By: burgundy bug
Statues Kissing
Source: Kissing Statues on Canvas | Penelope Peru Photography P³
Your pupils dilate and a wave of euphoria washes over you. You are engulfed in a sense of calm, despite an increase in your heart rate. This is not a work of magic, no. This is your brain on love.
A Bit of Context…
Xave: HELLO, IT ME.
Source: My Brain 15 | Penelope Peru Photography P³
The human brain is a delicate, complex collection of neurons, glial cells, electricity, and hormones. According to research published by Karger, the adult human brain consists of 86 billion neurons. Think that’s impressive? Scientific American reports that glial cells outnumber neurons by as many as 50 glia for everyone one neuron.
Neurons are the primary unit of our brains and nervous system. They are responsible for sending and receiving sensory input, in addition to controlling our muscles. Furthermore, neurons translate these messages into electrical signals and relay them from one neuron to another.
Hormones are chemicals produced by cells in one part of the body that travel through your bloodstream in order to conduct these messages to other areas of the body. They regulate our behaviors, such as our emotions, sleep and wake cycles, our appetite, and many other bodily functions.
There are many different hormones including adrenaline, insulin, estrogen, testosterone, serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, among others.
What Happens to Your Brain When You’re in Love?
Being “in love” largely plays upon the “feel-good” hormone dopamine, as well as oxytocin and vasopressin.
What is Dopamine?
According to University Health News Daily, dopamine is the “feel-good” hormone that plays a vital role in coordination, movement, bliss, and our sense of accomplishment. It also affects our sleep, mood, our short term memory, and our ability to concentrate.
Your brain releases dopamine when you feel pleasure. Whenever you listen to your favorite song, finish a major project, or kiss that someone special, dopamine comes stomping in.
ME, GIVIN’ AAALL THE KISSES!!!
Source: My Brain 11 | Penelope Peru Photography P³
Due to dopamine’s role in our sense of accomplishment and pleasure, drugs that increase the dopamine levels in our brains – caffeine, nicotine, methamphetamines, etc… are highly addictive.
Excess levels of dopamine in the brain can produce symptoms of psychosis. On the other hand, a dopamine deficiency can leave you feeling depressed or tremoring.
What is Oxytocin?
Oxytocin has commonly been referred to as the “love-hormone” although it doesn’t make people fall in love with one another; rather, it reinforces the love you already feel for someone else. It is associated with our sense of trust and increases our bonds to others.
During a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States of America (PNAS), researchers gave 20 heterosexual males a dose of oxytocin prior to measuring their brain activity through a functional-MRI (f-MRI) scan. They showed them pictures of their significant other, female friends of theirs, and attractive women who they had never met before. Then, the men had to compare all of the women to their significant other.
The researchers found their participants felt more attracted to their partner and less attracted to the unfamiliar woman when comparing the two. It’s also worth noting the researchers did not find any change in how attracted they were to their partner or female friend when comparing their pictures.
This study is a perfect example of how oxytocin doesn’t make people feel attracted to one another, it only reinforces preexisting relationships in comparison to strangers.
What is Vasopressin?
According to Everyday Health, vasopressin is a hormone that plays a vital role in regulating bodily functions such as our sleep and wake cycles, internal body temperature, blood volume, as well as our urinary tract.
Vasopressin is released by both men and women during sex, however the effects are more potent in men due to how it interacts with the male sex hormone testosterone.
In a study published by the Southwest University of Chongquin China, researchers found male prairie voles with higher levels of vasopressin were more faithful to their female partners. Whereas males with lower levels of vasopressin neglected their female partners as well as their own offspring.
Similar results were found in humans. The level of vasopressin correlated with marital status as well as the quality of marriage between heterosexual men and women in research published in PNAS.
These studies support the conclusion that vasopressin is a key factor in the strength of our bonds with others, particularly in men.
What’s Love Got to Do with It?
When you’re in love, your brain releases dopamine, oxytocin and vasopressin; hormones associated with happiness, trust, and connectedness.
Your brain also releases adrenaline, which increases your heart rate. That’s why you may feel nervous around your crush or partner during early stages of your relationship.
This release of adrenaline also increases the levels of epinephrine and norepinephrine, which leave you feeling excited.
Much like dopamine, norepinephrine is also associated with our brain’s reward system. It intensifies our infatuation to the point of feeling borderline obsessed. This encourages you to pursue your romantic interest.
V: WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, THE FIRST TIME WE HUNG OUT, AS I WAS PHOTOGRAPHING THE PLANES?
X: I WAS THINKING ABOUT HOW CUTE YOU ARE… AND THE PILOT WHO WAVED AT US.
V: I GOT SO HYPE WHEN YOU STARTED FREESTYLING FOR ME.X: HA, I KNOW.
Source: My Brain 20 | Penelope Peru Photography P³
V: IT’S ALMOST A LIL’ EMBARRASSING, I JUST COULDN’T CONTAIN MY ENTHUSIASM.
X: YOU’RE JUST VERY EXPRESSIONAL. IT’S SWEET.
The first time XtaSeay and I hung out, at the airport.
Sources: Larger Plane, Exxcal1bur, Flowers 17 | Penelope Peru Photography P³
Love also causes our amygdala to shutdown. This is the part of the brain responsible for judgement such as recognizing dangerous situations or detecting when someone is lying to us. This is why you tend to ignore your partner’s flaws and view them through rose-tinted glasses.
At this point, the dopamine already has you addicted to how wonderful their affection makes you feel. The oxytocin and vasopressin reinforce your connection, while the lack of activity in your amygdala leaves you oblivious to your partner’s shortcomings.
In Conclusion
Love is a crazy, beautiful, lovely thing, isn’t it? It’s highly addictive yet vital to our survival. Thanks to the work of dopamine, oxytocin, and vasopressin in conjunction with adrenaline and the shutdown of our amygdala, love makes you feel euphoric, connected, excited, and obsessed.
XtaSeay & Burgundy Bug’s photobooth pictures
Source: Photobooth Fun (GIF) | Penelope Peru Photography P³
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