With the nights getting darker and the air getting colder, it’s safe to say we’re coming into that time of the year again. It’s cuffing season.
For those of us that don’t know much about this social phenomenon, cuffing season is the time of year when single people become far more motivated to settle into relationships during the months where we’re far lonelier and in need of a cuddle to cheer us up.
By definition, cuffing season is the time of year when “people who would normally rather be single or promiscuous find themselves along with the rest of the world desiring to be cuffed or tied down by a serious relationship,” according to Urban Dictionary.
Generally, cuffing season starts in October and usually ends around March, so it lasts for all of winter and about half of spring.
There’s no definite answer as to where the term originated or why exactly it came about, but it did first appear on Twitter and on Urban Dictionary in 2010 above the definition of:
“Behind the social side of the phrase, there does come some scientific logic to this sudden weird but fun change of mind-sets in the year.”
According to researchers like Darwin, individuals who wandered through the winter alone were less likely to survive the harsh season than those who went through winter as a couple and survived far easier while also creating a family.
So essentially, cuffing season is a result of biological adaptations people and animals alike have made through time which ensures survival for the future.
Studies by The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism revealed that during the colder months, our testosterone levels rise which makes us more likely to crave the company of a special someone.
But it’s more than just our hormones that has us feeling this kind of way.
An article on Greatist shows us that much like our sex drives, we have a certain thing called our skin hunger. Skin hunger is self-explanatory, it’s our need for touch. Whenever we brush hands against something or someone, it causes a sensation.
During the winter months, we naturally crave more of this because it’s comforting and having a cuddle with someone can make us feel much cosier when it’s dark, dreary and freezing outside.
Our need to be touched doesn’t have to be completely sexual. If we think about it, getting a hug when you feel sad makes you feel a bit better. That’s all down to our hormone balance yet again.
The hormone oxytocin is released when we get touched, even something as simple as holding hands with someone. This hormone causes us to become happier and it triggers our feelings of trust and comfort, which is why we like it when we get the sensation of being touched.
People get into relationships, some rather serious and some more relaxed, for the duration of the season and towards the end, it can go one of two ways. Either the couple split to go off for some summer fun and adventure, or they stay happily together.
Cuffing season mainly applies to a younger group of people, such as late teens and people in their roaring twenties, but that doesn’t mean everyone can’t give it a go at some stage.
While it’s a construct based from social and hormonal ideation, and even if it only lasts for a few months, it doesn’t mean it won’t help you carry on during the long, cold winter.
And who knows, maybe the person you cuff could be the one to tie down for a while.