Falling in love is one of the most wonderful feelings you can have. When it comes to your state of mind when it happens, it’s almost like everything in the world is amazing and nothing can go wrong in life. But since there’s also a scientific side to the story, now seems like as good a time as any to completely ruin the fantasy and myth behind the feeling of love and falling in love.
Let’s take a look at what falling in love really does to your body. Because science is important, kids!
Less Anxiety
A chemical that gets released in our brain called oxytocin will make you much more confident. In a certain sense, this makes falling in love to be the perfect anxiety killer. It pretty much has the same effect you’d expect from drinking a little bit too much alcohol, so oxytocin literally makes you “drunk on love”.
Addiction and Withdrawal
Oxytocin isn’t the only thing your brain releases when you’re in love. There’s also vasopressin, adrenaline, and dopamine. This cocktail makes you very much addicted to the person you love since it makes you feel euphoric, happy and pleased. When you’re away from the person you love, your body releases corticoliberin, which makes you feel anxious and depressed. Much like actual withdrawal from an actual drug.
Pain Relief
Especially when it comes to chronic pain, being in love seems to work almost as good as a proper painkiller. Of course this effect will fade after a few months, but at least it’ll help you get rid of your pain medication for a while.
Stomach Issues
As much as we want to believe it’s butterflies in our stomach, the feeling is actually probably caused by our cortisol levels spiking, meaning we are more stressed out. Stress has a tendency to make your stomach do all sorts of funky things, much like what brides experience on their wedding day.
Dilated Pupils
Much like a rush of adrenaline, feeling in love will make your pupils dilate. This is a response the body has to a situation where you want to prepare for anything and let your eyes take in of more of your surroundings.
Release of Pheromones
While pheromones can’t be actively detected by our smell, it does get picked up by our hypothalamus. Releasing pheromones can have an influence on your partner’s sexual behavior and hormone levels, essentially increasing physical attraction.
Bone Strength
A study shows that men over 25 years of age that are in supportive relationships seem to have stronger bones for some reason. They have no real reason why this seemed to be the case, but general consensus assumes that it’s because men in supportive relationships live healthier because they want to live longer for their partner.
