Most of us are familiar with that feeling of being in love, or fallen in love, right? That feeling we get during the beginning of our relationships. The feeling that is similar to drugs. Are we all familiar with that?
Are we all familiar with the AFC's saying "i love you from my heart baby, i would do anything for you"
He sure would do anything for her, because he is in a psychosis, but its not true love. Its all in the mind and body.
New researches state that the feeling mentioned above IS actually a PSYCHOSIS. And on the contrast.. TRUE LOVE, DEEP AND LASTING LOVE is reason (sense).
"What is he talking about?" you might think.. or "shut up rapsta I'm already familiar with all this" many of you might think.
But for those of you who think that this is interesting, read on.
The thing that's at the bottom of the psychosis versus the reasonable love is that both states arise on different places in the brain and are controlled by different hormones in our bodies.
Also, according to the research, these states doesn't have much in common "brainchemically" nor hormonally.
The person who is fallen in love (remember that first feeling i mentioned?) experiences both heaven and hell on the same time, and its difficult for him/her to concentrate on "insignificances" like work and agreements.
The mood swings between euphoria and pessimism. And in many ways, this feeling of love is mostly an insanity, a kind of mania decorated with obsession and a touch of paranoia.
If we didn't know better, we could think that the person in this state of "love" suffered from a slight braindamage.
Fact is , that there isn't a big difference between this feeling and obsessional neurosis, even called a obsessive-compulsive disesase (OCD).
Doctors know that OCD-patients usually have a lower substance of the hormone serotonin in the blood than sane (healthy) people.
Psychiatrist Donatella Marazziti, at the university of Pisa found that the same thing applied to people that was in this first state of love. For those people, the concentration of serotonin in the body is often 40 percent lower than normally, but the research also showed that the serotonin will get back to its normal value with time.
For a normal person, the lack of serotonin in the body would simply mean a depression.
But ofcourse there are also pleasent feelings of this state of love, and one of them is the eurphoria you can be seized with. The euphoria depends on that the brain's production of the signalsubstance fenyletylamin (PEA) increases to almost the double.
PEA is similar to amphetamine and is also stimulating on our moods. PEA is also a vital constituent in hallucinogenic drugs, also that it exists in chocolate. But to reach the rush that love sometimes gives us, we need to eat like 15 kilos of chocolate.
Anthropologist Helen Fisher in New York has studied the sexual life and the mystery of love for more than 20 years. She has been investigating familypatterns and divorce-statistics from all around the world, but lately she has been working in the lab with new advanced scanners to study the brain's process of people in love.
And after some success in this (it's too long for me to translate and write all this shyt down but i'll sum it up) here is the result...
The first state of love (i think there actually is a word for this love but i don't know the english word for it).. anyway.. The first state of love is connected with the primitive "middlebrain":
Helen Fisher have scanned the brains of first-state-new-love people. The scannings show that three areas in the brain of both men and women are active and lit up in the scanners. Its the so called nucleus caudatus in the most primitive part of the mind, even called the "reptilebrain", the septum area (deep in the brain) and also the socalled VTA-area that is a part of the middlebrain. These areas are included in the brain's rewardsystem, which has the signalsubstance dopamine as its "main participant". The dopamin gives a feeling of happiness and also encourage one to a addiction to reach this pleasant feeling over and over again.
TRUE AND DEEP LOVE on the other hand, is connected to the analytic cerebral cortex.
Neurobiologists Andreas Bartels and Semir Zeki have examined the brain's activity on people, who have been in a relationship for an average of 2,3 years. Disregarding the nucleus caudatus, which is also active at the "first-state-new-love" people, there are totally different areas that are lit up in these peoples minds.
They are saying that these areas have to do with adaptation and arrangement of feelings, awareness, own feelings, memories and sympathy. These centres are located closer to the analytic cerebral cortex, so they mean that this true love is more of a reasonable state.
And finally I'll sum up what happens in the body during the both states of love.
During the first act, the psychosis love..
the chemistry in the brain is undergoing some major changes, which as mentioned above, is compareable to a slight braindesease. The mad brain is - with the supply of hormones - putting the entire body in a raised preparedness (readiness)
During this act of love:
- the brain is producing twice as much PEA as normally. That's what almost gives an euphoric feeling.
- the hormone noradrenalin from the adrenal (suprarenal) gland, is putting the body into a readiness, which gives mental energy by stimulating the the central nervous system. The bloodpressure and the pulse increases.
- the amount of serotonin decreases in the brain.
