Now yes. After two years of pandemic and a gray month of April Spring has finally arrived. And with it the good weather, skin in the sun, plans on the street and “it’s hot” that Los Rodríguez sang. Various stimuli that can make people start to see each other prettier. If this is your case, know that it is not a mere feeling: science confirms that there is much truth in the old adage –”spring alters the blood”– which becomes one of the great refrains of the spring season.
Although the human being as a species does not have a mating season, yes, there are certain changes in erotic desire depending on the season. And if something characterizes spring, it is an increase in libido, as María Ramos Escamilla, psychologist, sexologist and couples therapist, explains. The also co-creator of PsicoaSexoría clarifies that, although it does not occur in all people equally, there are certain factors that, mixed, make it easier for many people feel a kind of “sexual awakening” at this station.
Light and heat revolutionize (literally) our hormones. Marcelino Gómez Balaguer, coordinator of the Differentiation and Sexual Identity Group of the Spanish Society of Endocrinology and Nutrition (SEEN), explains that it is a proven fact that during spring there are alterations that have to do with the life cycle.
“The presence of the sun influences the production of endorphins that help increase sexual desire”
“There are a series of hormones and neurotransmitters that increase, very possibly influenced and in response to light, temperature and perhaps other atmospheric conditions. The best known of them is light. In response, there is an increase in dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and pheromone”, assures the specialist in Endocrinology. Four natural chemicals that are often defined as the “happiness quartet”.
With the heat comes the best mood
With the increase in hours of sunshine, a greater amount of vitamin D. Although it is not yet completely clear, it is a compound that some studies have associated with the presence of testosterone. “Likewise, the presence of the sun influences the production of endorphins that help reduce stress and increase sexual desire,” adds the sexologist from PsicoaSexoría.
The increase in temperature also causes us to be in a better mood., which in turn encourages us to have a more receptive attitude towards others. We leave home more, avoid routine and fall less into repetitive activities. All this, points out Ramos Escamilla, enriches our creativity, which extends to the sexual sphere.
Goodbye mask, hello smiles
It is noticeable, above all, in erotic shops. The sexologist, who runs the business Destino Kink, assures that it is more than proven that during vacations and bridges people spend more time enriching their sexuality with toys and erotic products: “It seems that there is more predisposition to try and experience new sensations”.
In addition, this spring has the peculiarity that it is something different from the previous two: there are many more possibilities to find attractive people without a mask. It is no longer just that people wear lighter clothes and show off their bodies, it is that now we also see their smiles.
“The mouth is an important erotic claim. Not only because it is what we kiss with, but also for an aesthetic reason. Seeing more smiles activates brain areas of oxytocin, the so-called love hormone. We feel closer to people, we feel loved ones when they smile at us and activate us to do it too. That affects us psychologically and emotionally,” says psychologist, sexologist and writer Ana Sierra.
This is so because “desire problems are generally associated with anxiety processes or disorders,” he continues. “If we manage to release oxytocin (a hormone that works as an antidote to cortisol, the stress hormone), there is a greater chance that any type of desire will be activated. That includes erotic, sexual, meeting someone or starting relationships” .
body odors
And maybe common sense would suggest that sweat and heat odors back off, but our most animal instinct tells us the opposite: we attract each other more. It happens a bit like in Patrick Suskind’s novel ‘Perfume’, where a fragrance made from body odors drives people into ecstasy and makes them completely forget about civilized behavior.
As Ramos Escamilla points out, “with the arrival of the heat, sweat appears. And this increases body odours, closely related to [evolutivamente hablando] with the search for a sexual partner”. A study published in 2016 in the journal ‘Nature’ showed to what extent these aromas were important when pairing up.
“Body odors are enhanced, closely related [evolutivamente hablando] with the search for a sexual partner”
The reason is that people have substances called human leukocyte antigens (HLA, for its acronym in English) on the surface of almost all tissue cells. Thus, according to this research, we tend to look for partners with HLAs that are as different as possible from our own, as also happens to fish, birds and other mammals. The reasons are evolutionary: that way the offspring will have a greater resistance against a variety of pathogens.
Of what there is not yet enough scientific proof that we have pheromoneslike other animals. “They are volatile substances that would transmit certain messages between individuals by smell. Some insects detect the existence of a female from kilometers away by smell. In the human species they are possibly atavistic remains of reproductive behavior from thousands of years ago”, assures the endocrine. Its substitutes, he points out, are perfumes. They are only advertised by sexy people for a reason.
animal Kingdom
Ana Sierra addresses the cycles of women in her book ‘Sexual conversations with my grandmother’. “Women are cyclical and spring corresponds to preovulation. It is a time of new beginnings, not on a symbolic level. The body really has more energy. You feel like starting things,” she says.
There are animals that come out of hibernation with the same desire to start relationships. Because in the same way that many plants bloom in spring and return the leaves to the trees, it is also the season of the year in which many animal species carry out their courtship.
María Luisa Fernández Miguel, president of the Veterinary Association of Tenerife, points out that, despite our general feeling, what really marks the sexual rhythms of some species does not have so much to do with the time of heat as with the dates of birth of the females. pups. However, in our climatic zone, this period usually coincides with spring, which is when herbivores can feed on more plants. And, in turn, carnivores and their offspring of herbivores.
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Of course, the also member of the Veterinary Collegiate Organization (OCV) affirms that “in general, sexual behavior has to do with the hours of light and with the stimulation of the pineal gland and the production of melatonin, which mark the biorhythms. And in that sense, it does coincide with the spring season.”
For example, there is more courtship in birds, which is highly photoperiod dependent. But surely, as this season progresses, peacocks and pigeons will not be the only ones we will see display their grace as a mating ritual. According to science, in this, once the heat arrives, we are all in the same bag.