The most vivid impressions and emotions come to people when they love, madly in love. And in this state of falling in love, a substance with an interesting name is produced in the human brain. phenethylamine, it is also called the substance of love". At this moment, it seems that you have grown wings, that you are ready for absolutely any feat. And this happens because this love drug affects the logical centers of consciousness, so all subsequent actions of such a person cannot be rationally explained. Probably everyone who has ever experienced the love of a person has a story about such reckless actions that he did during his love ...
Scientists studying the mechanisms of depression and elation have recently made significant discoveries regarding chemical compounds in the human brain called neurotransmitters. The progenitor of all neurotransmitters, the one that makes men and women go crazy, can be considered a substance called phenylethylamine, or simply PEA. The mechanism of action of PEA is as follows: the human brain is divided into separate sections, and in general it resembles a large grapefruit in size (although when a person loses his head because of love, one can safely say that his brain shrinks to the size of a pea). The first of the sections is located exactly above the spinal cord and is responsible for such instincts as the instinct for survival, the instinct for protecting the territory, etc., these are the most important instincts of human life. The next area, the limbic system, controls emotions such as anger, depression, hatred and their opposites: calmness, contentment, love. The third region, the cortex, is most similar to a ball of pasta and is what we think of when we think of the brain. This area is responsible for our thought processes.
All three of these sites are interconnected by hundreds of billions of nerve impulses (the difference varies by plus or minus a couple of billion, depending on the individual) that are transmitted from neuron to neuron. PEA is located at the endings of nerve cells and helps impulses move from one neuron to another. But there is one problem: PEA itself is a natural amphetamine that takes us to seventh heaven. Therefore, when you see a person to whom you are ready to surrender without a fight, the system that produces FEA immediately begins to overfulfill the plan. PEA flows overwhelm all parts of the brain - including the one that is responsible for rational thinking. Therefore, you not only endure the intrusion of a loved one on your own territory, but also feel (through the efforts of the limbic system) incredibly happy (or terribly unhappy, depending on the circumstances).
These are the interesting things going on in our head when we love :)
text - mine, photo - Internet)
Man in many of his manifestations is an irrational being, especially when it comes to emotions and feelings: sometimes they are not so easy to justify from a logical point of view. If we talk about such a complex phenomenon as love, then the law of cause and effect completely ceases to work, because the state of love is too complex and multifaceted to be sorted out, which is called “brick by brick”.
Nevertheless, experts do not stop trying to explain love passion with chemical reactions, animal instincts, or, say, social patterns. The following are eight sayings of scientists in which they express their vision of love.
The experience of a lover is like a feeling of thirst, which can only be quenched by the presence of the object of passion. All thoughts, actions, aspirations - everything suddenly obeys the desire to be near the beloved (or beloved). Of course, everyone has their own temperament, and everyone expresses romantic feelings in different ways, but any person, falling in love, experiences a state similar to euphoria, and it occurs only in the presence of the "second half".
After studying the brain activity of several couples in love using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we came to the conclusion that when lovers are together, or think about each other, they activate areas of the brain that are also responsible for feeling the joy of any reward. or recognition, and in terms of strength this feeling is quite comparable to thirst or hunger. We can say that falling in love is part of the reproductive mechanism inherent in us by nature itself: it contributes to the establishment of strong emotional ties between sexual partners and thus increases the chances of having children.
There are different types of love, but I think there are three main types of it: sexual attraction, falling in love, and deep affection. My colleagues and I have been studying the functioning of the brain of lovers for a long time, one of our experiments involved 60 men and women aged 18 to 57 years old, whom we examined using MRI, analyzing the main manifestations of romantic feelings.
The first thing a person begins to experience when he falls in love is a certain feeling of “speciality” and “uniqueness” of everything connected with the object of love - his (or her) clothes, car, street, whatever. The lover begins to focus on his passion in everything: he mopes when he (she) does not call and “shines” with happiness when the relationship is getting better.
The state of falling in love is also characterized by increased heart rate, increased sweating and a physiological state, which is also called "butterflies in the stomach." This is due to an increase in the production of the hormone dopamine, which causes delight in a person, a surge of energy and encourages action - these sensations can be compared to the fact that someone who has settled right in the head constantly calls to run somewhere, take action, and all for the sake of the three most main words: "I love you."
I believe that love serves for more reliable reproduction of offspring: it forces us to focus all our attention on one partner and not scatter on casual sex.
Love is a positive experience that contributes to the establishment of sustainable social ties and the formation of stable relationships and, as a result, facilitates the creation of a family as a fundamental unit of society. Without it, we would more often act solely from our own short-term selfish motives and considerations of personal gain, which would inevitably affect the situation in society.
The feelings we have for loved ones strengthen long-term relationships, which in turn has a positive effect on the birth of socially protected children. Love allows people to take care of offspring until they become independent, and this, it seems to me, is its main socially significant function.
