Love is a common topic people talk about in our society, but not many of them understand. Poets and writers have talked about it, but it's time for scientists, biologist and psychologist.
Here you have the scientific explanation for how you feel when you are in love and the main hormones that run through your body.
Love is in the heart? No, darling. It is in the brain, it's all reduced to chemical reactions!
To start with, in an organised way, love has three very different stages: lust, falling in love and attachment.
That feeling of attraction when you see someone hot. The urges he or she awakens in your body. This is not real love but it all starts like this. When someone, due to his appearance, well-proportioned features, common hobbies, similar thoughts, mysterious atmosphere that surround them, or just by a nice smell they emit, is able of calling our attention.
Testosterone is the masculine sexual hormone. It's the responsible of the physiological changes in boys at puberty: penis enlargement, testicle development, sperm production, facial and body hair appearance, etc.
It helps to spatial vision, aggressiveness, power and authority. Males are the ones who usually compete for the territory and the females in the majority of the animal species. The winner or dominant male increases his testosterone level while in the looser it decreases.
Apart from that, testosterone is also very important in libido and well-being. Good levels of testosterone are associated with confidence, increase in muscles, healthy heart, strong bones, frequent erections and sexual desire. Low levels can cause erectile dysfunction, constant fatigue, increase in fat, risk of osteoporosis and low libido.
Oestrogens are the feminine sexual hormones. They are responsible for the physiological changes in girls at puberty: breast growth, vagina and uterus maturation, ovulation, menstruation, etc. It helps in cholesterol regulation and fat storage, outlining the curves of women's figure (main fat accumulations are located at breasts and hips). Oestrogens remain around the same levels about 25 years after puberty and they slowly decrease in the process known as menopause.
Oestrogens also influence not only in physiological changes but mood changes. A fall in oestrogens can cause irritability and even depression. They also stimulate women's libido and sexual desire. Mood swings and horniness in women period are caused by this.
Pheromones are biochemical substances our body segregate as a form of communication to find a sexual partner. They are still a mystery and their existence in humans are not proved yet. Our body would release pheromones into the air, carrying information about us (such as our sexuality or sexual preferences), to attract possible partners. It's expected these pheromones are founded in sweat, urine and other fluids and detected by smell. It's supposed those smells we catch and are able to arouse us, like when being close to a sweaty person, contain hormones.
FALLING IN LOVE
What we actually feel when we fell in love with someone, that mad love we can't help. The urge to see them, talk to them, be with them, cuddle with them... and the guilty feeling that carries the rejection and the insecurities of not being corresponded. All that cocktail of feeling we can't explain, from a scientific view.
This hormone and neurotransmitter is related to the brain reward system, which is associated with motivation and pleasurable sensations. It is one of the main neurotransmitters associated with falling in love.
When we make actions that made us feel good (such as achieve some objective, have satisfactory sexual relationships, eat something sweet and delicious, understand some joke, be accomplished, etc) our dopamine levels increase as a reward, provoking a pleasant feeling. After this experience, our
brain will try and raise its dopamine levels to feel good again.
Thanks to this system, once achieved our goals, we'll have more energy to go after the next challenge. This has its positive and negative sides. On one hand, it helps us to be motivated and to reach our aims. On the other hand, dopamine is the main cause of addictions. When we take drugs, huge amounts of domine are released, creating a big dependence on the substance to be able of reaching that point of pleasure again. That's why addictions are so hard to quit and why they say love is like a drug.
Serotonin is the neurotransmitter of happiness. It creates a general well-being and it is the natural mood stabiliser. Low levels of serotonin have being associated to depression and anxiety.
It helps to regulate functions as sleeping, eating and digesting. It also helps to regulate anxiety, happiness and mood. It makes us feel happier, calmer, more focused, less anxious and more emotionally stable. It is produced by exposure to sunlight, exercise, a healthy diet and meditation. It's also released after orgasms and make us sleep better. It's the responsible of that good feeling when warm sun-rays touch our skin and that it can sometimes make us sleepy.
