What’s more enchanting than a field of flowers and butterflies? Falling in love in a field of flowers and butterflies. Seriously, though, have you ever noticed that it seems like more people fall in love in the springtime?

Coming off of a national lockdown in 2020 and a snowpocalypse in early 2021, the first signs of spring are literally the warm welcome we’ve been waiting for. But as temperatures rise, a new season may not be the only thing on the horizon. With cuffing season coming to an end, the weather may not be the only thing that’s heating up. Along with a cool breeze, love may also be blowing in the wind. Why is that, you ask? The answer is simple, according to Helen Fischer, a neuroscientist and professor at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

“It’s dopamine,” the professor explains. During warmer months like spring and summer, we are flooded with images of flowers and butterflies, birds chirping and hand-holding and the idea of people falling madly in love. When we see these images, even if it’s not exactly romantic love, but say we see a cute, little, bouncing baby while out at a restaurant, it triggers our mind to produce dopamine, a naturally occurring chemical that induces a love-like state.

Of course, there are other factors at play, however, when it comes to new love, dopamine is the main culprit. Often referred to as the “feel-good” or “happy” hormone, this chemical primes you to fall in love, and with increased levels in your system, you’ll probably fall hard.

As it relates to spring, Fisher explains, “There’s so much novelty in the spring. There is so much more color, new smells, people take their clothes off and you can see more of them. And so there is a lot of new stimuli that trigger the brain and drive up dopamine, and make you more susceptible to love.”

During the spring and summer months, our brains turn into chemical factories, so to speak, to the point that we’re basically all love junkies running around high on dopamine and pheromones and it’s simply a matter of two people meeting during a chance encounter before at least one of them feel a high. Just like a relationship that stems from cuffing season, sometimes these love affairs can go the distance, but that’s not always the case. The good news is that even if they don’t, we can count on the change of a new season and another chance to spring into love.

What are your thoughts? When did your last romance begin? Do you agree that people are more receptive to love during spring and summer? Have you ever had a “summer fling”?