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In spring, many people feel exhausted — there’s even a special term for it: spring fatigue. But is it actually real? According to a Swiss study, the term itself may cause people to pay more attention to feeling tired.
In an online survey, many participants said they suffered from spring fatigue. But detailed interviews with hundreds of people over the course of a year showed no evidence of this. “It would have shown up in the data analysis,” says study leader Christine Blume from the University of Basel in an interview with dpa.
Blume and sleep researcher Albrecht Vorster from Inselspital Bern write in the Journal of Sleep Research (preprint) that the widely discussed phenomenon appears to be a myth in German-speaking countries. Its power comes from the fact that the term spring fatigue is so firmly established. It’s essentially a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Blume, a psychologist researching at the Center for Chronobiology, got the idea for the study because journalists regularly contacted her at the end of winter to explain spring fatigue. “There are many hypotheses to explain the phenomenon,” she says. “But no one ever checked whether it actually exists.”
No Sign of Increased Exhaustion
One common explanation is that rising temperatures cause blood vessels to dilate, lowering blood pressure — something the body must adjust to. Hormones are also often mentioned, such as an alleged excess of the “night hormone” melatonin at the end of winter.
“From a chronobiological perspective, that’s completely implausible,” says Blume. Melatonin is produced and broken down in a 24‑hour rhythm. “There is no such thing as a melatonin surplus at the end of winter that makes us tired and needs to be reduced first.”
To investigate the question, Blume and Vorster launched an online survey two years ago. Starting in April 2024, 418 people reported on their sleep and tiredness every six weeks for a year. Although 47 percent said they personally experienced spring fatigue, the individual surveys throughout the year did not confirm this: there were no signs of increased exhaustion, daytime sleepiness, or reduced sleep quality during spring.
No Empirical Evidence
“In spring, the days get longer very quickly,” Blume explains. “If spring fatigue were a real biological phenomenon, it should show up during this transition period, because the body would need to adapt.” But the data showed that the speed of changing daylight had no effect on participants’ tiredness. “We found no empirical evidence for the phenomenon.”
So where does the belief in spring fatigue come from? One suspicion: the widespread nature of the myth itself may make people more sensitive to interpreting their feelings this way — simply because the term is so well known. Psychologists call this a labeling effect: for example, wine tastes better to people when they’re told it’s expensive.
“It has to do with our expectations,” Blume says. “If I expect to be tired in spring, that changes how I interpret such ‘symptoms’.” Doctors call this the nocebo effect — the confirmation of a negative expectation, similar to the placebo effect, where positive expectations shape perception.
A Phenomenon Unknown Elsewhere
Another psychological explanation is cognitive dissonance reduction: at the end of the dark, cold season, people feel pressure to take advantage of better weather — to go jogging, take trips, meet friends. If the expected boost of energy doesn’t come, spring fatigue offers a comforting explanation, especially when others around you confirm it.
If the term spring fatigue is the key factor, it should be largely unknown outside German-speaking countries. Blume confirms this: “When I tell colleagues from other countries about it, they’re amazed.”
In the English-speaking world, the term spring fever exists — but it’s associated with increased vitality and energy, not tiredness or exhaustion.
- source: orf.at/picture: Image by Мария Ткачук from Pixabay
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