Increasing days and higher temperatures: Spring often brings with it many interesting new things but it also brings states of anxiety, nervousness and insomnia. Most of the time, all symptoms are caused by the change of season. How can we deal with them in the best possible way? We talk about this topic with Professor Daniela Lucini, head of exercise medicine at Humanitas.
Seasonal sickness
It is the so-called spring sickness and it can be recognized by the difficulty of getting up in the morning because one feels an intense tiredness, accompanied by the scarce propensity to fall asleep immediately in the evening, despite the asthenia. Moreover, you may additionally experience anxiety and bad mood that apparently do not have a motivation. This is not the time to be alarmed. The long-awaited spring often brings with it these transient symptoms. In a few days you will feel much better.
As soon as the body and hormones have become accustomed to the light again, the circadian rhythm will self-regulate.
A very common disorder
According to a survey by the Doxa-Aidepi Observatory, 86% of Italians suffer from “spring sickness”. Around 35 million people between the ages of 18 and 70, especially women, are affected by the same temporary symptoms with the arrival of the summer season.
64% of Italians would feel a greater sense of tiredness and exhaustion during the change of season. Sleep-related disorders are also very common: 38% of respondents, in fact, declared insomnia problems. And again: the influence of spring seems to particularly affect the younger ones, those under 24 years of age, who tend to suffer more from irritability (40%) and discontent (37%), compared to adults, who complain about the same disorders in lower percentages (30% and 32% respectively). Even the anxiety, reported by 21% of respondents, seems to be more present during the arrival of spring compared to the rest of the year.
Being outdoors helps you get used to the new climate
Just under half of the respondents said they spend more time in the open air and enjoy relaxing moments to cope with the seasonal hardship. 37% try to “think positive”, while 28% find it useful to dedicate themselves to sport.
“These are not worrying symptoms if they do not last too long – added Professor Lucini. If you suffer from “seasonal sickness” my advice is to try to get out of the typical habits of winter, starting to move a bit more, eating more fresh fruit and vegetables and reducing fat and carbohydrates”.
