7 ways Halloween can boost your sex life

Feel like making whoopee?

Believe it or not, as far as holidays go, getting up close and person may be even easier on Halloween than Valentine's Day.

Here's seven reasons why the season of scares can also be your best moment for making love:

Fear is an aphrodisiac

Whether you're watching My Bloody Valentine or holding hands as you run from the freaks inside a haunted house, tense moments prime you and your mate for even more action later. In a classic student, researchers at the University of British Columbia found that fear makes us want to get closer. Go figure.

Chocolate is the gateway to desire

An Italian university reported in The Journal of Sexual Medicine that just a single cube of chocolate gave women a more active libido and better sexual function. A compound known as phenylethylamine was fingered as the reason chocolate led to higher levels of desire, arousal and sexual satisfaction.

You might want to think about that twice before you pass on the Kit Kat bars at checkout.

The fall air makes you do it

Autumn marks the arrival of football, hearty foods and a surprising surge in testosterone. Researchers at the University Hospital of North Norway found testosterone, associated with our sex drives, explodes as the leaves fall.

Studies haven't quite concluded why this happens, but it's a good enough reason to shed your clothes.

Pumpkin is a man magnet

Ditch the pumpkin spice, ladies. Think Thanksgiving instead. Dr. Alan Hirsch at Chicago's Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Center found desire is piqued when a man smells pumpkin pie. Offering a bowl of pumpkin seeds might not be a bad idea, either. Pumpkin seeds were shown to increase testosterone and in turn sexual desire.

We should also mention the simple scent of pumpkin pie has been known to prompt a full salute as penile blood flow increased by 40 percent in study participants, Hirsch says.

The magic of the new moon

Since Halloween is on a Monday this year, chances are you're going to party through the weekend. The moon cycle plays an important role in sexual energy, according to researchers at University College London, especially true as a new moon rises over us between Saturday and Sunday night.

Those studies illustrate that libidos rise with the new and waxing moon.

Beer now, bare later

Alcohol has been known to be an aphrodisiac for years, and it's likely to flow in abundance at Halloween parties this weekend. But, there's a caveat: Drink too much, and you're going to be a sloppy mess.

A 2008 University of Chicago study revealed women are more receptive to sex after two drinks, but aware enough not to make a mistake like forgetting protection; men, meantime, needed two or three drinks, says the University of Washington's alcohol and drug abuse institute.

Any more than that, and lowered inhibitions could lead to serious consequences.

Obviously: Sexy costumes

What's the joke? Halloween is an excuse to turn anything sexy? This year, we've seen sexy clowns, sexy Freddy Krueger, sexy librarians. These costumes aren't leaving anything to the imagination, but are definitely turning heads. I guess if you've got it, flaunt it.