Happy Valentine’s Day: 15 science-backed truths about love

Why do people fall in love? What happens when you start feeling romantic about someone? This Valentine's Day, let's find out what science has to say.

By: Editorial Team | | Published: February 14, 2019 7:43 pm

Your brain takes one fifth of a second to produce feel-good chemicals when it spots your potential partner. ©Shutterstock

It won’t be an exaggeration to say that love is one of the most-researched and most-misunderstood emotions in the history of human kind. What is love all about? Is it a spontaneous and inexplicable emotion that gives us a feeling of euphoria? Is it the result of our brain wiring or merely an interplay of hormones and neurotransmitters? This Valentine’s Day, let us take a look at a few research-based facts about love.

It takes less than a second to spot your potential partner. Several studies mention that when you look at your potential partner and you like them, your brain starts developing feel-good chemicals, like dopamine and oxytocin which are linked with love. Also,your brain takes one fifth of a second to react when it sees the love of your life.

Love can affect your brain like cocaine. Being in love or taking a dose of cocaine can affect your brain by triggering a feeling of elation. According to a study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, falling in love creates various happiness-inducing chemicals that spark 12 areas of the brain at the same time. This is similar to what cocaine does.

Deep emotional bonding leads to replication of gestures. When you connect with your lover deeply at a particular moment, you tend to replicate each other’s gestures, facial expressions and physiological rhythms. However, it can be momentary or a long-lasting mental and emotional state where both of you are motivated to contribute to each other’s well-being in the long run.

Cuddling can replace pills. When you cuddle with your partner your body produces oxytocin, a love or cuddle hormone. This hormone is said to be involved in bonding process and it appears in the ovaries, testicles and brain. According to a study carried out by Stanford University School of Medicine, you can try to hug or cuddle before opting to take chemicals or pills, as a dose of oxytocin reduces headaches significantly and, in some cases, it completely cures the pain after four hours of dosage.

Being in relationship can help your long-term health. A number of studies have revealed that for a strong love connection plays a major role in boosting health and wellness. Loneliness and lack of social connection can shorten your lifespan just like smoking. Particularly in men, marriage can boost long-term health while the death of partner can be a risk factor for early death.

Love and OCD may have similar chemical reaction in the brain. During the initial phase of your relationship, you have lower levels of the brain chemical serotonin, which is linked with happiness and well-being and higher level of the hormone cortisol which causes stress. These traits are similar to people suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder, found a study named Love and Neurobiology: Not So Strange Bedfellows. It revealed that people in love, like individuals with OCD, had a 40 per cent dip in their serotonin levels. This pretty much explains why love makes people act in ways that they wouldn’t have, otherwise. Low serotonin levels also make people fall in love quickly and indulge in sexual activity.

Contemplating on love to enhance your creativity. According to a study published in the SAGE Journals, it is noted that thinking about love can enhance your creative thinking. Whereas, reminder of sex can elevate your concrete thinking, making you focus more on momentary details as compared to long-term goals.

Love is the result of intimacy, commitment and passion. This is something that Dr. Robert Sternberg, a psychologist from the Tufts University propounded in his Triangular Theory of love. While passion and intimacy spike up quite quickly and dwindle with time, commitment takes just the opposite direction, it starts at ground zero and flourishes over the course of time.

Eye contact can make you fall in love with a stranger. According to a 1989 study, making eye contact with a stranger for two minutes triggers mutual passionate feelings between them. This happens because when you look into someone’s eyes, a chemical called phenylethylamine, which is a stimulant of the central nervous system, is produced. This makes you fall for each other.

Holding hands of a loved one can reduce stress. According to a research published in the journal Psychological Science, women experienced significantly higher relief from stress when they reached out to their husbands and touched their hands. All these women shared very strong and close relationships with their husbands. When extremely intimate partners touch each other, their pain sensation reduces. This also explains why withdrawal, rejection or absence of affection can be utterly upsetting.

The presence of your potential partner causes butterflies in your stomach. When the person you like is around you, you may experience an uncomfortable feeling in your stomach. This is your body’s stress reaction which causes your heart to beat faster. Your mouth may become dry and your hand may start to shake.

Dilated pupils can reveal physical attraction.The autonomic nervous system that triggers uncontrollable reactions such as heart rates and goose bumps also create the dilation and contraction of your pupils. According to a 1965 study published in Scientific American magazine carried out by psychologist Eckhard Hess, a heterosexual person’s pupil dilated when he or she looked at opposite-sex nudes. While, on the other hand homosexual people experienced the same response when they stared at same-sex nudes. This experiment confirms an association between sexual attraction and dilation of your pupil.

Face more important than body for long-term relationships. A research published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior observed that men who were keen on short-term flings were interested in a woman’s body more than her face while the opposite was true for those looking forward to a long-lasting relationship.

Heart breaks are real. Broken heart syndrome, also known as stress-induced cardiomyopathy, can affect you if you are experiencing a traumatic separation with a loved one. Characterised by stress-induced chest pain, broken heart syndrome is often confused as a heart attack because of similar symptoms like changed heart rhythm and blood substances. In this condition, part of your heart temporarily gets enlarged and doesn’t pump properly. Though broken heart syndrome doesn’t lead to heart attack, it can be the cause of acute and short-term heart muscle failure. But the good news is broken heart syndrome is easily treatable.

Monogamy is common to the animal kingdom too. If you thought that humans are the only species across the globe who find a lifelong partner, you are wrong. Wolves, swans and black vultures are also monogamous animals.

Published: February 14, 2019 7:43 pm

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