In case you hadn’t heard, spring fever is real! After all t’s the season of ducklings, flowering trees and open-toed sandals, and some people are struck with a mysterious malady: spring fever. There’s now scientific proof that your heart doesn’t just get happy about the little things-it’s also more ready for love–for a variety of reasons.
Purported symptoms of spring fever include daydreaming, falling in love and having the irrepressible urge to stay outside all day. There is no cure, though some treat the disease by canceling appointments and lying in the grass beneath the drifting clouds.
Elvis caught it. So did the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Mark Twain’s character Huckleberry Finn. “It’s spring fever,” Huck exclaims in “Tom Sawyer, Detective.” “And when you’ve got it, you want–oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!”
It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want – oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!” ~Mark Twain
1. Its Hormonal
Hormone balances may play a role, so, if you suffer from spring fever, take advantage of the situation while you can. There is a theory that serotonin depends on daylight for its manufacture. This is the happiness hormone (endorphin), it overcomes the effects of the sleep hormone – melatonin, and gives us a natural mood adjustment. Therefore as the days become longer, this endorphin takes better effect.
2. Sunnier Weather
Frisky feelings could also result from getting more sunlight. When the weather gets warmer and we see more sunlight, the melatonin in our body decreases, which studies show leads to an increase in energy and vitality. Sociologist Dr. Julie Albright says, “That brings about mood changes that make it easier to find a relationship.
3. You feel sexier
As the weather gets warmer, we shed layers of clothes, we work out more, we’re more conscious of our bodies . The combination of our waning appetite and our waxing wakefulness often leads to
springtime weight loss, albeit relatively minor. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts who monitored the eating and exercise habits of six hundred people over a one-year period determined that the majority of the participants gained two pounds in the winter, both because they ate more carbohydrates and because they worked out less during that time. But as soon as spring began, the researchers found, the subjects’ caloric intake declined and their activity levels spiked. Maybe that explains why so many women love showing some skin come May or June: they’re not just enjoying the warmer temperatures, they’re also revealing slimmer figures.
4. Out and About
Winter imprisons us in its frigid arms. Once we stay out more in the warmth, there’s a better chance of meeting someone because you have spring fever. Getting out of winter’s captivity also makes you more festive because you’re free for the first time in a while. It might make you more willing to take risks.
5. Increased Energy
Longer days increase our exposure to sunlight, which in turn reduces the amount of melatonin secreted by the pineal gland (a tiny, pea-sized gland located at the base of the cerebrum in the human brain). “There’s more daylight, so people have more energy,” confirms Dr. Sanford Auerbach, director of Boston University’s Sleep Disorders Center. You’re more willing to go to post-work happy hours, plan weekday dates and spend time socializing later into the evening than you normally would because you have spring fever.
Put a Little Spring in Your Step
To reap the benefits of this often magical time of year without falling prey to its harmful consequences, listen to your body. Give it the vitamin D it’s craving—just thirty minutes of sun exposure per day between April and October, preferably at midday or in the early afternoon, is sufficient to sustain adequate levels—and treat yourself to outdoor exercise whenever you can. Most of all, put your wool sweaters and heavy coats in storage, give your house a thorough spring cleaning, resume your trips to the farmers’ market, and help me celebrate the end of the winter blues. I’ll see you in the park.
Find Room To Bloom
There is always room to bloom. The weather’s warmer and love is on the mind. When isn’t it? Here, Austin-based professional matchmaker Julia McCurley shares her insight on how you can stir up a Spring fling in your own life and create new experiences you’ve been craving.
Love is in the air. Literally. I was walking my dog around my neighborhood recently and I found myself engulfed in this amazing fragrance. “What’s that smell?” I wondered. Perfume? Detergent soap? No, it was blossoms, flowers in bloom. In the next moment I realized I was witnessing a natural, yearly occurrence. It’s spring!
It felt like a celebration, at least one for my nose. Then I started seeing the trees all around me, marveling at the new sprouts and greenery. I see it in my own backyard, The Crepe Myrtle trees full of fuchsia blooms, roses, and tulips peeking up from the ground . These are hopeful signs I will be enjoying some beautiful floral arrangements soon to brighten up my home.
As I think of all the new life around me, I wonder about our own capacity to bloom. Mother Nature is a profound instructor. Does she have something to teach us with her beautiful spring? We’ve all heard the term “spring cleaning,” a time to clear out the old and usher in the new. I’d like to offer another idea for this springtime moment. How about letting go of bad habits and being good to ourselves to create more room to bloom and let love in?
Every year, without fail, the blooms always occur. Right now, in this season, we have the opportunity to see ourselves in bloom as well, creating new ways to improve how we feel about others and ourselves. What would it feel like to think about us as freshly minted in our minds, free of heaviness? Let’s start by picturing our minds as a closet, and then apply the spring-cleaning concept to our mental baggage and wipe away. Let go of some of those old ways of dealing with challenging situations in our lives.
If you are dissatisfied in certain areas, whether its your job, marriage, etc., ask yourself: what would it feel like to start over with new thoughts applied to these familiar circumstances?
Our clients at Something More receive extensive coaching on to apply the Law of Attraction to their romantic life. In other words like attracts like. If you are looking for someone fun, exciting, and intelligent, then you need to become the person you want to attract. This is a great example of changing our thoughts by taking action. As they say, action speaks louder than words.
The first step is to tell ourselves a different story about the situation. For example, let’s say you want your significant other to help out more around the house. You might have wished this for a long time, and every time you think about the situation you get mad and feel disappointed because it hasn’t changed. ,
The solution is for you to change what you think about the situation.
Instead of saying to yourself, “I wish my significant other would contribute more to running our household.” Instead try, “I love my spouse, he/she is trying and I believe he/she will find a way to improve.”
Other examples may be “I wish I would get more social invitations.” Instead of waiting around for the guest list to magically include your name, why not start having your own dinner parties and create your own fulfilling social life that might in turn produce those invitations you want? You could even start some sort of wine club, book club, cooking class or whatever you’d like to pursue to satiate get those social interaction cravings.
At Something More we recommend to our clients to have a semi-annual cleansing of the mind and heart. What this means is to get rid of all negative thoughts and to not dwell on past relationship disappointments. This may sound cliché but it is very true, things could be a lot worse, someone else is suffering more than you. Put a pen to paper and make a list of all the positive aspects in your life, and embrace an attitude of gratefulness and humility. This is how you will find room to bloom.
Our minds don’t have to hold on to old messages if we’re not telling ourselves the same old thing. Our minds can incorporate new ways of thinking and these new thoughts will make us feel better. The trick is finding something truthful about the problem and saying the new truth to ourselves instead of the same old tired thought.
It is time to create your own destiny. You already know how to feel bad about certain situations. Change your thinking. This spring, take yourself on a journey of self-awareness. So when you’re clearing out the garage, why not take a whack at your mental cobwebs too? Clean out your old thoughts. Begin again. When you find room to bloom, you might just feel great starting immediately.