- big amounts of dopamine are liberated in the brainstem and stimulates the awardsystem of the brain. It gives a rush of hapiness and works like a drug does in a drugfiend's body. Its transported in our bodies with the blood as a hormone and it increases the production of testosterone. Through effects on the central nervous system, dopamine increases the pulse and bloodpressure.
- testosterone and estrogen from the genitals are transported to the brain with the blood and increases the sexual urge as well as the effect of dopamine.
During the real state of love, the reasonable love..
the deep and lasting feeling of love is particularly controlled by the hormones vasopressine and oxytocin, and gives it us the feeling of belonging to eachother. Sex and "sweet words" (HAHA you non-AFC's might think
) liberates several hormones and signalsubstances, which gives fuel to lasting and affectionate/loving feelings.
- the hormone vasopressine matters for the couple's feeling of solidarity. Vasopressine activates the nerv-cells in the brain's awardsystem and is emitted to the blood by the hypophysis. In the body, the central nervous system is affected, which raises the bloodpressure by contracts the blood-vessels together (the same thing that nicotine does).
- extra big amounts of the hormone oxytocin is liberated during the orgasm, especially from hypothalamus in the brain but also from the man's prostate and from the woman's ovary.
The hormone evokes contractions in the the woman's sheath and the man's spermatic duct and the hormone is responsible for the feeling of relaxation and hapiness after the sex act. Even the nipples are strongly stimulated by the oxytocin.
- dopamine is secreted in the brainstem as the brain's own award to win the partners favour.
- during sexual activity the hormones testosterone and estrogene are secreted. The hormones promote the sexual urge by activating cells in the brain that increase the production of dopamine, and also strenghtens the effect of oxytocin.
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Another real interesting thing that i read about is that "condoms make women more depressed". Why? not sure why but it said that contents in our sperm (testosterone, dopamine, noradrenaline, different estrogenes, oxytoxin and vasopressine) are shot into the vagina with millions of sperm-cells. And together these hormones represent the entire feeling-spectrum.
All of those substances drives into the blood by the wet mucous membranes in her vagina. Some of the substances will probably not reach the brain directly but can still influence the cells in the rest of the body and thereby affect the brain indirectly by the hormones' complicated ways of communication. Our sperm also contains betaendorphines which directly reach her brain and decrease stress and increase sensual pleasure and relaxation.
Interesting huh?
Are we all familiar with the AFC's saying "i love you from my heart baby, i would do anything for you"
He sure would do anything for her, because he is in a psychosis, but its not true love. Its all in the mind and body.
New researches state that the feeling mentioned above IS actually a PSYCHOSIS. And on the contrast.. TRUE LOVE, DEEP AND LASTING LOVE is reason (sense).
"What is he talking about?" you might think.. or "shut up rapsta I'm already familiar with all this" many of you might think.
But for those of you who think that this is interesting, read on.
The thing that's at the bottom of the psychosis versus the reasonable love is that both states arise on different places in the brain and are controlled by different hormones in our bodies.
Also, according to the research, these states doesn't have much in common "brainchemically" nor hormonally.
The person who is fallen in love (remember that first feeling i mentioned?) experiences both heaven and hell on the same time, and its difficult for him/her to concentrate on "insignificances" like work and agreements.
The mood swings between euphoria and pessimism. And in many ways, this feeling of love is mostly an insanity, a kind of mania decorated with obsession and a touch of paranoia.
If we didn't know better, we could think that the person in this state of "love" suffered from a slight braindamage.
Fact is , that there isn't a big difference between this feeling and obsessional neurosis, even called a obsessive-compulsive disesase (OCD).
Doctors know that OCD-patients usually have a lower substance of the hormone serotonin in the blood than sane (healthy) people.
Psychiatrist Donatella Marazziti, at the university of Pisa found that the same thing applied to people that was in this first state of love. For those people, the concentration of serotonin in the body is often 40 percent lower than normally, but the research also showed that the serotonin will get back to its normal value with time.
For a normal person, the lack of serotonin in the body would simply mean a depression.
But ofcourse there are also pleasent feelings of this state of love, and one of them is the eurphoria you can be seized with. The euphoria depends on that the brain's production of the signalsubstance fenyletylamin (PEA) increases to almost the double.
PEA is similar to amphetamine and is also stimulating on our moods. PEA is also a vital constituent in hallucinogenic drugs, also that it exists in chocolate. But to reach the rush that love sometimes gives us, we need to eat like 15 kilos of chocolate.
