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Spring Fever

In the winter, noses can be found buried in books in libraries and dorms on campuses nationwide. Bodies can be found hibernating under layers of school sweaters and down jackets. However, with the blooming of the flowers and the first scents of spring, many can be found out and about partaking in this spring’s romantic interludes.

During the spring, many factors take place that help usher students into spring romance. Psychology professor, Oscar Barbarin at the University of Michigan offered an explanation to the phenomenon.

“Spring is a time of re-awakening; longer days, [the hope] for warmer weather. Many people move from the doldrums of winter and are uplifted by the changing climatic and physical environment, [which can have] a positive emotional impact and a positive physical effect.”

Some have gone as far as to link this phenomenon to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). What is know to some as the the “winter blues” or the “hibernation reaction”, has been recognized by the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual.

SAD is characterized by a type of depression as the days grow shorter in the fall and the winter. It is believed that those affected are reacting unfavorably to the decreasing amounts of light and the colder temperatures. Symptoms of SAD include tiredness, fatigue, depression, and a loss of sex drive, which can explain the lack of interest in the opposite sex.

“I don’t know if I have a disorder but I do know that in the winter you just don’t have the energy to get dressed up or put make up on-You feel like throwing on a pair of sweats, going to class, coming back to your room and going to bed," said Kelechi Anyanwu a freshman majoring in nursing at Howard.,"You don’t even feel like really going out anywhere to meet anybody because that involves going outside.”

Others explain the keener interest in the opposite sex as having to do with dress. In the spring when a peacock is ready to mate, he shows interest in a peahen by displaying its colorful plumage. Just like animals in the spring ready for mating, college co-eds start to show their ready for love through their dress.

Emmanuel Onyeriyim, a sophomore majoring in physical therapy major says” I think that a girl looks more attractive in the spring because first, she is showing more skin, and second girls tend to wear more radiant colors."

Whatever the reason, spring has sprung and college co-eds are ready for love.