Ne(w)(urotransmitter) Love

This Valentines Day, lets talk about love. Not the love for your mother, but the passionate romantic love Nicholas Spark writes about, as, despite some overlap, there is a difference.

Studies have shown that different areas of the brain are active during romantic love when compared to the love we have for a companion or family member. There changes are seen in our neurotransmitters.

Neurotransmitters are the brains chemical messengers that send signals through the body and control our cognition and mood among other things. Several neurotransmitters are associated with romantic love and sexual activity.

The most prominent of these is dopamine. Dopamine is the feel good chemical that allows us to feel pleasure, satisfaction, and motivation. This neurotransmitter is responsible for addiction, and is activated when you're in love and during intercourse, which is why these can both be as addicting as drugs, gambling, or anything else. This addictive property is obsession, which is why we obsess over the people and things that we love.

Another neurotransmitter active in love is serotonin. Serotonin is mostly responsible for mood stabilization, but plays a role in many of the brain's other essential functions like sleep, digestion, and sexual desire. Serotonin is unique in how the genders experience it. Its levels are increased in women when in love-so that their desire for intimacy is increased and, therefore so is the probability that they will reproduce- and is decreased in men-decreasing their sexual urges, so that they will forgo seeking out other mates.

Then there is oxytocin. This neurotransmitter is also known as the love hormone, and is released during skin-to-skin contact to help deepen feelings of attachment, particularly post-coitus. It provokes feelings of contentment, calmness, and security, often linked to mate bonding. For this reason, its also one of two neurotransmitters most essential in mother-infant attachment, pregnancy, and nursing.

The other neurotransmitter that plays a a role in this is vasopressin. This neurotransmitter leads to the formation of monogamous relationships. It acts similarly to oxytocin, but, as women are more sensitive to oxytocin, men are more sensitive to vasopressin. The increase of these hormones in a relationship cause the initial passionate phase of love to fade and attachment to grow over time.

So, as you can see, the brain hey busy in love as often as we do if not more. This Valentines Day, treat your sweetheart to a lesson on the brain and how you view each other and enjoy in the dopaminic and oxytocin relief that will hopefully follow. Happy Valentine's Day to my readers.

XOXO

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