What happens in the brain when we fall in love? Thanks to the development of brain imaging techniques and neuroscience, researchers are discovering every day how our brain works. Discover in this article another vision of love, the one dissected by neurosciences or when alchemy is a story of chemistry...
When having sex strengthens the bonds between partners
According to Syracuse University researchers, it appears that when one falls in love, a dozen areas of the brain become activated to produce different neurotransmitters such as oxytocin, dopamine, adrenaline or vasopressin corresponding to the different stages of the love attachment process.
To summarize, when you feel attracted.e by someone, your hypothalamus sends a signal to produce dopamine which is the pleasure and reward hormone and drives you to action. During sexual intercourse, luliberin is secreted through stimulation to orgasm which is a discharge of endorphin, the pleasure hormone and oxytocin, responsible for attachment. "The more we make love, the more we feel pleasure, so the more we get attached to our partner" says Professor Michel Reynaud, head of the department of psychiatry and addictology at the Paul-Brousse University Hospital.
Furthermore, another brain area, the insular cortex, wakes up when you have an orgasm. This area is related to the feeling of reward, gratification and dependence.
Vasopressin and oxytocin in the key to loyalty
The vasopressin dependent testosterone. It is considered by the scientific community to be the male counterpart of oxytocin. A study was done on country voles that are monogamous for life unlike their mountain cousins. By altering a gene to increase the number of vasopressin receptors in mountain voles, researchers noticed that they became monogamous. Another study conducted in Stockholm by Hasse Walum found that men with a variation in this gene were more faithful to their life partners.
As for oxytocin, research published in Biological Psychiatry showed that after inhaling oxytocin nasally, couples who tended to argue had higher levels of cortisol (the hormone of stress) much lower. Oxytocin is therefore a hormone that plays a role in trust, empathy, positive behaviors, generosity, loving connection, sexuality and is the antidote to stress.
These two hormones are therefore responsible for the feeling of pleasureand attachment(and therefore loyalty). They are also secreted from infancy when the child grows up in optimal loving and secure conditions. Maternal love and love relationship, same neuro-hormones in play. Only, the difference lies in the stimulation of the areas of the brain which are not the same. In lovers, this is the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus and in mothers: the periaqueductal gray matter.
What are the triggers for vasopressin and oxytocin?
To trigger waves of vasopressinand oxytocin, there's more to it than orgasmand thankfully! Caresses, hugs, tenderness, kisses and sweet words are triggers for this attachmentand loyalty mechanism. Sometimes, it is enough to hear his/her voice, to be in his/her presence, to sit next to him/her watching your favorite series, to walk hand in hand to feel the butterflies in your stomach.
From now on, lasting love will hold no secrets for you...
When love makes you blind...
While some areas activate when we are in love, others become inhibited! This is the case for the prefrontal cortex responsible for critical judgment. Some scientists explain it by the fact that the couple must disregard each other's flaws the time to procreate and this, for the survival of the species... That's why your loved one is so perfect the first few times ...
Love, only a matter of chemistry?
It is quite confusing to think that a stable and long-lasting relationship is all about chemistry. Obviously, love is a complex feeling that does not depend solely on hormonal secretion.The human being has braindeveloped capabilities and one of its qualities is its capacity for consciousness and thus its free will. New neuronal connections are made every day, our brain is malleable, nothing is fixed.