First of all, love is an emotion, a feeling of affection and devotion that a person feels towards someone or something. An ardent passion can be stronger, for example, love for family members or even for one's own children, or it can be expressed only in sexual desire.
Love originates in the same part of the brain as maternal affection, the desire to take care of offspring, so I believe that it developed precisely from the maternal instinct. The fact that lovers feel the need to care for each other, help and support in everything confirms this.
Science knows a lot of evidence that sexuality plays a very important role in relationships. A number of studies show that satisfaction with intimate life directly affects, for example, overall impressions of marriage, in addition, according to the results of our experiments, a person who lives a fulfilling sex life is more likely to find long-term and fruitful relationships.
Together with a colleague, Dr. Charlotte Markey, we interviewed several couples who have lived together for quite a long time - in a civil marriage or registered, it does not matter. It turned out that one of the main incentives in living together was their sexual attraction to each other. Also, intimate life, and hence feelings, is positively affected by rich sexual experience, and if partners have it about the same, their union has every chance of being happy for many years.
There is no love without mutual respect and trust. Lovers try to show their best side, so successful relationships always consist of honesty, fidelity, emotional support and self-sacrifice. Love gives each a sense of their uniqueness and forces them to accept the uniqueness of the other: each believes that if his partner is well with him, it is necessary to take measures so as not to destroy the delicate balance. Therefore, any loving person strives to defend the interests of his "second half" and satisfy her needs.
I believe that the feeling opposite to love is not hatred, but indifference: if you stop worrying about a person and do not feel the need to take care of him, this indicates a loss of respect, which means there can be no talk of love.
Everyone knows what love is, but no one can give a clear agreed definition. In my interpretation, I use the results of my psychological research and neuroimaging of the brain of lovers. In my opinion, love is a complex positive and motivating mental state, characterized by the desire for unity with a certain person. This state includes a number of chemical, emotional and cognitive processes.
If, when communicating with a partner, activity of certain sections of neurons is observed, this indicates the presence of love, and we do not know any evidence that love cannot last as long as you like, but the problem is that it is influenced by too many factors, the change of which is sometimes impossible to predict . However, if we consider love as a well-established friendly attitude towards someone, such types of love as maternal and paternal, love of children for parents and love between sexual partners fall under this definition.
People have been falling in love throughout their history, but passionate romantic feelings, until relatively recently, were not considered a worthy basis for a relationship, let alone marriage. Most got married and got married, obeying the will of their parents, who, as a rule, took into account only mercantile considerations when choosing a life partner for a son or daughter.
The situation began to change in the 19th century - love began to play a much more significant role in family relationships. People had to rediscover their attraction to the opposite sex and recognize that love must be at the heart of any successful marriage. I believe that in our time, spouses and lovers should feel for each other not only love passion, but also friendly feelings. The combination of love and friendship will provide partners with a long, happy and fruitful relationship.
: psychologists, philosophers, biologists, chemists and even psychiatrists, but so far no one can give her an exact definition. What is love from a scientific point of view, many researchers are trying to understand, but the results almost always turn out to be ambiguous, causing lengthy disputes and discussions.
The scientific definition of love, as a chemical reaction of the body, was discovered by biochemists, indicating a rather complex formula. From a chemical point of view, love is a special reaction, the exact formula of which is clear only to specialists. They argue that the feeling arises due to the release of the substance dopamine - the hormone of joy. However, this interpretation raises many questions because:
Therefore, love, as a feeling, cannot be explained from a chemical point of view, since by combining the elements of matter it is difficult to show all the nuances of emotions and distinguish love from other experiences similar to it. The philosophical definition of this feeling is also considered quite confusing for understanding love. Many researchers believe that love is an immensity in the world of measures. However, this definition also raises many questions for those who are not familiar with philosophy.
More precisely and more modernly, one of the prominent psychotherapists of our time, M. E. Litvak, gives the formulation of love:
“Love is an active interest in the life and development of the object of love.”
This concept corresponds to recognized scientific standards, as well as the provisions of practical psychology. That is why this formulation is considered one of the most modern.
The definition given by Litvak makes it possible to distinguish this wonderful romantic feeling from such definitions as falling in love, sympathy and thirst for love, longing and tenderness. Here is the exact interpretation of the concept described by M. E. Litvak in his books.
Interest can be passive or active. Passive - these are dreams, dreams. It is characteristic of sympathy, a thirst for love and falling in love, although some people in this state become active and seek the object of their sympathy. However, falling in love, unlike love, means an urgent need to be together, physical attraction and tenderness. It is selfish (desire to be loved), not sacrificial, unlike love. There is no genuine care, sacrifice, desire to correctly assess their capabilities and contribute to the development of their object of love in it.
