WhatTheJunk Science: The science of love

Monday 13 August 2012

The science of love

Love <3

We all like love don't we?(Well, until the person you fall in love with pisses you off) It's one of the natural highs of life as our brain gives us a wosh of dopamine and endorphins and we cannot stop thinking about that one person constantly.

But what happens when we fall in love?

Well, as a result of certain stimuli such as smell for instance, the hypothalamus releases a powerful discharge of endorphins (such as dopamine) and has an effect like that of taking cocaine.

Why can I not stop thinking of this person? (I take it you are obsessed about this person otherwise you wouldn't be reading this post.)

One of the places that the dopamine is released is the nucleas accumbens, a cluster of nerves located underneath the Cerebral hemisphere. The reason you are so obsessed about this person is because when you met up with this person or spot them somewhere ''unexpectedly'' ;) the brain releases dopamine to this important cluster of nerves and creates the 'reward system'. It's like your brain is saying 'well done for stalking this person like a lost puppy, in return I'm gonna give you a rush of dopamine'. So basically this person has become your 'drug'. Every time you see, touch or talk to them you get a high. So in other words you a crackhead. And it's actually very accurate of me to call you a crackhead, because this is the exact same process a crackhead goes through.

But why this person?

Why is this person your crack you mean? Well maybe it could be that this person released some odourless pheromones that complimented your genetic being? Or maybe there facial features such as eye's that are alike to your mother's that comforted you when you were a baby and thus stimulated a happy memory? Or hey, maybe there your soul mate. Maybe it was written when time began (not before as there was no before!) that you would meet this person, fall in love. Who know's what it is?

How long does it take to fall in love with someone?

There was a study, I think it was in Italy? It would make sense as Italy ment to be one of the most romantic places on earth. Anyway, they paired up random people and made them stare into eachother eyes for four minutes (they were allowed to blink otherwise it would be torture) and were told to share intimate details of themselves for half an hour. Those subjects were shown to fall in love and resulted in two of the pairs to get married and another pair to become a couple. Whats even more remarkable is that it only took 34 minutes for those people to fall in love. So there you have it, how to make someone fall in love with you without having any say so whatsoever! And me telling you how to MAKE someone fall in love with you is making my moral compass twitch so that's it on this subject.