When summer arrives, it's also a time of year when we get used to being happier and feeling freer.
This is largely due to the fine weather, which makes us feel more alive, but also to vacations, which in many cases can be enjoyed and allow us to get away from our professional or school obligations. What's more, the arrival of summer has a direct influence on our love relationships, as science has shown.
Various scientific studies have confirmed over the years that our bodies react and behave differently according to the time of year we find ourselves in. In summer, we fall more in love, and science knows why.
A season for love
The reason we fall more in love in summer is that pleasurable emotions and sexual desire find their own season at this time of year, a time when the most favourable conditions for intimate and sentimental relationships exist, in which we find ourselves with the greatest motivation, hedonism, enthusiasm and intensity and with less stress.
To this we must add that the sun activates the secretion of neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, which promote romance, in addition to the fact that, during the summer, serotonin and testosterone levels rise, being key substances in explaining the reason for summer's crush.
Serotonin is a key substance for science and is largely responsible for the fact that we fall more in love during the summer period. This is able to reduce anxiety while improving mood, but it also gives us better perception and reduces alertness to external situations. All this translates into a greater ability to pick up and respond to signs of conquest, with greater acceptance of one's own body and a reduction in modesty and prejudice. However, serotonin is not alone, as alongside it is oxytocin. This hormone, known as the “love hormone”, promotes attachment behaviors and reaches its highest level of secretion in the presence of social stimuli. So, at this time of year, we have more contact, which helps us feel better about ourselves and more receptive to others.
As if that weren't enough, we need to add to the equation the presence of the hormone testosterone, which is said to provide the scientific basis with a biological underpinning supported by various experts, who suggest that this hormone is responsible for love and sexual desire, which increases when the day is longer, as happens during the summer.
It's not just a hormonal problem
Hormonal factors are key to making us more in love in summer, but science also talks about other factors that make us more predisposed to finding love or having intimate encounters.
For example, with a tan we get suggestive, more attractive skin, in addition to the fact that because of the heat, it's common to wear lighter, more insinuating clothes, with more intense colors and more striking, cheerful prints. What's more, even the use of a smaller amount of fabric and being half-naked or nude while sunbathing encourages sexual fantasies that, during the rest of the year, go more unnoticed.
There's also the psychological side, and that's that during the summer we manage to get rid of the stress that accompanies us during the rest of the year. Summer is associated with a time of year when you can enjoy seemingly endless time, a time to relax and enjoy a great sense of well-being while engaging in your favorite outdoor activities. Added to this, summer exalts our senses, making them stimulated and able to perceive things differently from the rest of the year.
Ephemeral relationships?
It's classic to speak of “summer love” to refer to relationships that are born at this time of year and are often ephemeral relationships that end once the vacations are over. However, while experts insist that these relationships have no different expiry date to winter love, the difference is that during the summer there are more opportunities to fall in love, and many people, due to sheer geographical distance, are unable to maintain that bond necessary to sustain the relationship.
Despite technological advances, these are not capable of replacing the physical relationship.
