Love as a chemical reaction

Love as Chemical Reaction:

The Science behind Love

Jarmisel Collazo Rodríguez

Academia Cristo de los Milagros

What is love? Why do we love?  Can someone fall in love more than once? Since immemorial times, love has been a study topic for many scientists and philosophers. Some of them tried to answer this type of questions explaining it from different aspects: the biological, philosophical and the psychological. The first to postulate that love is a chemical reaction was a German polymath Johann von Goethe who conceived a view that human relationships are elective affinity reactions that can be quantified. After analyzing it, everything indicates that love is more than attraction, feelings or maybe a decision; love it’s produced by chemical reactions inside our brain. During a 2005 poll with 100 Americans, 65.5% of people considered love to be a chemical reaction. Of those 35% of the people who answered that love was not a chemical reaction, a large proportion tends to be basing their objection on religious or philosophical grounds.

A research by Earl Naumann discovered that 2/3 of people believe in love at first sight. The visual stimulus of sight enters the brain through the optic nerve and goes to the thalamus; then, these messages are sent to the neocortex (thinking part) and the amygdale (the place where deep memories and fear are stored). After that, they are sent from the amygdale to the hypothalamus (connects the nervous system to the endocrine system), which then directs the pituitary gland to release the appropriate hormones and neurochemicals. This is love at first sight.

The limbic system is one of the main structures involved with falling in love. It consists of the basal nuclei [specific interconnected sub cortical masses of matter embedded in each cerebral hemisphere and in the upper brainstem; also called basal ganglia. (Farlex medical dictionary) ], the thalamus, and hypothalamus (involved in behavioral and sexual function). Now, looking at brain’s response to love; endorphins, oxytocin, dopamine, and vasopressin are important factors which have to be examined. Endorphins are peptides that are manufactured in the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus. They are released during exercise, through touch, and during sex, also act as an analgesic and sedatives. The endorphins are associated with feelings of attachment and comfort. They calm anxiety, relieve pain and reduce stress. As a conclusion of an experiment, Helen Fisher of Rutgers University in the States has proposed 3 stages of love: lust, attraction, and attachment.

The first stage of falling in love is lust. Lust is driven by testosterone and estrogen. “Testosterone is a steroid hormone from the androgen group and is found in humans and other vertebrates.” (MedicineNet). Testosterone is secreted primarily by the testicles of males and the ovaries of females and “get you looking for anything.” (Helen Fisher). “Estrogen is a female steroid hormone that is produced by the ovaries and by the adrenal cortex, placenta, and male testes.” (MedicineNet).

The next stage of love is attraction. This is a feeling that makes someone romantically or sexually interested in another person. Attraction involves three main neurotransmitters; adrenaline, serotonin, and dopamine.

The first time people look to each other, they can be instantly attracted. It is scientifically proven that a person’s pupils dilate when looking at someone they desire. Also, “there are other external reactions caused by a shot of adrenaline like sweating palms, shallow breath, and hot skin.” (Pincott, 4 ). These reactions combined with the person’s heart rate increment are how people describe the feeling and energy of being in love. When a person falls in love, 12 areas of the brain work and affect sophisticated cognitive functions, which may explain why people’s abilities and behaviors are different when they fall in love. This can be seen at his/her change in stress response, increment in adrenalin and cortisol and attitude reactions. Other researchers found that blood levels of nerve growth factor (NGF), the molecule involved in the social chemistry of humans, also increased.

Researchers at University of College London discovered that people in love have lower levels of serotonin and also that neutral circuits associated with the way we assess others are suppressed. When the brain produces serotonin, tension is eased and the subject feels less stressed and more focused and relaxed. Serotonin is called the “calming chemical.” It can be obtained naturally by eating sugar or other carbohydrates. Serotonin can send us insane; this is because it basically diverts your mind and bounds you to think about your lover and nothing else. Couples in love reported engrossing in thought about their beloved 65% of the day.

The involvement of emotion and thoughts and stimulating the hypothalamus, release hormones such as dopamine “pleasure chemical” (a monoamine neurotransmitter) that is crucial to falling in love and it’s related to mate selection. The phenylethylamine or PEA is a stimulant that causes the release of norepinephrine and dopamine. The feelings of euphoria, sleeplessness and loss of appetite as well as the lover’s intense physical and emotional energy, focused attention and increased passion might all be caused in part by heightened levels of these hormones. The dopamine stimulates desire and reward; it has the same effect on the brain as taking cocaine or nicotine. It can be found in meat, nuts, chocolate, cheese, sausages, and egg whites. A decrease in this neurotransmitter has been associated with Parkinson’s disease and depression, in contrast, an increase in dopamine is associated with schizophrenia and mania. It has also been connected to obsessive compulsive disorder, making love similar to the disorder itself. Another of its role is addiction, as expressed in August 2010 by the researchers of Harvard Mental Health Letter who found that “All addictive substances release dopamine in the nucleus accumbens”. Over time, dopamine receptors become numb to the same old stimulus. If the bonding has not been sufficiently established through activities that raise oxytocin levels, the relationship could end.        

...