Spring fever is a phenomenon that happens as winter transitions into spring and humanity finds itself restless, energized, and, honestly, feverish! Your body temperature may continue to remain a cool 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, but that’s not the type of fever we are talking about. There are many “fake” illnesses we like to make up to explain our situation in life at one point in another to explain why we always fall upstairs or get our belt loops hooked on random objects. Does the change in the seasons, from winter to spring, really affect us? Is that change notable? Spring fever is real. As defined by Cambridge Dictionary, spring fever is “a feeling of excitement because the weather suddenly becomes warmer in spring”. During spring fever, teachers see their students being less willing to do work, businesses see a lag in work ethic from their employees, and parents see their children antsy to get out, to expel energy they didn’t have last season. While it does have a little to do with its finally not winter anymore and it's becoming nicer compared to the gray winter, it goes deeper into our biology as mammals and humans as to why we just have to get up and do something and do it now!
Spring fever still remains a clouded medical diagnosis as it has less to do with physicality and more about our psychology and natural biological tendencies. Even so, there are some scientific reasons as to why this increased amount of energy is present in spring as flowers begin to bloom once more. Part of it has to do with the increase in the amount of Vitamin D we are receiving. The sun returns and we have emerged from our winter hibernation cave and soak in the daylight having been starved of it. The increased amount of natural light, both from the sun poking out from behind the clouds and making the days longer, leads to sleeplessness as our melatonin (the natural chemical our bodies produce to help us fall asleep) levels decrease. Our bodies find it harder to sleep and that restlessness translates into our daily lives. Additionally, serotonin (the natural chemical that makes you happy, basically) levels increase with the increased amount of sunlight, or perceived sunlight. Paired with our restlessness that agitates our mood and serotonin secreting at a higher production rate, we are subject to mood swings as bad as a .000 batting average in the MLB.
So we know that spring fever affects our mood, but what about the other cravings you may be experiencing? Are they possibly related to this biological phenomenon?
-
Body image becomes huge. We find an increased desire to get fit and to get fit fast. Some of this leads to the fact we are preparing for our beach body in summer, but it also has ancestral implications. In the fall, our predecessors put on weight to prepare for the seasonal famine that was winter. In spring, they shed that weight as it was no longer needed.
-
Fresh fruits and vegetables are looking more and more like what you want to sink your teeth into and the thought of eating anything heavier may sicken you. Part of this is because many fruits and veggies weren’t in season during winter and part of it links back again to our ancestors. Their eating habits coincided with their harvests because they could only eat what was in season.
-
As we mentioned, you’re probably sleeping less. From the increased length of days to the decrease in melatonin production levels, you just can find yourself able to rest. Still, you may be feeling lazy, just the kind of lay-in-the-sun-with-a-good-book kind of lazy.
-
The restlessness as well as the need to trim down our body fat tie into this sudden, sometimes surprising, desire to walk, jog, or run outside. Children burst from the school at recess, employees take their break to ride their bike or go for a quick turn about outside, and it all comes back to SPRING!
-
Twitterpation, so adorably defined by the beloved 1942 Disney movie Bambi, by Friend Owl when he said, “...you're walking along, minding your own business. You're looking neither to the left, nor to the right, when all of a sudden, you run smack into a pretty face”. A symptom of spring fever is actually this twitterpation, or, increased sex drive. Men tend to produce more sperm and women’s sexual arousal tends to spike, once again, because of that increase in light.
-
You may notice an increase in your overall mood. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), colloquially known as seasonal depression, hits hardest during winter. As spring creeps in, the crushing of seasonal depression lifts and lightens.
-
Do you just want to clean, reorganize, and refresh all of a sudden? Spring cleaning is embedded in our culture from ancient traditions in China to religious ties to Christianity and Judaism, and if you’re wanting to clean, your internal clock is aligned with a billion or so other people in the world.
-
You are happier. While spring brings allergies and other seasonal ailments, for the majority of people, the change in seasons makes them happier.
If you are showing signs of these spring fever symptoms, you may have caught the bug. Don’t worry, though. You’ll be happy about it. Medicine and cowbells aside, this fever only has one prescription and its indulgence.
News / Health
Everything you need to know about spring fever
By Staff, AccuWeather
Published May 4, 2020 5:37 PM PDT
An illness that makes people feel more energized and need less sleep may sound like a myth, but it actually exists.
