Page 64 - South Mississippi Living - March, 2017

HEALTHY LIVING feel good weather
Is SpRiNg FeVeR rEaL?
story by Kelsey Sunderman-Foster
The phenomenon of spring fever has been documented for centuries, dating all the way back to 1843. Poets and scientific minds alike have marveled over the changes that occur in people during the months of April and May, presenting symptoms like a flushed face, increased heart rate, appetite loss, restlessness and daydreaming. But what brings about this sense of excitement for the beginning of spring? Is this sensation more than just mental, but physical as well?
According to Christie Nicholson’s Scientific American article, “Fact or Fiction: Spring Fever Is a Real Phenomenon,” a great deal of research has been done on the subject. “Matthew Keller, postdoctoral fellow at the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics in Richmond, studied 500 people in the U.S. and Canada and found that the more time people spent outside on a sunny spring day the better their mood,” wrote Nicholson. “Such good moods decreased during the hotter summer months and there is an optimal temperature for them, Keller claims.”
One theory for this flux in emotions is that physical changes are brought about by climate. In The New York Times article “Spring Fever, Down to a Science,” author Michael Freitag spoke with director of seasonal
studies at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Md., Dr. Norman Rosenthal. “The intuitive explanation for the phenomenon of spring fever is that humans instinctively react to seasonal changes, just as some animals hibernate in winter,” Dr. Rosenthal said.
While this reaction was once thought to be purely psychological, Dr. Rosenthal said there is increasing evidence that it is actually physiological and the change in seasons leads to a readjustment of the body’s internal chemistry.
“Another popular theory is that the increasing intensity and longevity of sunlight in spring is somehow measured by the brain, probably through the eyes,” Freitag wrote. “This information is then transmitted to the pineal gland in the base of the cerebrum, which responds by reducing its secretion of melatonin, a hormone that influences mood and energy levels.”
Though there are many theories for why we experience spring fever, there are clearly signs of a correlation between our mood and the lengthening days of spring. Though we might not yet have a definitive source for our renewed springtime energy, the evidence for spring fever continues to transition it from science fiction to science fact.
www.nytimes.com/1989/03/22/garden/spring-fever-down-to-a-science.html www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-spring-fever-is-a-real-phenomenon
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