Austin Matchmaker

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Spring Fever Is Real!

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.