Swiping right on a dating app is messing with your hormones, new study has found

Many of us have felt the rollercoaster of highs and lows after matches on and on for years now. But a new study has finally proved what we have all known for years, dating are messing with our .

According to joint research by eHarmony and the Imperial College of Business, online dating has a direct and significant impact on and levels. The research also indicates that dating app usage can impact testosterone levels across all genders.

Dating apps may have been recently, with Tinder and Hinge, two of the most popular online dating apps in the UK, seeing an exodus of 700,000 users between May 2023 and May 2024. But by 2035, the eHarmony and Imperial College of Business report indicates that more than 50% of couples in the UK will have met online. The rising prevalence of dating apps has led to a phenomenon researchers have coined “the dating app effect”.

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The term describes the concerning phenomenon that dating app users “experience cortisol and dopamine dysregulation to such a degree that it resembles chronic stress disorder and addictive behaviour.” Hormone health expert Mike Kocsis at puts this new information into perspective.

Kocsis explains that hormone disruption is a result of dating apps’ impact on the brain’s reward system pathway. Essentially, when users get a match or engage in positive interactions this can lead over time to a neurochemical dependency.

Kocsis breaks down the most significant ways dating apps can throw your hormones off balance and create an unhealthy “reinforcement schedule”. The three stages of this schedule are: the Anticipation phase, the Perception phase, and the Reward delivery.

The Anticipation phase is when users open the apps and experience a rush of the feel-good, mood-boosting hormone dopamine. Following this comes the Perception phase, when users experience another wave of dopamine after receiving notifications, further elevating their normal levels.

Reward delivery is the third phase and accounts for the most substantial dopamine spike - and the one you are most likely to recognise for yourself. It is the spike experienced as a result of a match on an app, which leads users to repeat the dopamine-releasing pattern.

This reinforcement schedule is the same psychological mechanism as gambling. Similarly to gamblers, dating app users are unable to predict when they will ‘win’ (or rather achieve a match) which then leads them to adopt ‘seeking behaviours’.

The addictive nature of this cycle means that when regular dating app users are not able to use the app for an extended period “they may experience dips in mood, irritability, and even anxiety as they crave the variable ratio reinforcement schedule.”

According to Kocsis, dating app usage can also impact testosterone and cortisol, affecting and function. Thyroid malfunction, either underactive (hypothyroidism) or overactive (hyperthyroidism), can cause a wide range of symptoms

Impact on Testosterone

Dating app usage can cause fluctuations in testosterone levels for all genders. After a ‘win’, testosterone levels can rise by 15-20% in just 15-20 minutes.

Just as significantly, testosterone production can drop by 10-25% when a person encounters what they perceive as a ‘loss’. By dating app standards, a loss could mean anything from an unreciprocated match to finding out you have been ‘unmatched’ or ghosted.

This unnatural rise and dip in testosterone levels can have significant impacts on mood. When testosterone surges, users may feel a sense of social dominance and confidence. Contrastingly, lower testosterone caused by feelings of rejection can result in decreased energy, mood swings, and even reduced libido.

Impact on Cortisol

Regular dating app users reportedly experience higher baseline cortisol levels and these levels remain elevated for several hours. Essentially, users are in a constant state of “anticipatory anxiety”. This is dangerous because prolonged high cortisol levels can disrupt the body’s hormone production and affect thyroid function.

The growing introduction of like Bumble and Tinder may make dating app usage more prominent than ever. However, a more real concern may be the hormonal impacts of , the results of which are yet to be seen.