If you’ve ever heard that, regardless of what your favorite season may be, there is good in all of them, there is so much wisdom in that. For instance, although I am a huge fan of fall, that doesn’t mean that I don’t get that the other three seasons don’t have their perks as well…even sexually.
What exactly do I mean by that? Well, believe it or not, although fall and winter are reportedly the best times of year for coitus (check out “Did You Know Fall & Winter Are The Best Times To Have Sex?”), thatabsolutely does not mean that summer doesn’t have a ton of sexual perks that come with it too.
Yeah, I did some digging and discovered 10 solid science-based reasons why these next couple of months maybe when you find yourself creating some of the best sex-related memories you’ve had in a hot minute, chile.
Let’s check ‘em out.
1. Sunlight Elevates Your Serotonin Levels
There are a lot of benefits that come from spending time in the sun. One of them is the fact that sunlight helps to increasethe levels of serotonin in your system. This is dope becauseserotonin is a chemical in your body that is significant when it comes to things like keeping you in a good mood and making sure that your libido remains high.Another cool thing about serotonin is it can reduce anxiety and bring about a feeling of calm — which is always a big plus since there isplenty of research to support the fact that anxiety can make it difficult for both men and women to climax.
2. Sunlight Also Decreases Melatonin Levels
If you’ve ever wondered if it’s all in your head that you tend to have more energy during the summer months while feeling sleepier during the late fall and winter ones, it’s not.Something else that science reveals is sunlight has a way of decreasing melatonin levels in your system. Sincemelatonin is a hormone/compound that literally regulates your sleep patterns, being that days are longer in the summer, that can also give you more energy to get busy. No joke.
3. More Vitamin D Means an Estrogen and Testosterone Boost
Something that you probably learned in elementary school is you can get a good amount of the vitamin D that your body needs from the sun.Since it’s a nutrient that helps to boost your immunity, fight off depression, and keep your weight in check, this is certainly good to know.
However, were you also aware that vitamin D is able to increase the amount of estrogen and testosterone that’s in your system as well? This is good to know since both of those are sex hormones that can help you to have a more satisfying sex life.
As a bonus, vitamin D can also help to activate the genes that help your body produce more serotonin (which we’ve already discussed) and dopamine (a neurotransmitter and chemical that helps you to feel more pleasure). Hey, if all of this won’t make you want to spend more time in the sun, what will?
4. More Exercise Means a Heightened Libido
If there’s any time of year when people are super physically active, the summer season would be it. Whether it’s getting (and/or staying) fit for swimsuit season, playing outdoor games, or enjoying things like hiking and swimming, summer is when folks tend to spend less time in front of the tube and more time moving about. And you know what?Your libido adores everything about that becauseexercise helps to get you into better shape (which boosts your sexual confidence), gives you more energy, improves your stamina, intensifies your orgasms (bygiving you a stronger core and pelvic floor), and increases your blood circulation (which is also great for orgasms) too.
5. Heat Increases Blood Circulation
Speaking of blood circulation, although you may have never thought of it before, it probably makes all of the sense in the world thatyour blood circulation would increase during the summertime. That’s because heat and humidity increase blood flow (especially to your skin) and cause your heart rate to go up as well. And since, again,more blood flow directly contributes to orgasms, well…you already know that this is a good thing to keep in mind.
6. More Sweat Equals More Pheromones
Probably the easiest way to explain pheromones is they are chemicals that can trigger certain reactions in people when they come into some level of contact with them. For instance, one way that pheromones are excreted is through sweat, and, science says, whenever women come into contact with a man who is sweating/sweaty, it can actually make her hornier and even release certain hormones that are associated with ovulation. Believe it or not, what’s especially stimulating is a man’s underarm sweat (wild, right?).
