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Psychology
How Does the Human Body Encounter Love?
Love triggers specific chemical changes in the body—from a drop in serotonin and a rise in cortisol to shifts in testosterone that make men gentler and women more assertive. Brain scans have also revealed similarities between brain activity in love and in addiction.
Those who have tasted the experience of being in love know well what this passionate feeling does to a person. But what exactly is love? Can it be measured or seen in the body? Scientists have been trying to solve the enigma of love for years.
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The organ that holds the reins of love is the human brain
In 1992, Dr. John Gray, an author and family counselor, wrote a book titled "Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus," which sold over 50 million copies worldwide and remained on the bestseller list for 121 weeks. In this book, the American author attributes the common problems in male-female relationships to a fundamental psychological difference between the male and female sexes, using the metaphor that men and women each come from two different planets; men from Mars and women from Venus.
How Does the Human Body Encounter Love?
But even if Martian men and Venusian women differ in many respects, they become very similar to each other at least at one point in life, and that is when they fall in love.
When love arrives, it makes the soul and body restless and takes them captive. For thousands of years, humans believed that love was a mysterious enigma and a gift from the gods. In the modern era, however, scientists have been trying to unveil this magic of love and the "havoc" this feeling wreaks on the body.
What exactly is love? Is it measurable? Can it be examined by scanning the brain or testing the blood? Can one, for instance, diagnose a "patient's affliction with love" through imaging?
What does love actually do to our body? The brain's command over love
In literature, art, or the everyday language of people in the street and marketplace, whenever love is mentioned, the heart is brought into the conversation; a heart that starts pounding and seems about to leap out of the chest upon seeing the beloved, or is wounded and broken by the loss of the beloved. Although in this established interpretation, the heart and love have an inseparable bond, in reality, the organ that holds the reins of love is the human brain.
Donatella Marazziti, a professor at the University of Pisa, who had herself fallen in love twice and personally experienced the power that love generates, became interested in exploring the phenomenon of love further.
In 1999, she published the results of a study showing that the level of serotonin, a neurotransmitter with a calming role, is much lower than normal in those who describe themselves as being in love.
According to this study, the serotonin levels in the bodies of these individuals were exactly at the same level seen in the bodies of people suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder.
This research, published in the journal New Scientist, noted that both groups (lovers and those with obsessive-compulsive disorder) exhibit an excessive degree of worry and obsession about one thing or one person.
Scientific research has shown that falling in love truly blinds a person to the beloved's shortcomings.
Based on their findings, this research team stated that the brain chemistry of those who exhibit obsessive behaviors, such as washing their hands many times a day or having an abnormal tendency to clean or constantly check the stove burners, resembles that of people who have recently fallen in love.
Donatella Marazziti and her team compared 24 men and women who had fallen in love within the 6 months prior to the study with 24 other male and female volunteers who were either single or in a long-term, stable romantic relationship.
The scientists' first finding was that in the bodies of men and women in love, the level of the hormone cortisol, which is secreted during stress, was significantly higher than in the other group.
Men in Love Become Gentler, Women in Love Become More Assertive
Donatella Marazziti also found that testosterone levels, the most important male hormone, are lower in men in love compared to other men. Conversely, the secretion of this hormone increases in the bodies of women who are in love, compared to other women.
According to Dr. Marazziti, in this state, men become more like women and women become more like men, "as if nature wants to eliminate what could be different between men and women, because at this stage, survival [and pair-bonding] is more important."
Scientists have not yet succeeded in providing a scientific explanation for this change in testosterone levels, but one hypothesis that has been proposed is that the lower secretion of this hormone in men makes them gentler, and calmness is a prerequisite for a man to enter into a relationship.
In contrast, according to the hypothesis, the rise in testosterone secretion in women increases their sexual desire.
But is falling in love the only reason for these changes in the body?
Following the publication of this research, some researchers attributed the hormonal changes in the body to the high level of sexual activity that occurs at this stage.
Conversely, considering that under normal circumstances, testosterone levels in men rise with increased sexual activity, it was raised in other studies at that time that if, as the "critics" say, hormonal changes arise as a result of increased sexual activity, then testosterone secretion should increase in men in love, not decrease, as shown by Dr. Marazziti's research.
Is passionate love a form of addiction?
