It’s hot. Really hot. You go outside and someone says, “This is unbearable.” You go into a shop and hear, “It gets worse every year.” You open social media and it seems like a competition to see who’s suffering the most from the heatwave.
It’s not that there’s a lack of reasons to complain. When the thermometer climbs above 35 or 40 degrees Celsius, sleep becomes more difficult, the body feels heavy, concentration decreases, and even mood suffers. However, there’s a curious psychological paradox: complaining about the heat (or bad weather in general) seems to momentarily relieve frustration, but doing so repeatedly often has the opposite effect: making the heat even more unbearable. Not because the temperature increases, but because it changes the way our brain experiences it.
Complaints as catharsis: Is it beneficial?
When we share something that bothers us all, we find social validation. After all, we’re all “sweltering.” This generates a certain emotional relief because it’s a form of catharsis: we express our inner discomfort.
That’s why conversations so often begin with a comment about the weather. For a few seconds, we feel we’re not alone in our suffering. Obviously, that’s not a bad thing. The problem arises when that emotional outburst stops being occasional and becomes our regular strategy for coping with the situation.
Then the brain starts doing something that doesn’t benefit us at all, simply because whatever we’re focusing on takes up more and more space in our minds. Our attention works like a spotlight, so the more time we spend “illuminating” an aspect of reality, the more important it seems.
When we constantly repeat that it’s unbearably hot, our brain dedicates more and more resources to monitoring any signal related to that sensation. Then we notice sweat more, clothes sticking to our bodies, the hot air…
The temperature hasn’t increased, but our perception of heat has. It’s a phenomenon similar to what happens when you buy a certain model of car and suddenly start seeing them everywhere. It’s not that there are more cars, it’s that your attention is now trained to notice them.
Something similar happens with complaints about bad weather. We train our brains to continually look for new evidence that the situation is awful. And, since it usually finds it, it reinforces that conclusion even further. This is confirmed by research from the University of Chicago , which found that the subjective feeling of thermal discomfort was a much stronger predictor of negative mood than the objective temperature.
The loop of lamentation
There is another psychological mechanism at play: rumination, which involves dwelling on the same problem repeatedly without seeking a solution. Unlike reflection, rumination is simply exhausting.
When we’ve spent half an hour saying that we can’t stand the heat, that everything is a disaster, and that every summer will be worse, we’re probably no longer describing the weather, but feeding a mental loop in which each new complaint generates another.
Thus, the inner dialogue ceases to be an objective description of reality and becomes an emotional amplifier. In fact, we must keep in mind that our brain uses shortcuts to decide what deserves attention and often confuses frequency with importance.
Therefore, it assumes that what we think about or repeat frequently must be important. If we talk about the heat all day long, read news about the heat, discuss the heat, and constantly think about the heat, the brain interprets this as the absolute priority. The result is that the feeling of discomfort occupies increasingly more psychological space.
In fact, a study conducted at Yale University with 157 people who kept a diary for six days revealed that rumination prolongs and amplifies negative emotions. The heat is real, but what determines how much we suffer isn’t just the temperature. The amount of time our minds remain trapped thinking about it also plays a role.
On the other hand, complaining without taking action increases feelings of helplessness. Every time we dwell on a problem without doing anything to address it, we reinforce a sense of lack of control, and that’s one of the biggest factors in increasing stress. When we focus solely on lamenting, the message our brain receives is that there’s nothing we can do.
So, do we have to pretend the weather is great?
Not at all. If it’s very hot, it’s very hot. If we’re uncomfortable, acknowledging it is perfectly reasonable. The difference lies between acknowledging a fact and getting stuck in it.
It’s not the same to say that it’s extremely hot, so it’s best to lower the blinds, drink more water, and turn on the air conditioning or a fan, as it is to repeat to ourselves all afternoon: “I can’t take it anymore. How awful. It’s unbearable. Nobody can stand this.”
The first response acknowledges the problem and seeks solutions to adapt as best as possible. The second only fuels the discomfort. Therefore, after the necessary catharsis, it’s worth asking ourselves what we can do to alleviate what we’re feeling.
In fact, a study carried out at the University of Basel, in which 134 people were monitored during heat waves, found that after engaging in protective behaviors (seeking shade, going to a cooler place, or reducing activity), they re-evaluated the situation more positively and their mood improved.
Our actions won’t eliminate the heat wave, but at least they remind us that we have some control. And that profoundly changes how we experience it. Over time, something curious happens: people who practice this way of responding stop adding a second layer of suffering created by their own minds. Because the temperature shown on the thermometer is one thing, and the emotional temperature reached by our thoughts is quite another.
References:
Glunz, E. et. Al. (2026) Adapting to the heat of the moment: A mobile experience sampling study on the dynamics of heat stress, appraisals, affect, and behaviour. Journal of Environmental Psychology; 109: 102893.
Meidenbauer, K.L. Et al. (2024) Variable and dynamic associations between hot weather, thermal comfort, and individuals’ emotional states during summertime. BMC Psychol; 12: 504.
Genet, J. & Siemer, M. (2012) Rumination Moderates the Effects of Daily Events on Negative Mood: Results From a Diary Study. Emotion; 12(6):1329-1339.
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