The chemistry of love. It is an apt expression. In the cascade of emotional reactions there is electricity (neural discharges) and there is chemistry ( hormones and other substances involved). They are the ones that make a love passion out of control in our life and they are the ones that explain a good part of the signs of falling in love.
Basis of attraction towards certain people
Although we are attracted to people with features similar to ours, we tend to choose the smell of those who have a very different immune system. And on the one hand it is fortunate because it prevents us from falling in love with our relatives. Our biology guides us to find a compromise between equality and difference and we always find the perfect balance, not just when we choose faces and smells. The so-called correspondence theory can be summed up in the phrase: “everyone looks for the partner they think they deserve.” It seems that before one person fixes on another, they have already built a mental map, a complete template of brain circuits that determine what will make them fall in love with one person and not another. In addition, even the blood type (A, B, AB, O) influences,It causes attraction with people of the same type and not with others.
Biological mechanism that guides love life
After orgasm, the brain’s libic system releases a special hormone called oxytocin . This happens in a part of the brain where we feel emotional pleasure. Oxytocin makes the couple feel more emotionally connected and close, but there are also some differences between men’s and women’s bodies . Some scientists believe that when oxytocin is combined with a certain female hormone, estrogens , a woman feels very caring and talkative. But when oxytocin is mixed with a male hormone, testosterone, can cause a man an overwhelming need to sleep. The body tries its best to bond with our partner, but that precisely makes it a great addiction . Everything that has to do with love , from maternal love to the curious fact that some manage to remain happy for decades with the same partner, or that others are incapable of ever forging a lasting relationship, is the fault of a hormone. Apparently, the things of love are not as capricious as they appear. According to University of Edinburgh brain expert Gareth Leng, the hormone oxytocin helps forge permanent bonds between lovers after the first wave of emotion. The hormone works by “changing the connections” of the billions of brain circuits.
Brain intervention in love
Explaining how the brain falls in love, Leng notes that oxytocin helps strengthen the bond between a mother and her baby, and it occurs both during childbirth and during orgasm. While the instinct to reproduce makes us feel the passion of love, otherwise, when we lose it, we can end up feeling depressed. By producing our own drugs, the brain, moved by emotions, produces chemical substances that make the person raise their self-esteem, experience a feeling of euphoria, feel uplifted, happy and vigorous. These substances that the brain produces, called endogenous hormones (since they are produced in the cerebral cortex) could well be called “happiness drugs.” Some of them are: oxytocin, which occurs when there is a passionate love and life related to sexual.La dopamine, which is the drug of love and tenderness Finilananine, which generates enthusiasm and love for life Endorphin, which is a transmitter of energy and balances emotions, the feeling of fullness and depression Epinephrine, which it is a stimulus for the challenge of achieving goals. If there is an abundance of these endogenous hormones, there is emotional and interpersonal intelligence; the person feels located, knows who he is, where he is going; she controls her emotions, knows her abilities and talents, and feels like she is in control of herself.
Internal drug production
Discoveries like these have been made: When a woman goes into labor, she becomes highly dopamine; that is, it generates an enormous amount of dopamine (the drug of love and tenderness) .When we are in love, dopamine increases its quantity 7000 times, accompanied by oxytocin, responsible for sexual passion and phenylananines, responsible for enthusiasm, blocking the aspect of logic and reason.In newlyweds, large amount of oxytocin is produced, which is responsible for passionate love. That is why they radiate happiness, they feel full, happy and motivated.
Definition of happiness
Happiness is not something vague and imprecise, nor is it a hazy sensation: it is the effect of a correct flow of chemical substances that provide human beings with their physical and mental balance.
Activities that increase happiness
Happiness can be increased through the following attitudes or activities, all producing these internal “drugs”:
- Loving and passionately enjoying what we do.
- Having relationships with people who motivate us and enrich our vital force.
- Have a positive self-esteem and a sense of personal worth.
