Love is a complex thing, that is an understatement.
Do you really know what happens when you give your heart out to someone and they give theirs back? Probably not.
Most people would utter the phrase "I love you" or "They love each other".
It isn't quite as simple as that, science feels it can dig a bit deeper into the feeling almost every human strives to achieve.
On an epic high of feel-good chemicals, our brain cause us fall into deep love. We think we are choosing the partner, but mother nature may have more pawns in place than we know.
How Hard Is It To Fall In Love With Someone?
it takes between 90 seconds and 4 minutes to decide if you fancy someone.
Further research shows this does not relate to what is said in those 4 minutes, but rather:
55% is through body language
38% is the tone and speed of their voice
Only 7% is through what they say
The 3 Stages Of Love
Stage 1: Lust
The first stage of love. Your extreme longing for connection is driven by the sex hormones testosterone (men) and estrogen (women).
Stage: 2 Attraction
The most renowned stage of love, this is when it get's interesting. You can't think of anything else except for the amazing experience you are living. Scientists have ruled down three main transmitters involved in this process; adrenaline, dopamine and serotonin.
Adrenaline
You are falling for someone, you notice one major change, your stress response is activated, noticable increases in blood levels of adrenalin and cortisol. Imagine the charming response you get when you unexpectedly bump into your new love, you start to sweat, your heart races and your mouth goes dry.
Dopamine
Helen Fisher, American anthropologist, human behavior researcher, and self-help author asked a group of love-struck couples to receive a brains examination, soon Fisher discovered high levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine. This is the main chemical which activates ‘desire and reward’ through an intense rush of pleasure.
It has the same effect on the brain as taking cocaine!
couples often show the signs of surging dopamine: increased energy, less need for sleep or food, focused attention and exquisite delight in smallest details of this novel relationship.
Serotonin
Last but not least, serotonin. Love's most important chemicals in my opinion. It causes your lover to pop into your thoughts.
Serotonin or 5-hydroxytryptamine is a monoamine neurotransmitter. Biochemically derived from tryptophan, serotonin is primarily found in the gastrointestinal tract, blood platelets, and the central nervous system of animals, including humans.
Does love change the way you think?
An experiment conducted in Pisa, Italy clearly indicates that early love most certainly changes the chemistry of your brain.
If brain mechanisms that cause you to constantly think about your lover, were related to the brain mechanisms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
Dr Donatella Marazziti, psychiatrist, ponders the thought.
By analysing the blood samples from the applicants, Dr Marazitti identified that serotonin levels of new lovers were almost precise to the starved serotonin levels of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder patients.
Love needs to be blind
Newly smitten lovers often idealize their partner, magnifying their virtues and explaining away their flaws.
States Ellen Berscheid, the leading researcher on the psychological chemistry of love.
Fresh couples dignify their own relationship.
It's very common to think they have a relationship that's closer and more special than anyone else's.
Psychologists believe this tinted view is important. It will ensure the couple stays together long enough to enter the next stage of love – attachment.
Stage 3: Attachment
Attachment is like a well tied knot, it will keep the couple in a relationship long enough to have children. Scientistis believe there are most likely two major hormones involved in this extreme attachment; oxytocin and vasopressin.
Oxytocin - The cuddle hormone
The good stuff, Oxytocin is released by both men and women during orgasm. Most likely deepening the love and attachment, causing sex to be more special with the same partner. The same chemical triggers a mother to produce milk at the sight or sound of her young infant.
Diane, Witt is an assistant professor of psychology from New York.
She wanted to see the effects of injecting oxytocin into female rats who never experienced sex. The results were staggering, the rats would try to care for another female's young, protecting them as if they were their own.
Vasopressin
Vasopressin is very important. It may be responsible for us prioritizing and having long-term relationships.
Vasopressin works alongside your kidneys in the department of thirst control. The role of this chemical was first discovered when scientists looked closer at the prairie vole.
Prairie voles (a small wood-land rodent) have more sex than necessary for reproduction. They also form strict pair bonds - similar to humans.
When the male Prairie were administered with a drug that suppresses vasopressin, the bond with their partner stopped being relevant and they had no devotion, ending in them failing to protect their partner when a new, vasopressin rich, suitor approaches
I Want What You’ve Got
Even though we believe we chose our partner because of personal reasons, it may be completely influenced by your partners choice of others. Women will instinctively use the attractiveness of the man's past partners as an indicator of his quality. Women will also rate the man more attractive if the woman he is with is also attractive.
In Retrospect
I feel as if I know more about love than I have before researching this article and hope you have learnt something as well.
TLDR
how to fall in love
Find a complete stranger.
Reveal to each other intimate details about your lives for half an hour.
Then, stare deeply into each other’s eyes without talking for four minutes.
Sources: 1, 2, 3. Images: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 15, 16.
Authored By: @Chron