Litvak shares love not only as concern for the well-being and development of others, but also for his own. Self-love becomes the base in such a situation. It is expressed in the formula: active interest in one's own life and development. This means that a person takes steps to become better, grows, works on himself, creates conditions for himself for a happy life. With this approach, he sees and feels the desires of a loved one, creating conditions for their implementation. And he can even give up his own desire to be with his beloved if he sees that a loved one will feel bad with him. That is why true love is completely uncharacteristic of jealousy, aggression, the desire to suppress and subordinate someone to one's desires.
Litvak writes about what beautiful love is from a scientific point of view in his books and contemporary literature. And, contrary to popular belief, this is not romance and passion at all. Yes, they also take place, but the very definition of love is not in them. He emphasizes that you can only buy affection, but not a genuine deep feeling. Modern love from a scientific point of view is also a helping hand in a difficult situation (but not to the detriment of oneself), friendship, in which there is attraction, the desire for procreation, sexual contact, trust and tenderness.
It is this opinion that modern specialists in practical psychology adhere to today, who also work with married couples. They allow you to resolve various family conflicts and try to bring the couple to a common solution.
And yet, not a single scientific definition of love contains a general formula that reflects dreams under the moon, a million flowers from a loved one, his tenderness and passion, as well as the smile of his beloved woman, for whose happiness he is ready to give everything. And not a single definition of what true love is from a scientific point of view can convey all the facets of this wonderful feeling.
“Love is a fire that ignites the soul,” wrote the great philosopher Giordano Bruno. But what does science say about love?
Indeed, love is a feeling about which they composed poems and sang songs. Throughout the history of mankind, philosophers of different schools have tried to come up with an explanation, to find the cause of this state, which pushes people to unthinkable actions and gives a whole range of different emotions. As soon as love was not named and did not try to define it. The ancient Greeks distinguished 4 “kinds” of love - falling in love (eros), affection, friendship (philia), tenderness (storge) and, finally, unconditional, sacrificial love (agape). But behind all these words lies one single feeling.
But what do we know about love, apart from what is told in art and philosophical treatises?
From the moment the ancient Greeks tried to define love, the development of science has stepped far forward. People flew into space and descended to the bottom of the ocean. With the help of powerful telescopes, you can observe distant galaxies, and modern microscopes allow you to see particles invisible to the naked eye. But have people advanced in understanding themselves?
Neuroscience can help answer this question.
In the human body, a huge number of chemical reactions take place every second. Breathing, muscle contraction, processing of visual, auditory, tactile information - all this is regulated by biochemical reactions that may seem rather complicated at first glance. And among the whole variety of chemicals involved in these millions of reactions, one should single out a class of substances called neurotransmitters.
A feature of neurotransmitters is that they are involved in the transmission of an electrochemical impulse between neurons. Neurotransmitters are synthesized in the cells of the body, after which these molecules are released into the synaptic cleft - the distance between two neighboring neurons - and activate the receptors of the next neuron. This is how an impulse moves along the nervous system - from a neuron to another neuron, or from a neuron to a muscle, for example. This process is a bit like the movement of cars on the highway - if one car slows down, then it transmits a “stop” signal to the next car, which transmits the signal further.
There are a fairly large number of neurotransmitters, and each of them has a specific function. For example, adrenaline is an excitatory neurotransmitter. In large quantities, adrenaline is released in stressful conditions. It seems to be signaling to the nervous system “Threat! Mobilize now!" Signals from the nervous system are transmitted to the muscles - an increased heartbeat occurs, pressure rises ... In general, there is a general mobilization of the body, aimed at eliminating danger and combating stress.
But there are not only neurotransmitters that signal a threat - there are also their opposites, which transmit a signal that the situation, on the contrary, is pleasant. And, as it turned out in the course of research, these neurotransmitters are responsible for the mysterious feeling that has been exciting people since ancient times, sung in poetry and prose.
One of the neurotransmitters that plays a direct role in getting pleasure from performing any action is dopamine. It is one of the main factors in the emergence of motivation, because it is thanks to this neurotransmitter that a person experiences a feeling of pleasure. It can be anything - eating delicious food, sex, any specific action. And this has the other side of the coin - it is partly because of the action of dopamine that drug addiction occurs. Drugs stimulate dopamine receptors, as a result of which a person gets pleasant sensations.
Dopamine is part of a whole system called the reward system. Its principle is very simple and is based on the stimulation of any behavior by rewarding in the form of positive emotions. At first, evolution fixed the activities necessary for the survival of the species, such as food and sex. Did the right thing - keep the reward in the form of a dopamine stimulus. It may seem that now the actions required to receive emotional rewards have become a little more complicated, like making money, finding a comfortable home. However, they are directly related to the very first behaviors and are also rewarded with dopamine.