7. Heat Leads to Less Clothes Which Means More Skin
I don’t know about where y’all live butNashville has been showing all the way out over these past few weeks with the heat index being in the triple digits. And when there’s more heat, there tend to be fewer clothes…and when you’ve got a partner, that can result inmore skin-to-skin contact. While, when it comes to adults and babies, it’s oftentimes known as “kangaroo care,” when adults participate in this practice,the oxytocin that’s released makes it easier to bond with your partner. Not only that but skin-to-skin contact makes it easier to feel calm and relaxed and it can give youa sounder night’s rest too— you know…afterwards (check out “6 Fascinating Ways Sex And Sleep Definitely Go Hand In Hand”). #wink
8. You Tend to Be Around More People in the Summer Season
Another semi-random reason why a ton of sex happens during the summertime is thatmore people lean into socializing during this time of the year — and so, even if you’re not currently seeing someone, the chances that you will run into an individual who has some serious potential increases when it’s hot outside. That’s actually why some intel says thatcasual sex happens the most in the early part of summer (June) too (wrap it up!).
9. Vacations Happen Most During the Summer
With the summer season continuing to bethe most popular time to go on vacation (to the point whereone in three people are even willing to go into debt in order to make it happen), this is a peak reason why individuals tend to have a lot of sex —especially adventurous sex — during the summertime. Vacations (hopefully) de-stress you, give you the chance to spend quality time with the people you love, and help you to be in the moment — all of which help to play a significant role in a satisfying sex life. So, if you don’t have a vacation — even if it’s just a long weekend — planned this summer, put a sexcation on the books.
10. Online “Sex Searches” Increase in the Summertime
Now here’s one that I found to be pretty damn interesting. It would appear that summer is the time of year whensex-related online searches tend to spike. Although researchers are still trying to connect all of the dots on this one sinceonline dating also peaks during this time of the year (because folks are typically happier, are feeling sexier, and tend to be more open and creative when it comes to dating), that could play a major role.
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There you have it. Whether or not this is your favorite time of year or not, research has given you 10 impressive reasons to enjoy the season you’re in — on a few levels, chile. Have fun! #wink
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While speaking to xoNecole, Eva shares that she’s a lot like the beloved 1994 character in many ways. “Lyric is so me. She's the odd flower. A flower nonetheless, but definitely not a peony,” she tells us.
“She's not the average flower you see presented, and so she reminds me of myself. I'm a sunflower, beautiful, but different. And what I loved about her character then, and even more so now, is that she was very sure of herself.
"Sure of what she wanted in life and okay to sacrifice her moments right now, to get what she knew she deserved later. And that is me. I'm not an instant gratification kind of a person. I am a long game. I'm not a sprinter, I'm a marathon.
America first fell in love with Eva when she graced our screens on cycle 3 of America’s Next Top Model in 2004, which she emerged as the winner. Since then, she's ventured into different avenues, from acting on various TV series like House of Payne to starring on Real Housewives of Atlanta.
Je-Caryous Johnson Entertainment
Eva praises her castmates and the play’s producer, Je’Caryous for her positive experience. “You know what? Je’Caryous fuels my audacity car daily, ‘cause I consider myself an extremely audacious woman, and I believe in what I know, even if no one else knows it, because God gave it to me. So I know what I know. That is who Je’Caryous is.”
But the mom of three isn’t the only one in the family who enjoys acting. Eva reveals her daughter Marley has also caught the acting bug.
“It is the most adorable thing you can ever see. She’s got a part in her school play. She's in her chorus, and she loves it,” she says. “I don't know if she loves it, because it's like, mommy does it, so maybe I should do it, but there is something about her.”
Overall, Eva hopes that her contribution to the role and the play as a whole serves as motivation for others to reach for the stars.
“I want them to walk out with hope. I want them to re-vision their dreams. Whatever they were. Whatever they are. To re-see them and then have that thing inside of them say, ‘You know what? I'm going to do that. Whatever dream you put on the back burner, go pick it up.
"Whatever dream you've accomplished, make a new dream, but continue to reach for the stars. Continue to reach for what is beyond what people say we can do, especially as [a] Black collective but especially as Black women. When it comes to us and who we are and what we accept and what we're worth, it's not about having seen it before. It's about knowing that I deserve it.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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Fortunately, five simple words have simplified my dating process and ushered in clarity faster: “Would my husband do this?”
A couple of years ago, I met an entertainment lawyer who was tonguing down a twenty-something-year-old woman for breakfast while I slurped my green smoothie and chomped on a flatbread sandwich. Okay, Black love, I grinned and thought as I sauntered out of the Joe & The Juice. As soon as I stepped down from the front door, a torrential downpour of Miami summer rain cascaded and throttled me back inside to wait out the storm.