When falling in love serotonin levels decrease so our emotions can go crazy. Due to this, we can be extremely happy if our love is corresponded or feel horrible when we are rejected. This is why people can go into depression because of love. It also explains the loss of appetite and the hard time trying to fall asleep.
Norepinephrine or noradrenaline which induces euphoria in your brain, exciting your body by giving it a booster dose of natural adrenaline. This causes the blood pressure to beat faster and the blood pressure to rise. It's also responsible of the trembling, heart pounding, sweaty palms and nervous sensation that being next to someone you are attracted to can trigger.
Norepinephrine helps us to be focused and alert, ready for action (it's associated with flee-or-fight). When we norepinephrine is high we tend to centre our mind even in small details. This is what make you remember and care about little things and insignificant gestures that took place between your crush and yourself and probably nobody remembers, not even him/her. Norepinephrine also increases when we are in stressful situations, like some socially awkward moment or while doing an exam.
It's a natural amphetamine, like the known drug, and can cause the same stimulation effects. It contributes to that on-top-of-the-world feeling that attraction can bring, and gives you the energy to stay up day and night with a new love.
ATTACHMENT
This is one of the most important stages and it only appears in long-term relationships. Its focused on the bonds created between two people who love each other. High levels of oxytocin and vasopressin may interfere with dopamine and norepinephrine pathways, which may explain why with the time attachment grows as mad passionate love fades. The true love.
Also known as the 'cuddle chemical' or the 'hormone of hugs'. It's seen especially while giving birth, with its important role in inducing labour by stimulating contractions. It's also released due to the stimulation of nipples by the suction of the baby, helping in breastfeeding.
Oxytocin has a great influence in our ability to bond with others and establish loving relationships. It affects generosity by increasing empathy and caring, uniting people. It's literally the hormone of love because it creates harmonious relationships full of affection. It's produced, in both genders, when touching and cuddling, with the oxytocin level peaking during orgasm.
This hormone is present in the family bond and the tie between parents and children. It evokes that instinct of protection provoking a watchfulness attitude.
Also called as "the monogamy chemical". Researchers have found that suppression of vasopressin can cause males to abandon their love nest and seek new mates. Studies have shown that men are usually more worried about sexual infidelity, due to the evolutionary fear of raising the children of other men (no perpetuation of his genetic legacy); while woman tend to concern more about emotional infidelity, due to the evolutionary fear of raising the children alone (with no help from men).
Endorphins are biochemical compounds that our body releases into the blood stream to attenuate the pain and/or create a feeling of well-being. Among their functions, we can find: help to calm pain after some excess of physical activity or some extreme effort, production of sexual hormones, create pleasant sensations facing nice situations, enforce the immunologic system, anti-stress, anti-aging, modulate appetite, improve memory and make us happy.
When we do some activities our body identifies as pleasant, it is produced an increase in endorphins: physical activity, satisfactory sexual relationships, laugh, contact with nature, relax, massages, have some hobby, music, food and their stimulus (smells and flavors), do thing for other's benefit, being with someone, etc.
People with low levels of endorphins tend to be always sad (no specific reason), spiritless, bored and usually tend to see things dark and negative.
> CHOCOLATE
Chocolate, especially dark chocolate, due to its high concentration in cacao, helps to produce and releases lots of hormones such as dopamine and endorphins. When we eat chocolate we feel practically the same sensation than when we are in madly in love. This is why after a break-up, people tend to drown their sadness into chocolate. It makes them recreate that amazing feeling they don't longer have.
Well, this was a summary of the scientific explanation of love, because everything has a scientific explanation. Now, enjoy your Valentine's Day. Sorry if I took the magic away, but at least you can understand what you feel now. Thanks for reading, if you are still interested I'm gonna leave some links down here from which I took some information and also some documentaries to watch about the topic. I hope you enjoy them. Wait... you single for St Valentine's Day?? Eat chocolate!!
