Warmer days and nature awakening are not the only reasons to be cheerful. Scientists explain exactly why this season makes us feel happier

Like prisoners waiting to be released from winter, we on these small islands in the northern hemisphere have been willing spring on for weeks now, watching for signs. The hours of light are growing apace, as the shadows shrink. Chilly daffodils nod at us from municipal flower beds. Are the skies even getting bluer? Our senses are alert in ways we don’t fully understand, like a pleasing, hazy inheritance from the wild creatures we once were.

Spring has two official start dates, depending on your priorities. For meteorologists, spring already sprung on 1 March, according to their neat, evenly spaced seasons, formalised in the 1900s. But if you plot the seasons in line with our planetary activity, as humans have done for thousands of years, the “astronomical” seasons show spring starting at the vernal equinox, which this year falls this year on 20 March. Just a few days to go …

Continue reading…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like

Child referrals for mental health care in England up 39% in a year

Pandemic, social inequality, austerity and online harm fuelling soaring NHS referrals, say…

Patti Smith: ‘As a writer, you can be a pacifist or a murderer’

As she prepares to ring in 2021 with a performance on screens…

Novak Djokovic to face Casper Ruud in ATP Finals showpiece after semi wins

Djokovic can win $4,740,300 for winning the tournament Serb beat Taylor Fritz…