Numerous studies to date have shown that when the feeling of passionate love takes shape, certain parts of the brain clearly become active while the activity of other parts decreases. Semir Zeki and Andreas Bartels from University College London were two of the first researchers to successfully identify these areas.
They showed the volunteers participating in this research photos of the people they were in love with, and simultaneously scanned their brains with an MRI machine. In this study, it was seen that four points in the limbic system (the emotional nervous system) were active above all.
The researchers observed that this reaction is very similar to the reaction created in the brain when consuming cocaine. Dr. Bartels writes: "There are overlaps between love and addiction. It seems that addiction misuses parts of the modules associated with love in the brain."
Scientific findings have determined that during the period of being in love, dopamine, a neurotransmitter, activates the brain's pleasure center. This is exactly like the process created by addictive substances such as cocaine, heroin, nicotine, amphetamine, or other addictive drugs.
These researchers were also surprised to find that when mothers are shown photos of their children, the exact same areas that lit up brightly in the scans of lovers' brains also light up in the mothers' brains.
Of course, the result of this "love experiment" cannot be accepted one hundred percent, because if the volunteer is in love with someone else and thinks of that other person while seeing the photo of their beloved, the exact same brain areas will light up brightly.
Thus, one cannot draw a definitive conclusion that an MRI of the brain can estimate a person's mad love for their beloved. According to Dr. Bartels, although feelings arise following physiological processes, these processes cannot fully determine love.
Hormones, the Engine of Love
Hormones can perhaps rightly be considered the driving force of love, although one cannot speak solely of one or two specific hormones and their changes. In the human body's organism, the hormonal control system is interconnected, such that any change affects the entire system.
Christoph Koch, a German researcher, describes being in love as a "positive stress feeling" in which the thyroid gland, sex hormones, and stress hormones are primarily involved.
Scientists have concluded that the feeling of mad love lasts, on average, only 7 months
In erotic situations, the pituitary gland, located beneath the brain, secretes a hormone called oxytocin, which plays an important role in, among other things, inducing uterine contractions, facilitating sperm entry into the uterus, and stimulating the sexual organs. Oxytocin causes muscle contractions during orgasm and childbirth.
Numerous studies have been conducted on the characteristics of this hormone, also called the "love hormone," "orgasm hormone," or "fidelity hormone." These studies have shown that oxytocin fosters attachment and creates feelings of love and trust between two people, encouraging them to form a lasting, shared relationship and have children.
Another hormone prominent during love is vasopressin. This hormone causes more intense blood circulation in the sexual organs and also helps the person fall into a deep sleep after orgasm.
The color of the face reveals the secret of the heart
The lover's complexion clearly reveals their inner restlessness. Upon seeing the beloved or something related to them, the image is transmitted to the lover's brain and analyzed there. The brain then sends messages to the blood vessels in the face, causing their muscles to relax. In this way, the capillaries expand, more blood flows through them, and consequently, the face reddens.
Sweating palms are another attention-grabbing point. The brain sends messages to the sweat glands, especially in the underarm and palm areas, to produce more sweat. According to Dr. Christian Sander, a dermatologist, these reactions are common during mental stimulation at the time of infatuation.
When love blinds a person
The old belief that love is blind was apparently not without wisdom. Scientific research has shown that falling in love truly closes a person's eyes to the beloved's shortcomings.
The research team of Dr. Andreas Bartels found that when people look at those they are in love with, the neural circuits normally associated with critical evaluations of others are inactive.
"Love only lasts three years"
Those who have tasted falling in love know that this passionate phase has a limited duration.
Dr. Helen Fisher, an American anthropologist and ethnologist cited as one of the world's most renowned researchers on the phenomenon of love, along with her colleagues Arthur Aron and Lucy Brown, concluded years ago that the feeling of "mad love" lasts, on average, only 7 months. After this time, the hormonal ups and downs slowly decrease. As a result, a period begins where the bond between the man and woman strengthens, and they enter into a relationship with each other. At this time, hormones have not returned to their normal levels, but they are not as active as before.
According to evolutionary theories, it is believed that the feeling of attraction has a lifespan of between 6 months and 3 years, which is sufficient time for the man to stay with the woman. This time is necessary for the woman to become pregnant, give birth, and meet the infant's initial needs.
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How Does the Human Body Encounter Love?
Source: Google News
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Discussion1 comments
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