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Why Love Follows the Seasons of the Year

Is Love Seasonal?

It is clear that the weather does have a profound effect on human beings. Generally, we thrive in the sunshine especially as we need vitamins like D3 (cholecalciferol), which is gained from exposure to the sun's rays. This sunshine vitamin helps the body to absorb calcium from food digested and regulates phosphorus in the body. Conversely, humans tend to be somewhat reclusive in the colder, winter months.

The majority of people struggle with what can be described as seasonal affective mood issues, also known as seasonal affective disorder ("SAD"). This is a depression associated with changes in seasons. This mostly begins during the autumn, and continues throughout the winter season. This period is generally marked by low energy, moodiness, and a general lack of interest in activities. Seasonal affective disorder can have a considerable impact on your relationships.

Maybe as human beings we somewhat lazy, and love is more of an effort at certain times. Could it be that in the winter, we just want to feel comfy and snug whilst enjoying the holidays? Do we associate togetherness with Christmas, and do not actively look for a partner during the colder months? Maybe this could explain why depression statistics elevate during these months as we have these preconceptions for the seasons.

However, the arrival of Valentine's Day in February is both an attempt to combat the winter blues and a celebration of the spring passion. Clearly, a romantic relationship can spark during any of the seasons of the year, however there are factors that make some seasons more conducive to love.

So exactly which is the best time or season for love?

Spring Love

From time immemorial, spring has generally been associated with passion, joy, and reawakening; the "spring fever." It is a time of clichés -- inspiring feelings, bees buzzing, birds singing, and people falling in love madly. According to scientists, however, the love sickness we see in spring can only be blamed on one thing; dopamine. This is a naturally occurring chemical that is used by the brain to make one desire things.

Of course, there are other factors involved in love, but according to experts, when it comes falling in love for the first time, the main culprit is dopamine. We naturally have ample amounts of it circulating around our entire system, making us susceptible to falling in love. Every spring, your brain unconsciously becomes a prolific dopamine factory, effectively turning you into a love bird.

Dopamine is typically triggered by your novel experiences and there is plenty in the spring. There are plenty of new stimuli that easily trigger your brain, driving up dopamine, making you more prone to deeper romantic emotions. There are new smells, more colour, and the opposite gender is at their best. Who can help from falling in love!

Many people reporting affairs note that springtime is often the trigger to cheating and affairs. Maybe given we are visual creatures, that the spring season brings more colourful outfits and visions to motivate us to love. Certainly, one could expect to see more skin during the warmer months in both sexes, as well as increased receptiveness to romance and love. Clearly, no one wants to be 'out in the cold' in the winter. The Gregorian calendar offers love opportunities in the leap year calculation via the 364.25 days. Of course, this interrelates with the moon and weather, which offers again the connection to our mood.

Summer Love

A study published in the Archives of Sexual Behaviour journal, where researchers through tracking strategic Google keyword used in the US, assessed the nation’s real-time mood. It became apparent that people’s interest in the online mating game tended to peak around early summer and Christmas. One possibility could, of course, be that this was purely a social phenomenon driven by the fact these times are the key holiday seasons in Western cultures.

Traditionally, we tend to take our holidays during the summer months and nicer climate. Given the extra free time to relax and simply be, we will be more emotionally charged for building relationships. Relationships clearly need time and us to be in the right frame of mind in order for success. Work will often be a barrier in several ways, to us being "available" and having the time to spare to date in a meaningful way.

Advertising plays a huge part in the summer love sensation. Marketers do a great job of bombarding us with images of happiness in love, especially during the summer months. Clearly, these messages embedded into even basic product acquisitions, subliminally root themselves in our minds, informing us somehow that we should be in love in the summer. However, we should ideally recognise these targeted advertisements but given daily pressures, often find ourselves distracted by life.

Surrounded by images of love in all these form, it is no wonder summer is the most popular season for love.

Autumn Love

Autumn (or fall) is generally a more serious time. This is the time of the year when all the summer commotion fizzles and people are getting back into the normal swing of daily routines. Perhaps it is this slowing down of things that make fall to qualify as the perfect love season. Autumn has proven to be a great season for love because everybody is seeking for someone to spend the holidays, Christmas and winter with. In the autumn, late nights are not only romantic but even better, more settled and calm as the inspiring feelings are more grounded.

I must conclude by noting that it’s not everyone who is affected by different seasons. Similarly, even those who experience seasonal changes in romantic emotions are not affected in a similar manner or intensity. Bottom line is that people can transcend the different seasons and feel or experience what they want about love.

Winter Love

Clearly, it does happen but it is not as common as falling in love in the warmer seasons. Winter love may be more stable and long-term, as it will be formed without the common distractions present the rest of the year. Given relationships formed at this time, when most are not, these relationships tend to be lengthy and more meaningful.

Winter is becoming more popular as a time to tie the knot, with colder and more magical scenery. Weddings can be fantastic experiences with a background of snow, or even a Christmas dinner for the breakfast making this a unique season for love too.

Conclusions

There is some correlation with the seasons as we as human beings are definitely more emotionally receptive in the warmer months. Shakespeare probably sums the answer perfectly in 'the course of true love never did run smooth' as we cannot predict when we will meet a person with whom we connect, even though the seasons may ignite the sparks to place us on the route to love.