Many people know this strange mismatch: more warmth and sunshine, yet less energy and enthusiasm. What lies behind this inexplicable shift in mood, irritability, fatigue, and the inability to focus or relax?
Anxiety Syndrome
This springtime issue, which lacks obvious physical signs, cannot be dismissed as “imaginary.” Behind these disruptive mental reactions are invisible processes that reduce productivity. You force yourself to leave the house, only to turn back halfway to your destination feeling confused and uneasy. You cancel plans in a state of emptiness and collapse onto your pillow instead of tackling your “to-do” list. It’s not so much the fear of the consequences of “skipping out” that troubles you, but rather this mysterious feeling that interferes with communication and problem-solving. Psychologists often call this anxiety syndrome.
Unlike physiological anxiety, which is a healthy response to a real threat, this anxious state is an unconscious, persistent worry. While adaptive anxiety mobilizes the body’s resources to prevent harm, this form disorganizes the person: they become paralyzed and unable to make the simplest decision—whether to step outside or stay home.
This “spring turbulence” can bring distractibility, forgetfulness, fatigue, migraines, irritability, insomnia, a racing heart, and other psychosomatic symptoms. Patients visit doctors complaining of back, lower-back, stomach, or heart pain, only to be referred to neurologists, psychiatrists, and psychologists. Mental health professionals often uncover the reasons behind symptoms that seem unrelated: the same muscle tension frequently turns out to be a consequence of chronic stress and constant strain.
At-Risk Groups
Those with unstable mental health are particularly susceptible to spring anxiety disorders. Their comfort comes from a familiar rhythm of life and predictable situations. After adapting to winter’s monotonous routine, they can feel lost when spring ramps up activity. This is not only due to the surge in work and social demands at this time of year—changes in diet, weather, and seasonal wardrobes can also trigger panic. Increased sunlight and the blossoming of nature can spark sudden anxiety and disorientation. Stronger sun and blooming plants pose a particular challenge for people with light sensitivity and pollen allergies.
The transitional seasons can act as a catalyst for neuroses in insecure, highly sensitive people and in patients suffering from chronic fatigue. Workaholics, perfectionists, and people who doubt themselves raise their stress levels because they fear losing control and failing to meet new demands.
Anxiety often shows up as obsessive thoughts about how one is perceived and pessimistic expectations, along with a false sense of negative judgment and hostility from the world. This gloomy mood frequently pairs with a frantic urge to be busy. People become restless and impatient, struggle to sleep, and find it hard to stay still—fingers and knees “dance,” and hands, legs, cheeks, or eyes twitch. Some mask growing unease with excessive chatter, others withdraw into apathy, and some lash out aggressively over trivial matters. Triggers can include unpleasant sounds: phone calls, loud conversations, children’s screams, sirens, the TV blaring, and disruptive music.
Neurosis or Dystonia?
This “spring” syndrome can also be described as autonomic dysfunction. While neurosis refers to a disorder of the central nervous system, vegetative-vascular dystonia is a malfunction of the autonomic nervous system. Anxiety is common to both. Symptoms often appear together, with one disorder exacerbating the other.
A patient may experience weakness, lethargy, fatigue, irritability, anxiety, tearfulness, and heightened sensitivity to weather changes. In cases of VSD (vegetative-vascular dystonia), sleep and wake patterns are disrupted, leading to night terrors, dizziness, blood pressure fluctuations, and pain in the ribs, back, neck, heart, intestines, and stomach. Some cases of VSD are complicated by signs of mental disorders. Derealization in the medical history shows the brain’s reaction to stress, when the surrounding environment feels distant and unreal.
A complication of VSD can be an autonomic crisis—a sudden attack marked by massive system failure: sweating, drowsiness, pallor, a feeling of suffocation, panic attacks (a sense of impending doom), tachycardia, and sharp blood pressure swings. In such a state, a person may completely lose the ability to function and could even struggle to detect a pulse.
Causes often trace back to hereditary factors (VSD can appear from an early age), past infections and intoxications, overwork, chronic stress, and emotional burdens. Statistically, up to 80% of people worldwide are familiar with VSD, and one in three requires qualified treatment.
What to Do During a Flare-Up?
Autonomic and nervous disruptions require prevention and correction: patients should be monitored by a doctor in the spring and fall. Treatment may include magnetic stimulation, massage, and physical therapy. Doctors may prescribe medications to strengthen the nervous system and normalize vitamin and mineral balance. Along with vitamin complexes, antidepressants, tranquilizers, antispasmodics, and neuroleptics are often used.
For trembling, numbness in the hands and feet, migraines, palpitations, and anxiety, relax the muscles of the back and shoulders: find a comfortable position and use calming breathing exercises; if needed, consult a doctor about a mild sedative. Drink warm tea with honey and lemon or infusions of mint, lemon balm, chamomile, or valerian. Use herbal teas, fresh juices, and fruit drinks to ease spring flare-ups. Stay hydrated: aim for at least 1.5 liters of pure (preferably natural mineral) water daily.
Walk on tiptoes, twist your torso, rotate your wrists, and make circular movements with your arms. Spend more time outdoors, swim, keep a moderate daily routine, and eat healthily: choose foods rich in iron, potassium, and magnesium.
Stop living at the expense of your health. Let go of excessive responsibility and the need to meet everyone else’s expectations. Replace “have to” with “want to” in your mindset. Psychologists encourage listening to your own desires. Don’t sweat the small stuff and free yourself from the world’s sorrows: humanity will always have problems, and your life is finite. Personal grievances won’t change anything. By regretting the past and worrying about the future, we lose the joy of the present. Strive to find pleasure in what interests you here and now.