Anthropologist Helen Fisher in New York has studied the sexual life and the mystery of love for more than 20 years. She has been investigating familypatterns and divorce-statistics from all around the world, but lately she has been working in the lab with new advanced scanners to study the brain's process of people in love.
And after some success in this (it's too long for me to translate and write all this shyt down but i'll sum it up) here is the result...
The first state of love (i think there actually is a word for this love but i don't know the english word for it).. anyway.. The first state of love is connected with the primitive "middlebrain":
Helen Fisher have scanned the brains of first-state-new-love people. The scannings show that three areas in the brain of both men and women are active and lit up in the scanners. Its the so called nucleus caudatus in the most primitive part of the mind, even called the "reptilebrain", the septum area (deep in the brain) and also the socalled VTA-area that is a part of the middlebrain. These areas are included in the brain's rewardsystem, which has the signalsubstance dopamine as its "main participant". The dopamin gives a feeling of happiness and also encourage one to a addiction to reach this pleasant feeling over and over again.
TRUE AND DEEP LOVE on the other hand, is connected to the analytic cerebral cortex.
Neurobiologists Andreas Bartels and Semir Zeki have examined the brain's activity on people, who have been in a relationship for an average of 2,3 years. Disregarding the nucleus caudatus, which is also active at the "first-state-new-love" people, there are totally different areas that are lit up in these peoples minds.
They are saying that these areas have to do with adaptation and arrangement of feelings, awareness, own feelings, memories and sympathy. These centres are located closer to the analytic cerebral cortex, so they mean that this true love is more of a reasonable state.
And finally I'll sum up what happens in the body during the both states of love.
During the first act, the psychosis love..
the chemistry in the brain is undergoing some major changes, which as mentioned above, is compareable to a slight braindesease. The mad brain is - with the supply of hormones - putting the entire body in a raised preparedness (readiness)
During this act of love:
- the brain is producing twice as much PEA as normally. That's what almost gives an euphoric feeling.
- the hormone noradrenalin from the adrenal (suprarenal) gland, is putting the body into a readiness, which gives mental energy by stimulating the the central nervous system. The bloodpressure and the pulse increases.
- the amount of serotonin decreases in the brain.
- big amounts of dopamine are liberated in the brainstem and stimulates the awardsystem of the brain. It gives a rush of hapiness and works like a drug does in a drugfiend's body. Its transported in our bodies with the blood as a hormone and it increases the production of testosterone. Through effects on the central nervous system, dopamine increases the pulse and bloodpressure.
- testosterone and estrogen from the genitals are transported to the brain with the blood and increases the sexual urge as well as the effect of dopamine.
During the real state of love, the reasonable love..
the deep and lasting feeling of love is particularly controlled by the hormones vasopressine and oxytocin, and gives it us the feeling of belonging to eachother. Sex and "sweet words" (HAHA you non-AFC's might think
) liberates several hormones and signalsubstances, which gives fuel to lasting and affectionate/loving feelings.- the hormone vasopressine matters for the couple's feeling of solidarity. Vasopressine activates the nerv-cells in the brain's awardsystem and is emitted to the blood by the hypophysis. In the body, the central nervous system is affected, which raises the bloodpressure by contracts the blood-vessels together (the same thing that nicotine does).
- extra big amounts of the hormone oxytocin is liberated during the orgasm, especially from hypothalamus in the brain but also from the man's prostate and from the woman's ovary.
The hormone evokes contractions in the the woman's sheath and the man's spermatic duct and the hormone is responsible for the feeling of relaxation and hapiness after the sex act. Even the nipples are strongly stimulated by the oxytocin.
- dopamine is secreted in the brainstem as the brain's own award to win the partners favour.
- during sexual activity the hormones testosterone and estrogene are secreted. The hormones promote the sexual urge by activating cells in the brain that increase the production of dopamine, and also strenghtens the effect of oxytocin.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another real interesting thing that i read about is that "condoms make women more depressed". Why? not sure why but it said that contents in our sperm (testosterone, dopamine, noradrenaline, different estrogenes, oxytoxin and vasopressine) are shot into the vagina with millions of sperm-cells. And together these hormones represent the entire feeling-spectrum.
All of those substances drives into the blood by the wet mucous membranes in her vagina. Some of the substances will probably not reach the brain directly but can still influence the cells in the rest of the body and thereby affect the brain indirectly by the hormones' complicated ways of communication. Our sperm also contains betaendorphines which directly reach her brain and decrease stress and increase sensual pleasure and relaxation.
Interesting huh?