Post 4

I have always thought a blog is something people write to get as many followers, or be as popular or famous as possible. I have never really liked being as public as this, sharing my thoughts and ideas with others on internet, but after writing this blog throughout my research process I have come to the conclusion that writing a blog does not necessarily mean you have to write for other's sake.

When I have written these blog posts about my research project I have only had myself in mind. I have been able to keep up with what I have done, what I need to do next and reflect over how I have been successful or what I need to do in order to be so. Yes, of course, this blog is a part of our syllabus and yes,   I have to write it for my class, but I have at least appreciated it, and even actually enjoyed it.

Writing down my thought and ideas have been great. I have been able to go back to my previous blog posts and see what my next step will be. I am also thankful that two people commented on my latest blog post, that gave me some new ideas and other perspective of my inquiry question.

I have learned that writing a research paper consists of so many more parts than just researching and writing. It takes time, no question about that, and this has left me both frustrated, nervous and panicked. But I have managed to calm myself down, take advantage of great resources (thank you Donna and Ms. Ingram) and from there on being able to overcome that situation. I am still not sure where this will lead me  with this project, but I am at least sure of that if I keep working I will be successful in the end.

/ Lisa

Post 3: Update on research

Since I wrote the last blog post I have been working on finding more research. I have been in contact with Donna, the librarian. I also stopped by to talk to Ms. Ingram about finding research. They have been a great help. Thank you so much!
I struggled before to find research about health and weather, therefore I tried to limit my research into topics such as "weather and asthma" or "weather and depression". This made it a lot easier to find more relevant information.

Although my research topic is relatively broad and can apply to all people, I think people who suffers from these diseases will find it more interesting than others. Who knows, this might help them find new solutions to live healthier and improve their health?

I believe my topic is pretty timely since the change in climate always is a hot topic, and especially now with the global warming issue as well. This is a topic I really care about since I have felt a big difference with my asthma since I moved to Charlotte.

I have yet to discover more viewpoints for my research topic. Although some people believe that cold and rainy weather might be better for some diseases, while warm and moist weather might help for others.

I did not know how time consuming it was to do research. I have spent hours on talking to Donna, search the web, searching for one book in the library at three different floors, getting lost in the library but thank god, eventually found it. And I feel like I have not accomplished anything yet...

I have commented on Anthony's blog about tap water

Post 2: Research Findings

Since I have been away playing a tennis match in Dayton, Ohio I have only been able to do limited research. While I was in the library during Wednesday morning I was able to find a book about seasonal affective disorder. The author of the book is Rosenthal, Norman E. and the title is Seasonal Disorder. It is a summary and description of what seasonal affective disorder actually is, what the symptoms are, but it also discusses if light therapy might help.

Since I have not been able to do more research, I am unsure if this topic actually is something I can pursue. I will have to make a decision by Tuesday so I can start working more on finding research.

Post 1: Research Topic

I have decided to research if and how the weather affects our health.
I chose this question because ever since I moved here to Charlotte I have experienced a big difference in how the weather is compared to Sweden. I would like to know if this actually affects me in any way.

I believe it is important to know the answer to this question. It might help to determine where I will live in the future. I also think this can help some people with their health conditions and be more aware of what changes they can make in order for them to be as healthy as possible.
Since the weather and climate always is changing, I believe this question is very accurate.

Some of my questions are:

• Can the weather affect diseases such as asthma, allegies, migraines, etc?
• Does it affect our mood in any ways?
• Does the air affect our health?
• Climate changes?
• How does cold weather/Warm weather affect our bodies?