain”, it is clear that not everyone likes it. The state of mind is always closely related to the weather, and more specifically to the effect of light interacting with our brain.
However, the rain ignites in a good part of the population a series of singular processes that are related to the emotional world. It has a lot to do with the senses and, especially, with our olfactory cortex and with that almost magical link that this structure has with the limbic system and the hypothalamus, areas related to emotional memory.
We are sure that this topic will reveal very interesting aspects to you.
The Petrichor and the awakening of our memories
There are smells that awaken in us a strange pleasure. They captivate us, and at the same time they penetrate our memory like an enclave that awakens pleasant sensations in us.
The smell of freshly cut grass, the clean sheets, the chlorine in the pool in summer, the chocolate that our grandmothers prepared for us or the smell of our new pencils when we started school, are privileged corners where those fragrances often intermingle. with fond memories.
Although it is difficult for us to believe it, the smell of rain soaked in the earth has a very specific function: to guide us to where there is water. Something essential for us in the past, and today for a large part of animals, who travel great distances guided only by that chemical substance, geosmin.
Unfortunately, something we all know is that the effect of pollution today leaves many orphans of this vital gift of Nature. A present that, strangely enough, also has the power to “wake us up”, to pull us out of our lethargy and out of the cubicles of our routines to simply invite us to relax with a walk after the rain.
What exactly is Petrichor?
Petrichor is a term that was coined in 1964 by two Australian geologists. It refers to a fascinating and delicate process that occurs when raindrops come into contact with sedimentary or porous surfaces. Instantly, a type of actinobacteria generate a metabolic substance called geosmin, which returns to the atmosphere as an aromatic oil with a unique odor.
Interestingly, the drier the ground, the more noticeable the petrichor will be, rising like a powerful spray that will guide birds and other animals to that wet area.
While we, lacking the need to find water, will encourage us to open the windows to breathe in that smell strongly, while we allow ourselves to be embraced by memories, by the subtle veil of nostalgia and the caress of those unruly emotions capable of to invite us to a pleasant walk.
In turn, and as a curious fact, many people with a high level of anxiety can find some sensory rest with the effect of the rain. The sound of the drops falling generates a “white noise”, that constant sound and calming sound waves that for many, is something truly therapeutic.
In fact, there is a study that supports how the sound stimulus of the rain reduces the agitation of the elderly in nursing homes by up to 23%. Not only does that regular loudness appease restlessness, but it also opens the door to many of our memories.
Let those moments lived with the smell of childhood pass into our consciousness, with the almost wild fragrance of that summer storm where we ran after an afternoon at the fair or a night at the beach. Therefore, the rain is also beautiful and, curious as it may seem, it also heals, it also relieves and invites us to reconcile ourselves with the land we walk on.