Spring fever is a phenomenon that happens as winter transitions into spring and humanity finds itself restless, energized, and, honestly, feverish! Your body temperature may continue to remain a cool 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, but that’s not the type of fever we are talking about. There are many “fake” illnesses we like to make up to explain our situation in life at one point in another to explain why we always fall upstairs or get our belt loops hooked on random objects. Does the change in the seasons, from winter to spring, really affect us? Is that change notable? Spring fever is real. As defined by Cambridge Dictionary, spring fever is “a feeling of excitement because the weather suddenly becomes warmer in spring”. During spring fever, teachers see their students being less willing to do work, businesses see a lag in work ethic from their employees, and parents see their children antsy to get out, to expel energy they didn’t have last season. While it does have a little to do with its finally not winter anymore and it's becoming nicer compared to the gray winter, it goes deeper into our biology as mammals and humans as to why we just have to get up and do something and do it now!
Photo by Sebastian Voortman
The science behind spring fever
Spring fever still remains a clouded medical diagnosis as it has less to do with physicality and more about our psychology and natural biological tendencies. Even so, there are some scientific reasons as to why this increased amount of energy is present in spring as flowers begin to bloom once more. Part of it has to do with the increase in the amount of Vitamin D we are receiving. The sun returns and we have emerged from our winter hibernation cave and soak in the daylight having been starved of it. The increased amount of natural light, both from the sun poking out from behind the clouds and making the days longer, leads to sleeplessness as our melatonin (the natural chemical our bodies produce to help us fall asleep) levels decrease. Our bodies find it harder to sleep and that restlessness translates into our daily lives. Additionally, serotonin (the natural chemical that makes you happy, basically) levels increase with the increased amount of sunlight, or perceived sunlight. Paired with our restlessness that agitates our mood and serotonin secreting at a higher production rate, we are subject to mood swings as bad as a .000 batting average in the MLB.
Photo by picjumbo.com
Signs & symptoms of spring fever
So we know that spring fever affects our mood, but what about the other cravings you may be experiencing? Are they possibly related to this biological phenomenon?
Body image becomes huge. We find an increased desire to get fit and to get fit fast. Some of this leads to the fact we are preparing for our beach body in summer, but it also has ancestral implications. In the fall, our predecessors put on weight to prepare for the seasonal famine that was winter. In spring, they shed that weight as it was no longer needed.
Fresh fruits and vegetables are looking more and more like what you want to sink your teeth into and the thought of eating anything heavier may sicken you. Part of this is because many fruits and veggies weren’t in season during winter and part of it links back again to our ancestors. Their eating habits coincided with their harvests because they could only eat what was in season.
As we mentioned, you’re probably sleeping less. From the increased length of days to the decrease in melatonin production levels, you just can find yourself able to rest. Still, you may be feeling lazy, just the kind of lay-in-the-sun-with-a-good-book kind of lazy.
The restlessness as well as the need to trim down our body fat tie into this sudden, sometimes surprising, desire to walk, jog, or run outside. Children burst from the school at recess, employees take their break to ride their bike or go for a quick turn about outside, and it all comes back to SPRING!
Twitterpation, so adorably defined by the beloved 1942 Disney movie Bambi, by Friend Owl when he said, “...you're walking along, minding your own business. You're looking neither to the left, nor to the right, when all of a sudden, you run smack into a pretty face”. A symptom of spring fever is actually this twitterpation, or, increased sex drive. Men tend to produce more sperm and women’s sexual arousal tends to spike, once again, because of that increase in light.
You may notice an increase in your overall mood. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), colloquially known as seasonal depression, hits hardest during winter. As spring creeps in, the crushing of seasonal depression lifts and lightens.
Do you just want to clean, reorganize, and refresh all of a sudden? Spring cleaning is embedded in our culture from ancient traditions in China to religious ties to Christianity and Judaism, and if you’re wanting to clean, your internal clock is aligned with a billion or so other people in the world.
You are happier. While spring brings allergies and other seasonal ailments, for the majority of people, the change in seasons makes them happier.
If you are showing signs of these spring fever symptoms, you may have caught the bug. Don’t worry, though. You’ll be happy about it. Medicine and cowbells aside, this fever only has one prescription and its indulgence.
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