Dar es Salaam — LOVE is that famous four-letter word that has inspired countless songs and sonnets. But what is it about this powerful emotion that makes our hearts thump, minds race, and palms sweat?
“Love is a powerful feeling, and it is often a little different depending on what a person is giving to or receiving from the person who they love,” says Heidi Moawad, MD, an associate editor of Neurology and Clinical Assistant Professor at Case Western Reserve University.
“For example, maternal love is often protective. And romantic love will eventually also become protective as people grow closer to each other and learn each other’s vulnerabilities, but it doesn’t usually start out that way.” Falling in love can be a thrilling, emotional experience, but what exactly is happening in your brain when you fall in love? It can feel like your brain has switched to vacation mode without telling the rest of you.
Suddenly, logic and rationality seem to fly out the window, and you’re left with a head full of romantic notions straight out of a Disney movie or 90’s rom-com. Those feelings are all part of the neuroscience of love. The chemicals that flood your brain can make you feel like you’re on top of the world.
Follow us on WhatsApp | LinkedIn for the latest headlines
Brain regions involved in love
No matter what the poets say, love doesn’t actually come from the heart. Of course, writing verses about what’s happening in the depths of the ventral tegmental area sounds a bit less lyrical. For starters, it isn’t a singular emotion. It’s made up of many different elements and emotions, including physical attraction, romance, and affection.
What exactly is love, then? It’s been the question posed by countless philosophers, poets, and songwriters-so it only makes sense that scientists would also take a crack at answering it. Perhaps not surprisingly, there are actually many different theories about what constitutes love, but one popular model suggests that it involves lust, attheir little body, your child needs consistent avenues to ‘blow off steam’.
Physical activity gives your child calming and regulating sensory input which helps to disengage the emotional area of their brain (where stress and anxiety live) and strengthens the part of the brain responsible for focus, self-control and decision-making (the pre-frontal cortex).
Monitor their media Evidence shows that exposure to news programming and other scary screentime can cause children to experience fear and anxiety. When children are exposed to violent or aggressive content, their brains often process it in the How to protect your child from stress, anxiety in a stressful modern world traction, and attachment.
According to researchers, each element involves a different system in the brain. “Each of these drives are mediated by different brain regions–so the frontal lobe is involved in the prosocial aspects of romantic love, and the ventral tegmental area is involved in the reward feeling of attraction and getting positive feedback that someone who you are attracted to also likes you,” Moawad says.
Brain Regions Involved in Lust and Passion
Feelings of lust stem from the brain’s hypothalamus. This small, almond-sized structure, positioned just above the brainstem, is connected to basic needs and desires like thirst and hunger. It also controls automatic internal processes such as body temperature, blood pressure, and sleep cycle. And it’s one part of your brain that helps regulate your sex drive. It triggers the release of hormones that increase sexual desire.
Brain Regions Involved in Attraction and Romance
When it comes to attraction and romance, two specific areas of the brain play a key role: the ventral tegmental area and the nucleus accumbens.1 Both areas of the brain play an essential part in the brain’s reward system. This system floods the body with dopamine, a neurotransmitter that produces feelings of euphoria and pleasure.
ALSO READ: How to protect your child from stress, anxiety in a stressful modern world
That’s why the early stages of love can feel so thrilling and, at times, even addictive. It’s normal to feel like you can’t stop thinking about the other person and want to be with them all the time.
Brain Regions Involved in Attachment
But love is about more than attraction and romance–it also involves attachment, affection, and commitment, which is, interestingly, also heavily influenced by the hypothalamus. That’s because this area of the brain secretes chemicals that play a role in fostering trust and emotional bonds.
Other Brain Regions Involved in Love
Other areas of the brain are also involved in our experience of love–makes sense so much of the brain is, it’s such a big feeling! The amygdala, for example, helps to process the emotions that we experience. This is important because it creates the powerful associations we develop during the earliest stages of romantic relationships. When you fall for someone, this region of the brain tends to slow down. This might explain why we sometimes ignore red flags and make poor judgments, particularly during those love-struck early days of a romance.
Neurotransmitters: The Chemical Messengers of Love
The early stages of love often feel like a whirlwind of emotion. We see everything through rose-colored glasses (which is why we don’t see the red flags) and the euphoric feeling overrides everything else–but there’s an important reason why. When you fall in love, the emotion triggers the release of chemicals such as oxytocin, vasopressin, and dopamine. Certain chemicals are associated with different stages of falling in love.
Testosterone and Estrogen Fuel Lust We often wonder at the start of a relationship: Is it love, or just lust? This takes a little extra time to figure out, but lust is still present when you’re truly in love. Lust involves a desire for sexual pleasure and gratification. There is an evolutionary basis for our need to reproduce, which is why, like our other basic needs, the hypothalamus is heavily involved in this aspect of falling in love. The hypothalamus stimulates the testes and ovaries to release the sex hormones testosterone and oestrogen. Both play a role in fuelling feelings of passion and lust.
Estrogen’s Impact on Women’s Mental Health, according to a doctor Dopamine, Norepinephrine, and Serotonin Reward Love
Attraction is connected to the brain’s reward system, which involves the brain chemicals dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. Dopamine is the “feel-good” hormone because it makes us experience feelings of pleasure. Norepinephrine is also released, which causes us to feel euphoric, and contributes to the ways we can feel giddy and excited during the early stages of love.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
However, this neurochemical can also fuel feelings of anxiety. While the brain is experiencing an influx of these so-called “love chemicals,” there is also a drop in an important neurotransmitter called serotonin. You’re probably familiar with serotonin’s role in mood–but it is also connected to intrusive and anxious thoughts. Low levels of serotonin chemical have been linked to increased anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. If you’ve ever found yourself obsessing over every small thing your new romantic partner has said or did, you can blame it on this drop in serotonin.
Oxytocin and Vasopressin Promote Bonding
As relationships progress, the giddy excitement of early love is tempered by a deeper and more intimate commitment. This is influenced by a shift in the chemicals that are released in your brain. Dopamine and norepinephrine begin to drop, and two other hormones take centre stage: oxytocin and vasopressin. Oxytocin is produced by the brain’s hypothalamus, and it is sometimes referred to as the “cuddle hormone.”
It is released during sex, childbirth, and breastfeeding and helps promote bonding and emotional connection. Vasopressin is also believed to play an important role in social bonding. It is believed to promote attachment and protective behaviours. “Romantic love is also often dependent on prosocial mental processes–which involves whether a person thinks that having a romantic relationship with a specific person will be accepted or admired within their social circle,” Moawad says.