I grabbed a hot green tea and vacillated between peering out the wet door and anxiously checking my watch. My lengthy agenda started with attending the Tabitha Brown and Chance Brown’s “Black Love” panel, and I was already late. That’s when the lawyer introduced himself to me, after he made a joke about neither one of us wanting to get soaked by the rain. His female companion had braved the storm, leaving us to find our commonalities.
We both lived in L.A. and had traveled to the American Black Film Festival to expand our network. He represented various artists, including entertainment writers, while I was working as a writer/creative producer in Hollywood.
While there is no shortage of internet advice on how to strategically meet a prominent man at conferences, if I spend my hard-earned funds on career growth, I have tunnel vision, and that doesn’t include finding Mr. Right. So, I stowed his contact details away as strictly professional.
Keep It Cute Love And Hip Hop GIFGiphyAs the humidity and mosquitoes were rising around L.A., two months later, another suitor-turned-terrible match cooled off after three unimpressive dates and a bevy of red flags. I posted what some of my friends called a thirst trap, but it was really me wearing a black freakum jumpsuit with a plunging neckline to my friend’s 35th birthday soiree despite feeling oh, so unsexy and bloated on my cycle.
I’d been waiting to post a sassy caption and finally had the perfect picture to match: “You not asking for too much, you just asking the wrong MF.”
That’s when the entertainment lawyer swooped into my DMs and asked me to dinner. I was quite confused. Is he asking me on a date? Or is this professional? Common sense would’ve picked the former. Once it clicked that this would in fact be a date, I told my mentor, who’s been happily married for over twenty years and has often been a guiding light and has steered me away from the wrong men.
Upon telling him about how we met, he emphatically stated, “He ain’t it.” He followed up with a simple question, "You have to ask yourself: Would my husband do this? Would you tell others that you met your husband, tonguing down another woman, and later married him?"
Aint It No Way GIF by UFCGiphyOuch. The thought-provoking question cleared any haze. Prior to going out with the lawyer, the first thing I inquired about was the woman.
“You saw that?” He said, taken aback that I’d witnessed his steamy PDA. Surely, anyone with two open eyes peeped him caressing her backside as he kissed her in the middle of the coffee shop.
He brushed her off as a casual someone he’d gone on a couple of dates with but had since stopped talking to. He said he hadn’t been in a serious relationship in over three years. Though I was still doubtful, dating in L.A. is treacherous and ephemeral. Making it past three months is considered a rarity.
With my antennae alert, I dined with him at a cozy beachside steakhouse restaurant where we were serenaded by a live jazz band. I’d emphasized forming a platonic friendship first.
Break Up Friendship GIF by TLCGiphy“I’ll come to you,” he obliged. I liked that he had made me a priority by driving over 50 miles to see me. I also liked the effort he made to check in with me daily. But I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that he initiated on a professional pretense and then alley hooped through the back door on a romantic venture, which bombarded me with confusion.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my dating life, God is not the author of confusion; any man who brings confusion, rather than clarity, is simply not The One. It doesn’t matter how many boxes he checks–eventually, that confusion will manifest itself into bigger problems, in time.
After diving into deeper conversations on the phone, post our first dinner date, I quickly realized this man was indeed not The One for me. But I’m grateful for the valuable lesson I learned.
I don’t expect some unattainable fairytale of a husband; we all have our own flaws and conflict is inevitable, but after dating for two decades, through failure and success, I’ve realized that the person I ultimately marry must mirror the values I exert into the world. He must reciprocate kindness, patience, and respect. He must be quick to listen and slow to respond. He needs to be forgiving and trustworthy, practice healthy communication, and be a man of his word at the bare minimum.
If I’d had “Would my husband do this?” in my toolbox when I was dating and floundering in stagnant relationships, in my twenties, it would’ve saved me a lot of precious time. But now that I’m equipped with the reminder, it’s allowed me to ground myself in my non-negotiables and set/maintain the standard for the special person, I’ll one day say, “I do,” to.
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