{"id":138082,"date":"2020-03-29T16:00:56","date_gmt":"2020-03-29T14:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/2020\/03\/29\/birds-buds-and-bright-days-how-spring-can-make-us-healthier-and-happier\/"},"modified":"2020-03-29T16:00:56","modified_gmt":"2020-03-29T14:00:56","slug":"birds-buds-and-bright-days-how-spring-can-make-us-healthier-and-happier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/?p=138082","title":{"rendered":"Birds, buds and bright days: how spring can make us healthier and happier"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Longer, lighter days can help us banish old habits, sleep better and improve our mental health, even during the lockdownThank goodness that, in this time of crisis, it is now spring. In the northern hemisphere, at least, we can say hello to green shoots, flowers, bumblebees and butterflies. Finally, the clocks have gone back to British Summer Time. We\u2019ve lost an hour of sleep, but hello, light.The greatest hope for the new season this year is that better weather will start to make it harder for coronavirus to spread. And for those lucky enough to still have their health, spring can provide other consolations. Its strong sense of a new beginning nudges our outlook and actions in welcome ways. Katherine Milkman, a behavioural scientist at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, has studied the phenomenon and found that there is more to spring cleaning than the sunlight suddenly showing up cobwebs and window smears. \u201cThe start of spring generally makes us feel more motivated \u2013 it\u2019s a so-called \u2018fresh start date\u2019,\u201d she says. As such, it makes us feel less connected to the past. \u201cThat disconnect gives us a sense that whatever we messed up on previously, we can get right now. Maybe the old you failed to quit smoking or start a lasting exercise routine, but the new you can do it.\u201d Continue reading&#8230;<br \/>\nVia: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/lifeandstyle\/2020\/mar\/29\/birds-buds-bright-days-spring-healthier-happier\" target=\"_blank\">Birds, buds and bright days: how spring can make us healthier and happier<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Longer, lighter days can help us banish old habits, sleep better and improve our mental health, even during the lockdownThank goodness that, in this time of crisis, it is now spring. In the northern hemisphere, at least, we can say hello to green shoots, flowers, bumblebees and butterflies. Finally, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=138082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138082\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=138082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=138082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=138082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}