Winter. The time for hot cocoa, Christmas carols, and…… handcuffs?? Evidently, there is a new trend on the rise; Cuffing Season.

If you're uninformed like me, you probably assumed its some weird Fifty Shades of Grey trend, but apparently, it is the time between fall and winter where people are looking for romantic companionship.

Cuffing is in reference to handcuffs, aka handcuffing each other to spend the holidays together.

Apparently, the dating app Hinge recently polled 1000 of their users and found that 15% of men and 5% of women are more interested in finding a committed relationship at this time of year. Not surprisingly, people report high levels of stress surrounding the holiday season.

With every kiss begins with kay commercials, and relatives asking if there are any new love interests, it's not difficult to wonder why people would be scrambling.

When I was younger I watched an ABC Family movie with my sister that was literally called "Holiday in Handcuffs."

It was deeply disturbing, possibly because it starred Sabrina the teenage witch and Mario Lopez as love interests, but also because she kidnapped him at gunpoint to be her Christmas date.

Nothing says deck the halls like holding someone captive, right? Obviously, although that’s an exaggerated type of cuffing (I hope), there may actually be some merit to finding someone this time of year.

Research shows that the most successful time to find your cuffing buddy is in between Halloween and thanksgiving; so kick those pumpkins and candy corn to the curb and start looking for your mistletoe buddy.

While I find the concept a little bizarre, oddly enough it produces some interesting results. I’m not saying you should start the clock before the first snow sticks to the ground, but maybe see if there is someone you could stand to watch love actually with for three days in a row.