Will Spring Make Me Manic? How Sunshine Can Be Dangerous For Your Mood

Spring doesn’t just bring longer days—it often puts people with bipolar disorder at higher risk for manic symptoms and hospitalizations. Changes in sunlight at the edges of the day, circadian rhythm shifts, increased dopamine, and a faster social pace--tempts us to sleep less and do more.

With earlier wake-ups, I start to see and feel vibrant colors, have chills that arrive with a thought, telling me my nervous system is a little wound up. So I keep on top of my sleep and have a provider that makes sure I do.

Luckily, I can catch mania early on because of sleep deprivation. Even if the world feels electric, I soon carry a heavy tiredness behind my eyes. It's hard to admit, but I then know mania has arrived.

Firm up your spring routines before the lift becomes a launch. If you or someone you love navigates bipolar disorder, this conversation offers a mix of lived experience and actionable tools to keep spring and summer steady.

If this resonates, subscribe, share the episode with a friend who needs it, and leave a quick review—it helps more listeners find strong, practical support.

Transcript

Welcome And Safety Note

Janine 0:00

Welcome to Bipolar She. I'm your host, Janine Noel. The content of this show may include suicide or suicidal ideation. If you're ever in need of immediate support, please dial 988 A Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. All right, so today I'm going to be talking about seasonal mania. I come to this podcast feeling a little bit tired. I've been waking up like an hour and a half early every day, and that is just making me feel off. But it's something important to talk about because spring and summer have the most psychiatric hospitalizations for people with bipolar disorder. And bipolar disorder is hugely impacted by your circadian rhythm. So it's kind of a dicey time, and I just wanted to jump into that conversation. The first time that I felt mania that was impacted by the weather was a really hot night in New York City. Gosh, like 25 years ago. I remember I was going to a party. I was super excited. There was going to be a director there who had directed or produced a Danny DeVito film. And I never met a real director or a real producer. And my friend told me to come. And so I got kind of dressed up in a weird way. I decided I was going to like slick back my hair and just put on lipstick and try and look really fresh because fresh was the thing. Look fresh, my agent would always say. But I remember when I stepped outside on my way to this party, I got these little prickles all over my arms, all over me, over my head. And it felt like it was starting to rain. But it wasn't raining. It was just these constant prickles all the way. And it felt like this energy, this special energy that somehow I was carrying and moving through New York City with it. I remember the party. I think I was actually a little bit shy, but I really remember the walk home because when I left that party, those prickles and that sensation came into my palms, into my hands, and I started to feel like this zip zap of energy, like holding me to some universal energy of some sort, but this like electric feeling in my hands, in my palms, kind of just walking out into this wondrous world, so sensitive, so dialed in, such an actor. Now, within a couple nights, I was in a psychiatric facility. So this super exciting energy shifted into something more than I could handle. But that was a hot night. And so now having spring be here, I do get a little nervous with my sleep right now already just a little bit different. We have to be careful. And like that circadian rhythm, it's every 24 hours your body is running on a cycle that controls the way that you feel sleep, alert. It also has to do with your hormones and body temperature. And so if you're a bipolar person like me, we really got to stay on top of that. Because we're out later, we want to stay up later. You know, it's just amazing how light can trigger a mood. It can destabilize a mood. So I get a little bit nervous. It also can increase your dopamine, that motivation, reward, energy, goal-directed behavior. And then the pace of life just picks up. There's pressure to go do more things, to travel, to make plans, increase productivity, to get outdoors more. But I've started to notice the world a little bit differently. Just, you know, families having a picnic and looking so vital and vibrant and blonde and happy, and just feeling such a difference from that, going, oh, that must be full happiness over there. I don't really live with that. I kind of live over here. But then kids toddle over and they want to pet my dog, and then other kids come and they're chasing my dog in a slightly uh nervous sort of way. And then I feel connected and I feel these little chills. And then I feel more chills. I feel and see connections in the world. I see colors vibrantly. I'll have a thought, and I'll just feel my hackles go up a little bit. And this happens. And I don't know if it's spring, but it's happening a little bit more. After that first time, that first hospitalization, this kind of like sensory stuff really freaked me out. And so I would just ignore anything going on in my body. But now I feel like I can kind of accept that, oh, this is might be a little bipolar thinking, or maybe I'm just in touch with nature. Maybe I am just feeling life, and maybe that does make me nervous. So there's sort of two things going on now in my body. I would just explain it like spring kind of dials me up, makes me more alert, gives me those hackles. You know, like my nervous system is just turned up a little bit. But the good part is that I'm on so much medication, there is absolutely no way that I'm going to have a restless night at this point. And I just stay in bed when I wake up at 4:30. I just stay in bed and I get that kind of weird sleep. But I know for me, if I'm getting manic, things start to feel really good, but there's also this deep tiredness behind my eyelids that I'm carrying this exhaustion behind my eyes. The world is great and very exciting and is zip-zapping on my hands, but there's this deep, deep tiredness. And for me, I know that is an early sign of mania. Thanks for listening to this micro episode as I put together a new season. I have some great personal stories and experts in the field, and we're looking at our bipolar beginnings. Does your bipolar illness feel entirely genetic or environmental? Or does it go back to childhood trauma? The origin story of illness is different for everyone, and it seems limitless, and I can't wait to share these voices with you. In the meantime, take your sleep seriously, and always talk to your provider if you're noticing changes. It's our key to a stable spring and summer. And as always, thanks for listening.