- Work and achieve small or big goals.
- Rest and sleep soundly.
- Manage stress properly .
- Exercising regularly: “a healthy mind in a healthy body”.
- Remember the happy moments of our life, since in those moments the mind does not distinguish between the real and the imaginary.
Rationale for why “love is blind”
Science has discovered that at the sight of the loved one, certain areas of the brain are activated, including the anterior cingulate cortex, which also responds to the stimulus of synthetic drugs, producing feelings of euphoria; But what is surprising about the new study is that in addition, the areas in charge of making social judgments and, therefore, of subjecting others to evaluation, were inactivated. Before our love, we become “blind” or, at least, we lower our guard. But it is that the human being, like all animals, has had to find the evolutionary mechanisms to perpetuate the species. And falling in love is among these mechanisms, a biochemical process that begins in the brain, and that after the overflowing secretion of neurotransmitters, activates glands and physiological responses at dizzying speed,in order that we end up reproducing ourselves.
Causes and effects of love
Until now, it is known, for example, that phenylethylamine (FEA), an amphetamine secreted by the human body, is one of the main substances involved in falling in love. This compound activates the secretion of dopamine (a neurotransmitter involved in the sensations of desire and that makes us repeat what gives us pleasure) and oxytocin (this one involved, among other functions, in sexual desire). When the brain is flooded with this substance, it responds by secreting dopamine (a neurotransmitter responsible for the reinforcement mechanisms of the brain, that is, the ability to desire something and to repeat a behavior that provides pleasure), norepinephrine and oxythicin (also to stimulate uterine contractions for labor and make milk flow ,It also seems to be a chemical messenger of sexual desire), and the work of the neurotransmitters that give rise to emotional outbursts begins , in short: one is in love. These combined compounds allow lovers to spend hours making love and whole nights talking, without feeling tired or sleepy. In short, we feel good about our love, we are extremely euphoric and excited, we need the person we are with, as if it were a drug, because it gives us pleasure, and our ability to judge it is reduced to nothing.
Duration of passion
The synthesis of FEA cannot be prolonged for a long time, among other things because we would die of exhaustion, and after two or three years its effects disappear, with hardly a trace. It is then when we face the tremendous reality and, the defects that we did not see previously appear. Over time the body becomes resistant to the effects of these substances and all the madness of passion gradually fades, the attraction phase does not last forever and then a second phase begins that we can call belonging, giving way to love. more sedate. It is about a feeling of security, comfort and peace. This status is associated with another CHEMICAL SHOWER. In this case they are endorphins, natural chemical compounds similar in structure to morphine and other opiates,those that confer the common sense of security beginning a new stage, that of attachment. That is why we suffer so much when losing a loved one, we stop receiving the daily dose of narcotics.
Effects of a hug
Stroking a pet can lower blood pressure, anxiety and even depression. For humans, physical contact is a necessity, a source of well-being that makes them feel protected, loved and recognized by the other. Just a hug triggers chemicals that help reduce stress and bond with you. The skin has sensitive receptors that send signals to the cerebral cortex. A receiving a hug, shake handsor a caress, the brain releases oxytocin, also known as the affection hormone, which allows attachment and human beings to seek each other. Each area of the body is represented in the cerebral cortex: eyelids, ears, feet, sexual organs, legs, neck. That is why where they touch us we will feel, although there are parts, such as hands and lips, that occupy more space in the cerebral cortex, therefore, they are more sensitive to the stimulus. With the help of magnetic resonance imaging (which makes it possible to make images of the functioning of the brain), scientists have observed that when receiving a hug, a handshake or a caress, oxytocin is released. That feeling of well-being with a friend, parents or partner is achieved thanks to oxytocin and vasopressin, which are very similar.The second appears more in men and oxytocin is produced more by the female sex. That explains why women spend a lot of time with friends and why they like to be constantly hugged. For a hug to produce enough oxytocin for a woman, it must last at least one minute.