SCIENCE OF LOVE: ●

● Love often feels unexplainable – the most mysterious of forces that has dictated centuries of philosophy, poetry and literature.

● But in reality, love is a science. Beneath the flushed cheeks, there is a series of complex chemical reactions taking place between the brain and the body.

● Feeling of love doesn't occur in our hearts, at least scientifically. Instead, it happens in our brain when we release hormones (oxytocin, dopamine, adrenaline, testosterone, estrogen, and vasopressin) that create a mix of feelings: euphoria, pleasure or bonding..

● Our emotions exist in our brain’s temporal lobe, inside its limbic system, with the amygdala at its center. This is where our brain processes hormones and release emotions, such as fear, anger, desire and love.

Love is similar to addiction:

● Some scientists compare falling in love to the experiences a drug addict endures because of the similar levels of dopamine released. When you fall in love, your brain releases the hormone and you feel a rush similar to the kick one receives when taking a hit of cocaine.

● Like cocaine, your brain becomes addicted to the rewarding feeling of “love” and wants to keep the source of it around, hence why you might fall deeply in love (or infatuated) with another person.

● And if you were to lose someone you love or experience a break up, your body will experience withdrawal.

● Some people refer to oxytocin as the “love hormone” because of how it’s associated with feelings of attachment and bonding

What really is love!?

● Let's scientifically speak about love:

● Crush+puppy love + infatuation = passionate love

● Passionate love occurs fairly rapidly and is

..fragile

..sexualised

..emotionally intense

..exciting

● Interestingly , passionate love and adolescence share a common descriptive vocabulary.

Passionate love Intense Adolescence

Confusing

Consuming

Overwhelming

Exciting

● Unfortunately,passionate love usually lasts only for a short time. but, some lucky couples go through 3 stages

#passionate love(excitement and vocabulary)

#period of disillusionment (passionate love wanes)

#compassionate love(realistic expectations,sense of security)

● Compassionate love is fairly slow to develop but is durable and involves feelings of affection, intimacy and commitment. But,it may not be as wild but comfortable.

● Research suggest that the strongest and most lasting relationships may be those where people find a balance between passionate and compassionate love

● Allow yourself to find the balance.

● Love is hard to define because what some people call love others call infatuation. While some say is a biological construct we’re all born with, others say that love is a social construct designed by the media.

● The scientific study of love is still ongoing, as there hasn’t been any hard evidence to determine whether or not love is, in fact, real–or that it’s just made up and merely exists in our minds.

● But, what we can say is that when studies are conducted on these feelings of love, researchers do find that parts of our brain and its reward system are active.