How seasons affect you: Spring

Human beings are part of a natural ecosystem. As such, the seasons—particularly the transitional periods, when we move from from one season to the next—factor significantly into how we feel.

Just as trees and animals respond differently to spring than they do to winter, humans are affected by seasonal changes too.

The difference between us and trees is we tend to forget that we’re creatures who are influenced by the forces of nature.

This makes us prone to lower emotional states and physical symptoms during seasonal transitions.

7 common springtime complaints

Since I’m publishing this article in March, I’ll talk specifically about common patterns that show up in springtime. But remember, all seasons affect your emotional and physical health.

This perspective is a foundational teaching in Chinese medicine.

In that system, each season is associated with one of Five Elements. It’s common for a season’s associated element to tip out of balance during the transition from one season to the next, causing symptoms related to that element.

The element of spring is Wood.

This time of year, you may notice the following reactions to an imbalanced Wood element:

You feel extra tense

The organ associated with Wood is Liver, which is responsible for smooth flow throughout the body. When the Liver is not functioning optimally (since it’s vulnerable to imbalance in spring), things like emotional stress, rigid posture, shallow breathing, and jaw clenching may become exacerbated.

You have headaches and other aches and pains

When things aren’t flowing smoothly, we start to experience symptoms of stagnation. These include pain, and specifically pain that feels like pressure, tightness, or restriction. Tension headaches and menstrual cramps are commonly worse this time of year.

Your muscles are really stiff

The Liver and its associated system, the Gallbladder, nourish the body’s connective tissue, tendons, and ligaments. You may notice increased stiffness, tension, or tightness in your muscles and joints in the coming weeks.

You feel irritable and frustrated

The emotional symptoms associated with Wood imbalances mimic the physical stagnation that happens—there’s an emotional stuckness that can take hold. You may notice yourself feeling extra irritable, frustrated, or annoyed.

Your fuse is shorter than usual

All elements have an associated emotion, and Wood’s emotion is anger. A healthy dose of anger helps complete a balanced emotional profile. However, when things fall out of balance, there’s a tendency for anger to rise up. Along with feeling irritable, you may find it harder than usual to control your anger.

Your digestion is messed up

Healthy digestion is heavily dependent on consistent and smooth movement throughout the whole body. When the Liver fails to maintain flow, digestive disturbances can easily occur. There’s also the whole brain-gut connection. When emotional stress is higher than usual, digestive function naturally declines.

Your eyes are bothering you

Just as all elements have an associated emotion, they also have an associated sense. Sight is the sense of Wood, so issues related to eye health may come up. This can include poor vision as well as eye pain and fatigue, and dry eyes.

What to do if you feel off in spring

Do you recognize some of those patterns?

It’s not necessarily spring’s fault—you could be a Wood type by nature, prone to the tendencies described above.

However, it’s common, even for people whose Primary Element is not Wood, to have these things show up in spring.

If you’re feeling a little off this time of year, here are some ways to nurture your Wood element:

Embrace awareness

Knowing why something may be happening to you can be very calming. The awareness alone can reduce stress and anxiety, which in turn calms the nervous system, which in turn promotes healing.

Awareness is a big deal!

So, if you’re feeling bothered by any of the symptoms mentioned above, just know it’s expected this time of year. There’s nothing wrong with you.

It can also be comforting to remind yourself that you’re part of a natural ecosystem. Just as the seedlings struggle to break ground and the animals have to shake off hibernation, there's a normal adjustment period to spring for humans as well.

This broader perspective can help ease the burden of whatever you're struggling with as spring settles in.

Press this point

Acupressure, the practice of applying manual pressure to acupuncture points, is an all-natural, fast-acting practice for shifting your energy and mindset. To balance the Wood element, you want to target the Liver meridian.

Liver 3 is one of the most powerful acupressure points for moving stuck energy, the root cause of many of the symptoms that surface in springtime.

The point is located on the top of the foot, between the first and second toes:

To find Liver 3, make sure you’re far back enough in the direction of the ankle. Many people reach for this more toward the web between the two toes, but the point is actually pretty far up the foot, at the junction where the first and second metatarsal bones meet.  

Use your thumb to apply firm pressure to Liver 3, one foot at a time. The opposite thumb usually gives the best leverage—for example, if you’re pressing Liver 3 on your left foot, use your right thumb.

Pressure on Liver 3 can feel achy at first. That usually dissipates the longer you press. Try and stick with firm pressure for 2-3 minutes while taking some slow deep breaths. After 2-3 minutes, switch to the other foot.

Be mindful of alcohol

Since Liver is the organ of Wood, you want to give it some love this time of year.

The Liver is responsible for ridding the body of unwanted toxins and chemicals—anything you put into your system eventually needs to make its way to the Liver for detoxification.

Since alcohol forces the Liver to work extra hard, it can be helpful to cut back if you’re noticing any of these springtime symptoms.

Happy spring!