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Spring into life - get ready for love in 2010!

It has been a very long winter.

You've been wrapped up tight in woolly jumpers, thermal socks, tracksuit bottoms and thick leggings since mid-December.

But, with the sun finally emerging, it's time to ditch the winter gear, dump the winter blues and emerge for spring.

You're probably feeling a bit stale and grey. So here's some simple tips to make you feel like you're fit and ready for spring dating, whether you're male or female:

• Have a good haircut and get rid of all that wayward, wispy stuff that's been keeping you warm all winter!


• Bite the bullet and put away all your winter clothes


• Chuck out, recycle or donate tatty summer gear from 2009


• Spring clean your place so that when you meet someone special they won't run screaming from the chaos


• Indulge in some self-examination, poke around inside your head a bit, identify what went wrong last time you dated and vow not to do it again!


• Open yourself up to the possibility that your 'type' might not be your type at all. Be more flexible about who you date. Even if you don't fancy the pants off a person at first sight, you might fall madly in love with them completely unexpectedly. That's often what love's about, hitting you hard when you least expect it... so let it in


• Promise yourself to go to new places and try new things, going way outside your usual comfort zone. It'll give you a huge buzz, a new lease of life. When you feel excited and inspired people will be drawn to you like a magnet


• Drop the negative attitude. If you wander the planet endlessly bemoaning the fact that you can't find love, you probably won't find it. Decide this is the year, open up your heart and wait for it to hit you!

Love is blind... but science isn't!

Shakespeare said that love is blind. He was right. Research shows that people in love pay much less visual attention to attractive people than singles.

Jon Maner and colleagues, based at Florida State University, have been testing the theory on students. He said, "We found that when people just thought about being in love with their current partner, their visual attention got repelled, rather than grabbed, by an attractive member of the opposite sex,"

It's true. I'm in love, and I only have eyes for my lover. Everyone else pales into insignificance... even Jonny Depp, and that's going some! The last thing on my mind is looking for someone else.

Maner and his team believe this phenomenum might help explain why people who are in love don't tend to wander off in search of other mates. Joseph Forgas at the University of New South Wales commented, "Psychologists have long had a problem explaining the functions of romantic love: a very strong emotion that sometimes seems to take over our lives and lead to what appear to be irrational feelings and actions. What these studies suggest is that romantic love serves a very important function, tempering our natural desire to pay attention to, and to continuously seek out, the best available mate."

In other words, we've probably evolved this subconscious visual rejection of attractive potential partners because committed relationships give our children a big evolutionary advantage. As humans evolved over the millennia, long term monogamous relationships improved the chances that children would make it to adulthood. The strong - the children of monogamous parents - survived and carried on a tradition that eventually became hard wired into our subconscious.

Love is blind... but science certainly isn't!

Another lonely Valentine's Day?

If you've just spent another Valentine's Day on your own, it's time to take action.

Having a life partner to love, and who loves you, is the icing on the cake. Life can be perfectly pleasant and enjoyable without a partner. But having someone to share life's excitement and adventures is worth putting in the effort. So don't give up!

As a professional it isn't always easy to get out and about and meet new people. Take Laura, for instance.

"I live in Hastings and work in The City. I get up at half past five and I'm on the train by seven fifteen in the morning. I reach my office around eight thirty and I work through 'til half five. Then I do it all again in reverse, getting home about eight thirty pm."

"I spend most weekends catching up on shopping and housework, and a lot of the time I'm too tired to go out. For me, with my lifestyle, making the time to find true love through the usual channels is virtually impossible".

"I just don't have time or inclination to hit the pubs and clubs. And even if I did, pubs and clubs aren't always the best place to find the love of your life!"

"Some of the people I work with date their colleagues. Which seems a bit desperate to me... the last thing I want is to spend all my free time talking about work."

Professionals like Laura prefer the TopMatch route, where personal dating services and online dating meet in powerful combination.

"It's the perfect online/offline compromise" says Laura. "There's an excellent website to explore, with an exciting Member Gallery and a healthy stream of special offers, profiles, photos, videos and all sorts of interesting stuff. I can sit down at home in the evening, in comfort, and explore the matches in my area that might suit me."

"Then there's the person-to-person bit. I have my own TopMatch personal dating consultant who is dedicated to finding my perfect match. We've met and talked, and she helped me create a really strong profile. She's a great help and it makes a huge difference having a human being on your side as well as website access and some serious technology!"

So how's it going for Laura so far?

"I've met seven really lovely men so far. One of them had my knees seriously trembling. We've decided we'd like to meet again for a second date, to see if it feels so good the second time around!" she says. "my personal dating consultant is really pleased and excited. So am I!"

Don't do things by halves. Why have second best when you can have the very best? Visit TopMatch for full details...

