I have spent too much time talking about the COVID-19 virus. Let’s talk about falling in love. It is triggered by two hormones oxytocin and vasopressin. Vasopressin has many effects. It is called the antidiuretic hormone. We do not directly feel any response to it. The primary hormone for falling in love is called oxytocin. It has two popular nicknames, “cuddling hormone” and the “love hormone.” Scientists have taken a closer look at falling in love. They discovered that three chemicals are released into your brain when you fall in love. They cause a feeling of euphoria, which provides an addictive rush. They are dopamine, adrenaline, and norepinephrine. Dopamine gives you a feeling of pleasure. Adrenaline is called the fight or flight chemical. Norepinephrine increases your alertness. The three combined produce a great sense of pleasure. Okay, that’s the biochemistry of falling in love, but somehow it doesn’t explain how we feel at that moment.
Think of the moment when you fell in love. We have felt all the things those chemicals do to our bodies. We want to react to those feelings. However, society says we can’t. I know a married couple where the husband seeing his wife for the first time, walked up to her and told her “I’m going to marry you.” He got a massive dose of the chemicals we have mentioned. She thought he was crazy! It shows how men and women both react differently to falling in love. A man feels like he wants to spend all his time with her. I think that’s what the man in the couple I described felt. A woman is more generally “reserved.” She begins to evaluate him as a potential mate. They both have felt that addictive rush.
We learn quickly in our teens that falling in love is pleasurable. However, we also learn that breaking up, falling out of love, is very painful. Every generation has songs expressing how painful falling out of love can be. I have often wondered if this isn’t Mother Nature’s way of preventing addiction to the process of falling in love. What do you think?
