There's something in the air, and it's not just pollen. Spring break, spring break, spring wedding — spring fever. We want to go out, wear less clothes, and socialize more. Children feel it too. Talk to any teacher and you'll hear that classrooms are going crazy.
Dr. Michael Smolensky, a professor at the University of Texas at Houston School of Public Health, says that energy surge, in whatever form it takes, is due to longer days and more sunlight. .he is the co-author of the book A guide to your body clock to improve your health.
In fact, many aspects of daily life are governed by seasonal patterns and circadian rhythms, or our body clocks, Smolensky tells WebMD.
„These are the rhythms of life, and we take them for granted,“ he says. „People accept the fact that our bodies are organized spatially – that our toes are at the ends of our feet and the hairs on our heads stand up. We hardly think about the fact that it is structured within.”
As the seasons change, the retina, or inner layer, changes. eye leads to brain According to Sanford Auerbach, MD, director of the Boston University Sleep Disorders Center, humans naturally respond to the first subtle signs of sunlight exposure through the optic nerve. This response causes hormonal changes, such as the regulation of melatonin, which affects hormones. sleep Changes in cycle and mood.
During the long darkness of winter, the body naturally produces more substances melatonin.For people who are prone to seasonal affective disorder, that melatonin causes winter depression. In spring, melatonin production slows down, so depression.
“With more sunlight, people have more energy, sleep „People with manic depressive disorder (bipolar disorder) may become more manic in the spring,“ Auerbach says.
body image It comes to our consciousness around this time every year. According to Smolensky, we're shaking up our cravings for carbohydrates that make us fat. „We probably inherited this from our hibernating ancestors, who started putting on weight in the fall to survive the lean winter months.“
You may have more energy in the spring, but that doesn't necessarily translate into the bedroom, Smolensky tells WebMD. „If you look at couples who keep diaries of their sexual encounters and single men who keep their own data, spring sex is actually much less common. The peak is in the fall.“
reason? Testosterone levels peak in summer and fall, not spring, he says. The evidence: More women get pregnant in late summer and early fall than in spring, he says. This pattern also appears in two CDC data. common sexually transmitted diseases, syphilis and gonorrhea. The peak is from late autumn to early winter.
Our distant ancestors chose to give birth in the fall, he says. “Given the fact that mammals have a long gestation period, it is best to conceive in the fall and give birth in the spring. During this period, a nutritious food supply supports the offspring. It may be a natural selection that is ingrained in our bodies' human genetics. ”
But our more recent ancestors founded Valentine's Day „as a pagan ritual whose sole purpose was to celebrate sexual intercourse,“ Smolensky tells WebMD. „Was this primitive way of society a way to stimulate sexual interest at a time when there was actually no sexual interest?“
Spring break and vacations may have evolved similarly, he says. „Given enough alcohol and nudity, sex is a normal reaction that can occur at any time of the year.“
A word of caution: Unplanned babies are more likely to be born during the spring, Smolensky tells WebMD.he with his IUD oral contraceptives „We found that unintended pregnancies occurred twice a year (in May and September/October), even though the women claimed to have consistently adhered to contraception. Seasonal Biology It is likely that there are factors at play, but we don't know what they are. ”
Another note: “sperm “Sperm counts in sexually active men are influenced by two factors: environmental temperature and sexual activity,” he says. When they become sexually active, sperm count It will go down slightly. When you're not sexually active, your levels go up because you're not using energy. ”