Dopamine has another feature - it begins to be produced before the action has taken place. That is, some subjectively pleasant situation is formed in a person’s thoughts - dopamine is released. The person seeks to recreate this situation and, if successful, dopamine is released again. This is how drug addiction works - a person experiences pleasure even before he has taken the drug, maybe he has just begun to prepare the place for this - but dopamine has already been synthesized. The next time you took the drug after the preparation, dopamine was released again. Now the person is caught in a vicious circle.
The irony is that love in this regard is not much different from taking drugs from a chemical point of view, because the same release of dopamine into the blood occurs. But now the incentive for this is the other person and the desire to be with him, to achieve mutual affection. It is dopamine that plays an important role during the period of falling in love.
But not only dopamine is the only chemical basis of love. Another important neurotransmitter is serotonin, which is otherwise called the "hormone of happiness." The functions of serotonin are very multifaceted - it stimulates muscle tissue and enhances attention, helping to concentrate on the goal. But one of these functions is related to the work of the brain. In the human brain, both the centers responsible for positive emotions and the centers responsible for negative emotions are stimulated. And if the role of the above dopamine is to stimulate the center of positive emotions, then serotonin suppresses the centers responsible for negative emotions. And, which is logical to assume, with a lack of serotonin, depression can occur. But an excess of serotonin is extremely harmful - in medicine, a condition called "serotonin syndrome" is known, which occurs just at a high concentration of this neurotransmitter. Euphoria, mania, insomnia and hallucinations are just a small part of what can occur with "serotonin syndrome".
It is curious that at the initial pores of falling in love, the level of serotonin decreases, which partly determines the feeling of anxiety and anxiety.
The third hormone that contributes to the feeling of love is oxytocin. Thanks to oxytocin, tenderness and affection arise in the phase when the relationship of lovers has become permanent. Oxytocin in general plays a significant role in the emergence of social bonds. A high concentration of oxytocin causes a feeling of trust and goodwill towards other people. It has even been suggested that oxytocin be used in medicine to treat people with autism, since autism makes it difficult to establish social contacts and, in general, to recognize the emotions of other people.
Oxytocin also has another function - stimulation of uterine contractions. During childbirth, such a huge amount of oxytocin is released into the blood of a woman that ... causes such a strong feeling as the love of a mother for a child.
The human brain is a rather complex structure, but gradually there are less and less white spots in it. So such a mysterious phenomenon as love gradually finds its explanation - but does not lose all its significance from this.
9 scientific facts about love.
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Love seems to us a mystery, a mystery, a boundless space, however, and this feeling can be explained from a scientific point of view. Let's try to figure it out!
Love affects the body like a drug
Once you fall in love, your body starts producing chemicals like norepinephrine, dopamine, adrenaline, and oxytocin at a furious pace.
The main effects of all these chemicals is a feeling of euphoria. Obviously, it is much better to be addicted to your other half than to cocaine. After all, love is a drug with no side effects... practically.
Love and chocolate do not exist separately
That is, in other words, the more of this “product” in your body, the more often you are subject to spontaneous hobbies. It turns out that phenylethylamine is found in excess in chocolate, and in general in all sorts of sweets, so sweet tooth, as a rule, have to fall in love much more often than adherents of a healthy diet.
Think about it, maybe you have problems with your personal life at your plate?
Butterflies in the stomach - it's adrenaline
In fact, this feeling is not at all a metaphor invented by incorrigible romantics - thanks to the stress that you experience when the object of your adoration approaches, your body begins to produce adrenaline.
Yes, yes, the same one that occurs when flying on a parachute or jumping from a springboard into a pool. Here is the explanation for the "movement" in the abdomen. Amazing feeling, isn't it? Even if the explanation to him looks too banal.
Your pupils dilate when you look at a love object
It turns out that such a dark and languid look causes a very real, physical addiction in another person.
Spouses often have the same DNA
So now, when someone tries to tell you that two lovers meet due to fate or fate - do not listen! Experts say: as a rule, couples are created by those who have similar DNA. And no opposites!
Love is the most effective pain reliever
By the way, if the psychological connection between two loving people is really strong, a bright feeling can alleviate suffering even at a distance.
Love intoxicates in the truest sense of the word
It is he who makes us get lost in space, causes dizziness and impairs vision. The truth is, the trouble is - just like alcohol, oxytocin can not only cause a feeling of euphoria, but also provoke unreasonable aggression.
There is a disease that hinders romantic love
But did you know that there is a kind of disease that prevents us from falling in love? The disease is called hypopituitarism, in which the body is not able to produce a certain type of hormones that is responsible for the mood of love.
One of the dramatic results of this rare disease can be the inability to experience the full range of sensations that come with falling in love.
Alas, the cure for the disease of unromanticism has not yet been found, but there is a whole range of drugs that can normalize the level of hormones in the body.
Love has a lot to do with obsessive-compulsive disorder
