Why do we get sick in the spring?
As the snow slowly thaws and birds start chirping, many of us eagerly anticipate the arrival of spring. When spring does come though, everyone, including me, seems to suddenly get a lot of health problems. What is going on? Why does spring always make us sick? I wanted to do a bit of digging, but I was in my bed the whole week, and got no productive research done. Now that I am feeling slightly better, let’s see just why a shift from winter to spring gives us these troubles.
Allergies: they are one of the most common issues that people experience in the spring. Some people are allergic to the pollens that are released into the air when plants bloom. These symptoms include runny nose, sneezing, itchy eyes and congestion. It’s not just pollens, either. Things like mold or dust can also cause these symptoms, which is most likely what happened to me. I was dusting the house, and I suspect that the intake of all that dust that flew around made me allergic.
Cold and flu are also a main reason why people get sick in the spring. Things like a change in the humidity and temperature may cause our immune system to become weak, and the warm tempemratures of spring are actually perfect for bacteria to be around.
I’m sure we’ve all heard of this saying before: the spring fever. While it is considered an illness, it doesn’t actually increase the temperature of your body. It simply refers to fatigue, laziness and restlessness. We don’t actually know exactly what causes this, although some researchers believe that it is due to the change in light exposure and temperature.
Lack of vitamin D. During the winter, we don’t get enough exposure to the sunlight, and sunlight helps with producing vitamin D for the body. Vitamin D plays an important role in helping the body maintain a healthy immune system, and the lack of them definitely made us easier to get sick. This one is an easy solution though, as there are pills that you can take to supply your body with the vitamin D that it needs.
In conclusion, there are a variety of reasons that can contribute to people getting sick in the spring. Allergies, cold and flu, lack of vitamin D, and even spring fever can all take a toll on our health during this season. Fortunately, there are steps we can take to reduce these risks, such as taking pills to compensate for the lack of vitamin D, staying up-to-date on vaccinations, taking allergy medication as needed, wearing sunscreen when spending time outside, and making sure to get enough rest and exercise. I hope that these explanations helped you understand why we get sick when it becomes spring and how to combat it to enjoy spring to its fullest.