On February 14th of each year, millions of people in the world celebrate Valentine’s Day. In our modern society, people have been forgetting the real meaning behind Valentine’s Day in the midst of stressing out on how to satisfy their Valentines through spontaneous surprises or pricey gifts. So why not sit down while you have the chance and spend a bit of time learning about Valentine’s Day to take away from the stress of the holiday?

Valentine’s Day goes back to as early as 270 AD when the Roman Empire was ruled by Claudius II, who didn’t allow his men to become married under his rule. A man named St. Valentine changed that by performing secret wedding ceremonies for couples who wished to get married. Once he became arrested for that crime, his was ordered to be executed on February 14th. That sounds pretty depressing for a story that created a holiday for love, but that changed due to St. Valentine’s one simple task. He wrote a love letter to a woman he liked and signed it “From your Valentine”, hence that famous closing statement to almost every Valentine’s Day card.

There’s many historic events that have influenced the existence of Valentine’s Day today, but here’s a few intriguing facts about the holiday:

-145 million valentines are sent out in the U.S. each year

-189 million roses are sold in the U.S. on Valentine’s Day

-over 35 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolates are sold for the holiday

-in the 1800s doctors advised their patients to eat chocolate if they suffered a broken heart. This advice still lives on today for many people who experience a heartbreak.

-64% of men do not make Valentine’s Day plans in advance, making it basically a holiday of procrastination.

-Valentine’s Day has also been called Singles Awareness Day, which is an alternative ‘holiday’ that people who are not in a relationship on Valentine’s Day have celebrated

-if you’re alone on Valentine’s Day this year, don’t fear because there’s about 60 million people in the world who will be single too