Why Springtime Makes Us Feel So Good

By Emily Morris

This year, we face unprecedented times as a global collective. April has been a month of oddity for all and a struggle for many as the COVID-19 pandemic dictates the rules of  daily life. In the midst of this season of uncertainty, an old friend has arrived to bring us comfort. We welcome spring as a season of new life, fresh perspective, of warmth and color and calm. What better time than now for the greenery to emerge and the flowers to blossom, grounding us in the nostalgic comforts of the season.

Why does Spring make us feel so good? Well, it’s the time of year when nature most closely meets our biological and psychological needs  to make us feel happy, hopeful, and safe. For one thing, the temperature tends to hover around 70 degrees. A 2017 study published in the journal, “Nature Human Behavior,” observed 1.6 million people in geographically diverse areas of the U.S. and China, finding the exact temperature that makes us feel the best. The results? 72 degrees—the temperature that makes us feel the most agreeable, emotionally stable, sociable, and open to new experiences. 

Besides this study of temperature, countless others have been conducted to confirm how the traits of springtime interact with humans to make them feel the highest quality of life. One UK study found that mental health improved when people could see and hear more birds in their neighborhoods. Another study showed that spending time in sunny spring weather actually opened participants’ minds to more expansive thoughts, information intake, and creativity. Many others have confirmed both the immediate and long-lasting effects of blooming flowers. It seems the colors, smells, and sensations of springtime interact with our biochemistry in the most evolutionarily ideal ways.

These are just a few reasons we prioritize the designed landscape. At Tree of Life, we can actually create better moods and experiences for people when we design spaces with their human needs in mind. We can design “outdoor rooms” that create feelings of snugness, experiences of light and temperature, or a matrix for socializing. We can plant to attract birds and pollinators or to withstand the wildlife that strolls through the garden. We can plant pathways that make life feel more manageable, safe, convenient, or beautiful. The arrival of spring seems to bring these plans to life in the most brilliant way.

So, as you walk outside, take some moments to notice the dynamic rhythms of spring pulsing around you. We’ll leave you with this poem, written by Wendell Berry, which so gorgeously describes the respite of nature in the face of uncertainty.

Boulder pine forest…

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.