Ahhhh, Serotonin

Have you ever paused on an April day and listened, really listened, to bird songs? Or whiffed the fragrance of flowers on the wind and sought the source? Have you suddenly felt the sun warmer on your face than recently, or noticed someone who seems more attractive this month? And, as a result, have you ever felt like sitting down to forget whatever you were doing and celebrate these little things a while? Well then, you’ve been infected by the benevolent virus of spring fever. And who hasn’t?

Large chunks of the chilled country are still a few weeks away from noting the sun streaming through the windows again. But it’s definitely on the way.

Consumed with multi-tasking and oblivious to seasons (unless it’s raining), urbanites might be less susceptible to spring fever. Yet it’s a magnificent malady, one that humans have endured with enjoyment and a delicious dollop of guilt for eons.

Spring is so full of promise, like the first day of a sports season before the drug and assault charges. Spring is a comforting time too, offering implicit assurance to any species that life’s rhythms and romances are progressing according to plan. Nature times so many births for spring, giving newcomers all summer to grow strong and savvy before survival school starts come fall.

So, everyone will no doubt be tickled to know that despite no one asking for it, there’s now a scientifically sterile explanation for this seasonal sense of well-being. It has to do with our serotonergic response to increased daylight and how responsive our mood-defining neurotransmitters are.

See, there’s this dopamine and serotonin and melatonin and norepinephrine in our bodies. Oxytocin gets released. And testosterone gets in there too, which isn’t always bad. And somehow in spring our mood gets better -- maybe even a little frisky. And we think it’s the season.

So the next time this spring you’re tempted to stop somewhere grassy and, say, count clouds, halt your nonproductive daydreaming forthwith and just picture all that tonin stuff swirling around in your head like a gaseous nebula. That’ll snap you right out of a useless, crippling seizure of spring fever and get your feet back where they belong, right down on Earth.

If you want to.