Winter can be a difficult time. Short days, precious little sunshine and that inevitable Christmas/New Year hangover, have a habit of combining to create a dreary season when many retreat indoors in the hope of staying warm and waiting out the dark months.
It can be a difficult time for many and it’s a period that sees levels of depression spike each year. Yet through all the dark days and belligerent rain, there remains a distant glimmer that grows brighter as we slowly near it. Winter is fading. Spring is nearly here.
Here are six reasons to love spring,
Increased Daylight
Considering how much time we spend in houses, you’d be forgiven in thinking that the importance of daylight is waning, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Daylight, and even better direct sunlight, is incredibly important not just for humans, but for life across the planet. We are one of the few species without the ability to produce our own Vitamin D and we rely heavily on the sun rays for this vital vitamin.
Sunlight has also been shown to reduce stress, help promote better sleep patterns and may even be key to fighting off depression. But even if there isn’t glorious sunshine outside, having more daylight hours can make a huge difference to morale and when the clocks change it can often feel like a new lease of life
Mood Improves
Winter is known to be the season when seasonal affective disorder (SAD or commonly known as the winter blues) really takes hold. A combination of short cold days, limited sunlight and the bleakness of landscapes can play havoc with our mood.
Few would argue that there is something special about spring. Vibrant colours suddenly erupt from plants that have looked dead for months, baby animals appear on the scene and the temperatures slowly begin to climb. Fort most of us, it’s impossible not to have a spring in our step…pun intended.
Nature
Watching nature emerge from its winter cocoon is one of the true joys of spring. Leaves and flowers gradually appear setting off a dazzling kaleidoscope of colours that is often remarkable, especially compared to the bare greyness of winter.
Whether you are a child, have a child - or still feel like a child - watching newborn animals emerge into the world for the first time is a sight that will warm your heart.
Weather
OK, spring doesn’t necessarily guarantee good weather - ever heard of the April showers? Yet while we may not be quite at the sweltering stage of summer, spring does bring a steady increase of temperature that is impossible to miss.
While the benefit of California-esque sunshine that seems to extend throughout the year is debatable, the improvement of the weather after a long hard winter is undeniable and it's not uncommon for people to experience increased energy, be cheerful and motivated and need less sleep.
Food
These days the seasons play a much smaller role in the selection of food available than ever before. With a vast interconnected food web that stretches around the world, most of us can now get whatever food we want, whenever we want it.
Yet while that may technically be true, spring is the season that sees locally sourced produce from gardens begin to erupt. And let’s be honest, who wouldn’t agree that fruit and vegetable taste infinitely better when it’s grown locally.
Spring also often sees a change in how we eat. Winter is known as a season for stodgy feel-good food, but as spring begins, we tend to switch again to lighter and often healthier food. We tend to see diets as more attainable in spring than in the depths of winter, a factor that almost certainly is down to several other factors on this list.
Exercise
Winter doesn’t necessarily mean that we can’t exercise - we just find it significantly harder to do so. Some of this is down to very real physical issues, such as how our muscles and tendons often tighten up in the cold, which means that we often feel joint and muscle pain more acutely, but much of it can be attributed to simply mental blocks. After all, doesn’t it sound so much nice to stay inside on the sofa that running in the cold and wet?
The winter months see a drop off in exercise across the board and this almost certainly plays a role in the rise of seasonal affective disorder. With spring once again appearing, those trainers start to be laced up more frequently and it suddenly becomes so much easier to motivate yourself to exercise.
Springing Forward
Spring is an intoxicating season that sees a vivid natural rebirth after the doldrums of winter, but this is also very much the same within humans.
While our lives and social needs have changed dramatically over the last few thousand years, we tend to still want to hunker down during winter, maybe gain a little weight, and ride it out from the comfort of our own home. The effect this can have on people is dramatic and it’s no surprise that suicides and cases of anxiety and depression tend to spike during this period.
But with every misery-inducing winter comes a glorious spring that always feels full of promise. Whatever it is you want to do or want to change, spring often seems like the time to do it.
