Love: We Can't Live Without It
By Michael Russell
Go online on any given day and you can find millions of different websites devoted to love.
Online love tests, love calculators, dating sites, poems about love, you name it, you can find it.
Love is one the most complex human emotions and has caused so much happiness and grief
through the ages, that some of our best art has sprung from its destruction.
The chemical composition of our bodies is very complex. When scientists began trying to
understand the process of love in humans, they came up with some surprising findings. First,
the part of the brain that is actively involved in love is very small, especially when you compare it
to the larger brain activity involved in friendship. Second, the active areas of the brain are
different from other emotions such as fear or anger. Parts of your brain in charge of love
include the area involved in gut feelings and more interestingly, the area of the brain which
generates the euphoria associated with drugs like cocaine. The brains of those in love don't
look like people experiencing strong emotions, but more like those who have been snorting
cocaine. Love uses many of the same pathways that are activated when a person is becoming
addicted to something.
In addition to all this, apparently there are three stages of love. The first, lust, is driven purely by
hormones like testosterone and estrogen. These hormones increase your willingness to hook
up with someone, even if they may not be your 'type'. Attraction is the second stage.
"Love-struck" may be a better way to put it. This is the stage where you can't think of anything
else. You might lose your appetite and may not be able to sleep because of your
preoccupation with the object of your affection. In this stage there are a group on chemicals
that are flooded into your body. Dopamine, which is also associated with cocaine and nicotine,
is one.
Another is norepinephrine, or adrenaline, which can make us sweat and send our heart racing
with love. Serotonin is one of the more important chemicals involved with love, but it has also
been associated with people who are insane. The last stage is attachment. This is what
happens after attraction, if the bond between a couple is going to last. There are two
hormones involved in this stage too. Oxytocin is released during childbirth and helps create a
strong bond between a mother and her child. It is also released during orgasm and scientists
think it promotes bonding between two people when they are intimate. There's a theory that the
more sex a couple has, the closer they will bond, which is good news for men!
Love has mystified humans for eons. Even with all the explanations by scientists of the various
chemicals involved in love, it sure doesn't make it any easier when you are in the throes of lust
or love struck. As someone once wrote, love is a many splendored thing. Many would rather
live without its side effects, but as a whole, the human race wouldn't have been around as long
as it has without it.
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Love
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell
By Michael Russell
Go online on any given day and you can find millions of different websites devoted to love.
Online love tests, love calculators, dating sites, poems about love, you name it, you can find it.
Love is one the most complex human emotions and has caused so much happiness and grief
through the ages, that some of our best art has sprung from its destruction.
The chemical composition of our bodies is very complex. When scientists began trying to
understand the process of love in humans, they came up with some surprising findings. First,
the part of the brain that is actively involved in love is very small, especially when you compare it
to the larger brain activity involved in friendship. Second, the active areas of the brain are
different from other emotions such as fear or anger. Parts of your brain in charge of love
include the area involved in gut feelings and more interestingly, the area of the brain which
generates the euphoria associated with drugs like cocaine. The brains of those in love don't
look like people experiencing strong emotions, but more like those who have been snorting
cocaine. Love uses many of the same pathways that are activated when a person is becoming
addicted to something.
In addition to all this, apparently there are three stages of love. The first, lust, is driven purely by
hormones like testosterone and estrogen. These hormones increase your willingness to hook
up with someone, even if they may not be your 'type'. Attraction is the second stage.
"Love-struck" may be a better way to put it. This is the stage where you can't think of anything
else. You might lose your appetite and may not be able to sleep because of your
preoccupation with the object of your affection. In this stage there are a group on chemicals
that are flooded into your body. Dopamine, which is also associated with cocaine and nicotine,
is one.
Another is norepinephrine, or adrenaline, which can make us sweat and send our heart racing
with love. Serotonin is one of the more important chemicals involved with love, but it has also
been associated with people who are insane. The last stage is attachment. This is what
happens after attraction, if the bond between a couple is going to last. There are two
hormones involved in this stage too. Oxytocin is released during childbirth and helps create a
strong bond between a mother and her child. It is also released during orgasm and scientists
think it promotes bonding between two people when they are intimate. There's a theory that the
more sex a couple has, the closer they will bond, which is good news for men!
Love has mystified humans for eons. Even with all the explanations by scientists of the various
chemicals involved in love, it sure doesn't make it any easier when you are in the throes of lust
or love struck. As someone once wrote, love is a many splendored thing. Many would rather
live without its side effects, but as a whole, the human race wouldn't have been around as long
as it has without it.
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Love
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell
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