Last update: April 08, 2015
To fall in love. Sometimes it takes us months to realize that we have fallen in love, that a particular person is always present in our thoughts and in our hearts. But sometimes, as scholars argue, it only takes a second for the spark to go off that causes us a sensation similar to that of drugs, a sublime feeling of euphoria and well-being that is focused in different parts of our brain, according to the type of feeling we have, that is a romantic love or a strong sexual attraction. But there is more: neurobiology shows us the fascinating activities of our brain in the different moments of our life in which we feel intimately united to a person.
The mechanisms of love
When a person falls in love, 12 areas are activated in his brain that act as one, segregating a whole series of fantastic chemicals such as dopamine, oxytocin and adrenaline ... little elixirs capable of producing that characteristic feeling of euphoria in us , of passion, of attraction. A magical agglomeration in which the striatum and the caudal nucleus also intervene, associated with motivation and reward, which make us experience those typical and characteristic sensations:
• A desire for intimacy and physical union with the other person
• Search for complicity and fear of rejection
• Continuous thoughts for the person in question, which do not allow us to concentrate even in daily activities.
• Changes in moods: anxiety, nervousness, insomnia.
• Idealization of the other person
Benefits of falling in love
Being in love gives us a series of benefits, an injection of brain biochemistry where our cognitive functions are refined a little, improving our motivations, our self-concept, the image we have of ourselves and ours. self-esteem tends to strengthen because we feel admired and desired, we get an idea of ​​ourselves and of the human being in general, idealizing it to the point that any aspect, any detail suddenly becomes special.
They are instants that make us feel good about ourselves and that allow us to see ourselves reflected in the eyes of the other. Scholars claim that love strengthens long-term memory, as all the intense emotions we experience cause images to become indelible in our memory.
Specialists also tell us that falling in love begins with a personal attraction and subsequently this feeling becomes even greater when we suspect that the other also feels the same towards us. This process begins in the cerebral cortex and subsequently passes to the endocrine system, to activate a whole series of neurotransmitters that cause us a set of wonderful emotions and sensations.
It may seem sad to think that all these sensations are nothing more than a biochemical reaction, where the essential element is phenylethylamine. However, even if this oil that lubricates our brain intervenes in the process of falling in love, we and our conscience are the real engine that seeks and decides, it is we who establish that game of looks and seduction, of words and imagination. love is perhaps the most complex and fantastic dimension of the human being, pain and happiness converge in it. It is a treasure that everyone tries to experience at least once in their life: poets, writers, mechanics, poor and rich .. love is something as incomprehensible as it is universal!
