Extraordinarily stressed and vigilant? How racism makes people physically ill

Weathering is a term Arline Geronimus coined in the early 1990s. She defines it as “the physiological effects of living in communities that bear the brunt of racial, ethnic, religious and class discrimination”.

Weathering, “is critical to understanding and eliminating population health inequity” and involves not just the physical and environmental stressors of being marginalised, but the “psychosocial” ones as well – high stress, constant vigilance, a lack of trust that things will be OK. The process, she has observed in her research, leads to premature ageing, chronic conditions and early death.

Read more about how racism makes people physically ill.