Aches and Rains
Hannah Fry and Dara Ó Briain ask whether the weather affects our aches and pains.
Curious Cases · BBC Radio 4
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Show Notes
The team test the theory that you can use the weather to predict pain, separating science fact from fiction. It's an area with a huge amount of conflicting research, but one man who has investigated this is Professor Will Dixon, who explains that low pressure could be causing people's joints to ache more. Dara and Hannah are intrigued to hear our genes may also be responding to changes in temperature and hear how we might be pre-programmed to produce more inflammation during wintertime to fight off bugs - which has the unfortunate side effect of making other some conditions worse. But don't despair! The pair find out 21 degrees is the optimum temperature for health and wellbeing - a perfect English summer day.
Contributors:
Dr Chris Wallace Professor Will Dixon Professor Trevor Professor Trevor Harley
Producer: Marijke Peters Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
A BBC Studios Audio Production