What happens to the brain when you're in love?

When we fall in love, chemicals related to the reward system flood the brain, creating a variety of physical and emotional responses that cause a racing heart, sweaty palms, flushed cheeks, and feelings of passion. passionate about.

Falling in love often makes you feel naturally excited. Love is truly a chemical reaction. It is these complex changes in the brain that explain why we feel such an intense combination of desire, desire and excitement. Although it may seem like a mysterious or even mystical experience, scientists have made important discoveries about what happens on a neurological level when you fall in love with another person.

1. What's special about the brain when you fall in love?

Thanks to advances in imaging technology, scientists have a much clearer picture of what happens in the brain when people experience love.

In 2005, Fisher led a research team that published groundbreaking results including the first functional MRI (fMRI) images of the brains of people in the throes of romantic love. The research team analyzed 2,500 brain scans of college students looking at photos of someone special to them and compared the scans with those taken when students looked at photos of regular acquaintances.

Photos of their romantic loves caused participants' brains to become active in regions rich in dopamine, known as the feel-good neurotransmitter.

Two of the brain regions that showed activity during the fMRI scans were the caudate nucleus, a region involved in reward detection and expectation as well as the integration of sensory experiences into social behavior, and the ventral tegmental area (ventral tegmental area - VTA), related to pleasure, focused attention, and motivation to pursue and achieve rewards.

"Primary areas of the brain associated with romantic love light up on brain scans when talking about a loved one," said Olds, HMS associate professor of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. loved ones. These areas can stay bright for a long time for some couples."

2. Brain regions related to desire and passion when in love

The feeling of desire originates in the hypothalamus of the brain. This small, almond-sized structure, located just above the brain stem, is connected to basic needs and desires such as thirst and hunger. It also controls automatic internal processes such as body temperature, blood pressure and sleep cycles. And it's the part of the brain that helps regulate sexual desire, it stimulates the release of hormones that increase sexual desire.

When you love, emotions stimulate the release of chemicals such as oxytocin, dopamine.

3. Brain regions related to attraction and romance

When it comes to attraction and romance, two specific regions of the brain play important roles: the ventral tegmental area and the nucleus accumbens . Both brain regions play essential roles in the brain's reward system. This system provides the body with dopamine, a neurotransmitter that creates feelings of excitement and pleasure.

That's why the early stages of love can be thrilling and sometimes even "addictive." It's normal to feel like you can't stop thinking about other people and always want to be with them.

4. Brain regions involved in attachment

But love is more than just attraction and romance - it also involves attachment, affection and commitment, which interestingly is also heavily influenced by the hypothalamus.

That's because this area of ​​the brain secretes chemicals that promote trust and emotional attachment.

5. Other brain regions related to love

Other areas of the brain are also involved in our experience of love - this has huge implications for the brain, it's a huge feeling. For example, the amygdala helps process the emotions we experience. This is important because it creates strong associations that we develop in the early stages of romantic relationships.

Love doesn't really come from the heart, but it is "written" by the chemistry and function of something much more complex, your brain.

6. The brain is where love comes from

It may not sound very romantic, but it's neurotransmitters, hormones, and the hypothalamus (along with other areas of the brain) that are at the heart of every love story.

Dopamine - the "feel good" hormone that causes feelings of euphoria and joy. Other chemicals also play a role, including oxytocin, serotonin, estrogen and testosterone.

It is important to recognize that although love can come in many different forms, research also shows that these forms of love may share underlying neurobiological mechanisms. For example, one study found that maternal love and passionate love both increased activity in the ventral tegmental area.

When we have a crush on someone, key brain regions light up like the skyline of a busy city at night. The ventral tegmental area floods the brain with dopamine. The brain's reward system kicks into high gear, processing these rewarding feelings and linking heightened passion with other complex emotions like attachment and empathy. That's why you may feel "addicted" to that special person you can't stop thinking about.