Animations make choosing the best dating service easy!

Top dating franchise TopMatch International is pulling out all the stops for members with animated videos.

Do you like reading pages of text or are you more of a visual person? Do you take information in better when you hear it?

People absorb information in different ways. A proportion of us like to read new information before making a buying decision. Others are very visual, establishing key facts from images. Listening is a favourite learning style for many but a combination of sound and pictures appeals directly and immediately to a very wide range of people.

Which is why TopMatch has created two new animated videos to help get the message across to more and more people looking for love.

Video number one makes it very clear that unlike other dating sites, TopMatch's in-depth vetting process means the people you meet are who they say they are. The message, couched in humour, is clear and strong... if you're worried about encountering fraudsters and liars while dating online you won't find any here! If you're concerned, it'll deliver enough reassurance to help tip the balance. You'll be completely safe at TopMatch!

TopMatch's second clip explains the different types of membership, premier and express. Express membership appeals strongly to male members, who love the informality of express membership and tend to upgrade to premier membership at a later stage. By contrast, the majority of women go straight for premier cover because it is so comprehensive and comes with so many exciting extras.

If you're lost in the dating maze, take a look at these two clips... deciding needn't be such a problem after all!

'Love chemical' stimulates relationships!

Apparently a chemical that helps cement the bond between mothers and newborn children might also be involved with choosing Miss or Mr right!

A recent piece of research shows that people who inhale the hormone oxytocin, a chemical we all have in our blood, find strangers more attractive. According to Angeliki Theodoridou, who works as a psychologist at the University of Bristol, it makes us see people in a much more positive light. Even if we've never met them.

A previous study has already found that levels of a mother's oxytocin rise dramatically when they touch - or even just look at - their new babies, and scientists are convinced it helps with mother and child bonding.

Other studies have indicated oxytocin also plays an interesting role in people's social lives, helping them with social situations later in life, as an adult. When given the hormone people made overly generous offers when playing a special money-based game designed to promote trust.

The latest research indicated that men and women, no matter what mood they were in, rated strangers as more attractive and trustworthy when they'd taken oxytocin compared to people who'd been given a placebo.

While the study didn't look at how oxytocin affects peoples' social judgements, the scientists involved are exploring whether it dampens down brain activity in the amygdala, the part of your brain that processes fear and related emotions. We'll have to wait and see.

What's the moral of the tale? Isn't it nice to know that your body's chemistry is working away in the background, quietly on your behalf, to help you find love. How clever is that! No matter what your head's telling you, your body is on constant alert for your ideal life partner.

Can you buy oxytocin? Yes, some unscrupulous companies are already marketing sprays that they claim can help enhance reserved people's trust in strangers. But there's absolutely no evidence that these products work. And the scientists who undertook the study refuse to endorse their claims. Not to be trifled with!

In the meantime, trust yourself. He or she is out there. You'll find them, or they'll find you. You have a powerful ally... your body's on your side!

New Year resolution: find my perfect partner!

It's a new year and a new decade. The ideal time to start fresh, open up new horizons and take big, bold steps towards happiness.

Life as a professional single person is great, but having someone to love is the icing on the cake.

Are you determined to find your perfect partner in 2010? If so, dating website TopMatch is a brilliant place to be. Why? They've launched a new service that's taking their members by storm: personal video profiles.

TopMatch research showed that most people don't feel comfortable being filmed. Even fewer people are prepared to blow their own trumpets in public. Most of us are pretty modest when it comes down to it. But video is such a fantastic medium for showcasing your assets.

The solution? TopMatch's personal videos are based on members' online profiles. How? They use an exciting combination of images, photos and music to create an evocative, fun, informal 60 second showreel-style video.

We asked one member what they thought about their video. She said, "I love my personal video profile. OK, I'd given loads of details for my written profile and it sounded really good. But my video made the whole thing sparkle. TopMatch wrote a professional script, which was read by a professional voice over artist, and their production team created this brilliant little clip all about me. I didn't have to do a thing, which was a relief. I'm a confident person but having to sit and blurb on about how amazing I am would have been really embarrassing!"

A personal video is a great way to give people a genuine feel for what you're really like. They're professionally produced, colourful and lively. All in all, they come highly recommended!

Here's a link: TopMatch personal video profiles

Should you marry your first love?

Your heart is pounding. You can't think straight.

The only thing on your mind is the wonderful, amazing person you've met. You can't keep your hands off each other. You spend hours just staring into one another's eyes. The chemistry is breathtaking. You're head over heels in love.

This is the person you've been waiting for... your first love. You've found your life partner. Or have you?

First love is a tricky beast. Scientists have proved that the feelings we experience when in love are generated by hormones and chemicals.

