Hi! Could make some writing notes regarding what happens to the human body when making out? Like the temperature increase and dopamine release, stuff like that? Or maybe just how the body reacts when you're nearby/interact to/with a loved one.
I hope you're doing well! I love your posts!
Writing Notes: The Physiology of Love
Love can be distilled into 3 categories: lust, attraction, and attachment.
Though there are overlaps and subtleties to each, each type is characterized by its own set of hormones:
Testosterone and estrogen - drive lust
Dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin - create attraction
Oxytocin and vasopressin - mediate attachment
When we are falling in love, chemicals associated with the reward circuit flood our brain, produce a variety of physical and emotional responses:
Two decades of research shows that when it comes to early-stage intense romantic love—the kind we often think of when we talk about being lovestruck—a very primitive part of the brain’s reward system, located in the midbrain, is activated first.
Some Physiological Reactions to a Kiss
Pulse and blood pressure increase
Rational thought retreats, as desire suppresses both prudence and self-consciousness
Driven by the desire for sexual gratification.
The evolutionary basis for this stems from our need to reproduce, a need shared among all living things.
The hypothalamus of the brain plays a big role in this, stimulating the production of the sex hormones testosterone and estrogen from the testes and ovaries. While these chemicals are often stereotyped as being “male” and “female,” respectively, both play a role in men and women.
As it turns out, testosterone increases libido in just about everyone. The effects are less pronounced with estrogen, but some women report being more sexually motivated around the time they ovulate, when estrogen levels are highest.
Lust and attraction shut off the prefrontal cortex (includes rational behavior).
Produced by the hypothalamus, is a particularly well-publicized player in the brain’s reward pathway – it’s released when we do things that feel good to us:
E.g., Spending time with loved ones and having sex.
High levels of dopamine and a related hormone, norepinephrine, are released during attraction. These chemicals make us:
euphoric, even leading to decreased appetite and insomnia – which means you actually can be so “in love” that you can’t eat and can’t sleep.
Norepinephrine, also known as noradrenalin, may sound familiar because it plays a large role in the fight or flight response, which kicks into high gear when we’re stressed and keeps us alert:
Released more often at the beginning of a couple's relationship when many unknowns are present, putting the brain in a ‘proceed with caution’ mode.
Early in a relationship, there is heightened adrenalin, which causes feelings like butterflies in the stomach and a faster heart rate. There is also reduced activity in the parts of the brain that help us to make judgements, which is why you may be 'blinded' to another person’s faults in early love or infatuation,
Brain scans of people in love have actually shown that the primary “reward” centers of the brain, including the ventral tegmental area and the caudate nucleus, fire like crazy when people are shown a photo of someone they are intensely attracted to, compared to when they are shown someone they feel neutral towards (like an old high school acquaintance).
Attraction seems to lead to a reduction in serotonin:
It is a hormone that’s known to be involved in appetite and mood.
Interestingly, people who suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder also have low levels of serotonin, leading scientists to speculate that this is what underlies the overpowering infatuation that characterizes the beginning stages of love.
This explains why people in the early stages of love can become obsessed with small details, spending hours debating about a text to or from their beloved.
The predominant factor in long-term relationships.
While lust and attraction are pretty much exclusive to romantic entanglements, attachment mediates friendships, parent-infant bonding, social cordiality, and many other intimacies as well.
The two primary hormones here appear to be oxytocin and vasopressin.
Often nicknamed “cuddle hormone” or “hormone of love”.
Produced by the hypothalamus.
Released in large quantities during sex, breastfeeding, and childbirth.
This may seem like a very strange assortment of activities – not all of which are necessarily enjoyable – but the common factor here is that all of these events are precursors to bonding.
It also makes it pretty clear why having separate areas for attachment, lust, and attraction is important: we are attached to our immediate family, but those other emotions have no business there (and let’s just say people who have muddled this up don’t have the best track record).
The brain goes into overdrive during the all-important kiss.
It dedicates a disproportionate amount of space to the sensation of the lips in comparison to much larger body parts.
During a kiss, this lip sensitivity causes our brain to create a chemical cocktail that can give us a natural high.
This cocktail is made up of three chemicals, all designed to make us feel good and crave more: dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin.
Like any cocktail, this one has an array of side-effects.
The combination of these three chemicals work by lighting up the 'pleasure centres' in our brain.
The dopamine released during a kiss can stimulate the same area of the brain activated by heroin and cocaine. As a result, we experience feelings of euphoria and addictive behaviour.
Oxytocin fosters feelings of affection and attachment. This is the same hormone that is released during childbirth and breastfeeding.
Finally, the levels of serotonin present in the brain whilst kissing look a lot like those of someone with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
No wonder the memory of a good kiss can stay with us for years.
Love happens less in the heart and more in the brain, where hormonal releases and brain chemicals are triggered.
Dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin are some of the key neurotransmitters that help you feel pleasure and satisfaction.
So, your body often approaches love as a cycle.
It feels good to be with that person, so your brain says, "Do that again."
Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ⚜ Notes & References ⚜ Love ⚜ Kinds of Love
Thanks so much for your kind words. Hope you're doing well yourself! Would love to read your writing if these notes inspire you.
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