Are you ready for peak dating season?

There's obviously never a wrong time to meet guys, go on dates, or just hook up and get off, but is there a best time? Is there a peak dating season for gay men?

What do the numbers tell us?

When we analyse the data from Gaydar, we can see that there's certain times of the year when we see peaks in activity.

When we look across the year, there's really four peak periods.

These are:

• February
• Easter
• Summer
• Christmas & New Year

There's obviously plenty of dating activity going on throughout the rest of the year, but it's these four periods where we see significant spikes of around a 25% increase in activity such as sign-ups, active users, search, chat, and messaging.

Why do we see peaks in online dating at different points of the year?

There's some consistent themes and some unique circumstances that make these four periods hot-spots of guy-on-guy dating and hook-ups. Let's dive into it.

Why is February peak dating season?

The obvious answer here is Valentine's Day. Sure, 14 February is only one day in the month, but we're all familiar with the relentless onslaught of marketing campaigns guilting us into buying flowers and chocolates for the love of our life.

Even though we're all sensible people and can see right through such blatant emotional blackmail, subliminally, the underlying messages are hard to escape.

The tsunami of love-related nonsense surrounding Valentine's Day inevitably gets us all to thinking that maybe a bit of human intimacy could be exactly what we need in our lives.

Why is Easter peak dating season?

This could just be the chocolate talking, but around the Easter period we've generally got a few days off, the weather is getting warmer, and we start to feel a bit more open to possibilities.

This whole period of early Spring - leading up to the Easter holidays - is when things are really starting to pop.

Why is Summer peak dating season?

It's not rocket science as to why we're all up for a bit of action in summer. A bit of warm weather means that we're all wearing less clothes, we're more inclined to relax in the sun, to kick back. We're dreaming of being on a beach, we're dreaming of getting hot and sweaty. It's exactly the right time of year to turn up the heat.

Why is Christmas and the New Year a peak dating season?

You might think that Christmas is all about spending time with family, not hooking up with anonymous guys you've met online, but our lives are more complicated than that. During the festive period, we've generally got more time on our hands - things are winding down at work, everyone takes some time off. Online dating activity really starts to take off from Boxing Day - the family stuff is done, and there's not much else going on to keep us entertained. Plus, as soon as we hit Boxing Day, thoughts start turning towards New Year's Eve - there's party plans to be made and we start thinking we should find a hot guy to be kissing when the clock strikes midnight.

Once we're into January, everyone has got New Year's resolutions to deliver on. Most of us are making some sort of commitment to ourselves to get out more, to meet more people, to have more sex!

How to make the most of peak dating season

Be open to possibilities. If someone suggests meeting up or asks you out, look for ways to make it happen.

Be proactive. Don't sit back and wait for the world to discover you. Send some messages. Reach out to people that you fancy. Be the one to suggest catching up and spending some time together.

Be adventurous. Break out of your day-to-day routines. Try new things. If you want to meet new people you're going to have to break out of your comfort zone .

Use the technology. Update your Gaydar profile and get amongst it.