When we're young and in love for the first time, whether we're conscious of it or not, our bodies are hell bent on procreation. You might think you've fallen in love with a person. But you've actually fallen in love with the way they smell!

Humans are attracted to people whose immune systems are very different from their own. This ensures our offspring are genetically strong. And, on a subconscious level, we can smell the difference.

From then on our body chemistry relentlessly keeps up the pressure. And it works. Most people who marry their first love obediently have children as soon as they can possibly manage it!

But once that magical 'pure love' phase has passed, as it always does, what are you left with? No longer blinded by all-encompassing lust, do you have anything in common?

In many relationships, this is where the problems start.

If you're currently in a deep state of love and lust, experiencing the first flush of your first love, good for you. Have a lovely, lovely time. But think twice before making your first love your life partner.

A few fortunate people stay with their first love for the rest of their lives. But most of us find that once the glow wears off, there just isn't enough left to sustain a marriage.

Later loves and second marriages seem to have a better chance of survival. You're older and hopefully wiser. You've probably fulfilled the overwhelming physical need to have children (if you ever had it!). You realise there's much more to love than lust; things like friendship, shared values, intelligence, humour... all the day to day stuff.

Perhaps not as exciting as the rollercoaster ride of your first love, but much more enduring.

Looking for the perfect woman? Forget dating sites!

Are you looking for your perfect match? Frustrated that you can’t seem to find a generous, loving, warm, clever, funny woman?

No wonder. You've got it all wrong. You've been trying to find your dream woman through online dating sites.

But...

No buts! Dating sites are dodgy ground. Think about it. You can type in anything you like. The average dating site profile isn't much more than a listing. You can lie until you're blue in the face and nobody checks.

OK, so you're actually an accountant. But you've joined so many dating sites you've lost count. On one of them you're a seven foot astronaut with a great sense of humour and no kids. On another you're earning a cool hundred and fifty thousand a year, posing around in a Ferrari. And you're sure you remember signing up somewhere new as a professional footballer. Oops.

This is all great fun. But it won't get you anywhere. Women like honesty and they hate being messed around. If you lie on your profile, as far as she's concerned you'll probably lie about everything else too. Keep it up and they'll stay away in droves.

Even worse, one of the biggest reasons women choose online dating sites is because they're short of time. The last thing they need is you wasting precious spare time claiming to be something you're not.

Most women want someone who is confident, not afraid of commitment, with a sense of purpose. But the biggest quality of all is honesty. It wins hands down.

Take it from me, most women would prefer an honest, straightforward, kind bloke with a beaten up VW Beetle than a liar with a Porche.

As a result there's a glut of men on most dating sites. The women are jumping ship, and who can blame them? But all is not lost...

One dating site verifies, interviews and checks all its members. So what you see is what you get. Women love it because they know they're getting exactly what it says on the tin. Men love it because... well, there are plenty of women there!

If you're serious about finding the perfect woman, tell the truth. The real you is probably exactly what she wants. Bite the bullet, head over to TopMatch and check out their membership options. You can even pay as you date!

Women Are Doing it For Themselves!

The ladies are taking control, insisting on 'next generation online dating...

Can you remember the nervous excitement and butterflies in your stomach the last time you prepared for a first date? Or laughed so much together that you couldn’t stop?

This is what most women dream about when thinking about their ideal date. Candle-lit dinners. Walking hand in hand along the beach with the surf softly beating the sand. And a perfectly romantic proposal.

So do most online dating sites deliver? No!

Too much of the time you'll find that your date has lied. They don't look anything like their picture, they don't have that great job and they're... well, just a bit weird! A waste of time, effort and dreams!

Women are tired of getting burned. So they’re taking control of their online dating experience.

Ignoring well-meaning advice from friends and family. How many times has your mum or best friend told you, “Don’t worry, it'll happen when you least expect it” or “If you stop looking, love will come to you”? In other words, give up and act passively. That one's up to you... ignore them and get moving!

Finding a dating site that filters out all those Mr. Wrongs before they hit the first post – letting someone trustworthy screen potential matches for them - a thorough interview, a full identity check and recent photos.

Tp Match provides a professional relationship specialist dedicated to finding your ideal partner. They hand select dates for you, to your specific requirements, using their expert objectivity to make sound decisions.

Best of all, can even join with a friend via Top Match's special 2 for 1 offer on Premier membership. Cool!

• 2 Memberships for thePrice of 1


• 'next generation' online dating


• secure and discreet


• 100% genuine candidates


• free joint consultation


• totally unique to Top Match

If you’re tired of the games, tired of lies and tired of hassle, it’s time to take control of your dating life. To sign up for a FREE no-obligation phone consultation, visit http://www.topmatch-uk.com/ or call XXXXXX today.