When we think about love, we may picture picnics in the park, holding hands, watching the sunset, and living happily ever after.
We all have expectations when it comes to others and love itself. We may even have a list of things our soulmate should embody. Love occupies a special place not only in our hearts but in our minds, our history, and our society.
Let’s take a look at some interesting facts about love!
1 – Butterflies In The Stomach
Are a Real Stress-Related Thing. Of course, they’re not actual butterflies but your autonomic nervous system.
Anxiety and fear trigger your ‘fight-or-flight response’—an evolutionary holdover from our more primitive days when we would need to run from a predator.
Maybe unsurprisingly, love triggers a great deal of these same feelings, too.
Putting your heart on the line is dangerous, which is why looking at someone you’re falling for makes your adrenaline spike, sets your heart pounding and blood rushing from your gut, triggering a floating and fluttering sensation.
2 – Love And Lust Activate
Different Regions In The Brain Researchers say lust and love involve different intentions, goals, and interests.
By imaging the brain, scientists have found that we can differentiate between activated regions of the brain responsible for love and lust. The study found that love and lust activate different areas of the striatum.
Lust activates the same area that is usually activated by pleasure – such as intimacy or food; love activates the same part that’s associated with reward – which happens to be the same region that is associated with drug addiction
3 – You Go Through Withdrawal Symptoms
Similar to experiencing withdrawal when you quit a substance, being separated from the one you love causes your body to release Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), a peptide hormone released during a stress response. This hormone leads to feelings of anxiety and depression.
This is why love can be addictive. When you’re not satisfied with the addiction, you can go through withdrawal. Only being with the one you love can alleviate this internal turmoil.
4 – People At The Same Level Of Attractiveness Are More Likely To End Up Together
A substantial body of psychological and social research suggests that a significant pattern exists when it comes to forming romantic relationships.
This pattern is elucidated by the Matching Hypothesis, which posits that individuals are more drawn to those with whom they share a similar level of attractiveness. In other words, they possess equal social desirability.
Furthermore, even if one member of a couple is not as physically attractive as the other, they often compensate for it with qualities that others value socially, such as kindness and intelligence.
5 – Love Makes You Taste Things Differently
Does food taste much sweeter to you when you’re in love? It might not just be your imagination.
In a study that supported this idea, one group of participants was asked to jot down their thoughts on love, while the other group was instructed to write about jealousy. Afterward, both groups were given gummies and bitter chocolate to taste.
The group that had written about love rated the foods as sweeter than the group that had written about jealousy.
In a similar experiment, participants were once again prompted to write about love and jealousy, but this time they were provided with water instead of candy. Once again, the group that had written about love reported that their water tasted sweet.
6 – Love Makes You Lose Your Focus
Love can make you less productive. While being lovesick hasn’t resulted in any specific diagnosis, scientific studies show that being in love makes focus falter.
Being in passionate love seems to lead to less efficiency in individual performance.
In short, continually having someone on your mind makes you lose the ability to focus.
7 – When You Stare Into Your Lover’s
Eyes, It Causes Your Heartbeats To Sync It’s not a hard and fast rule, but if you share a long glance with your partner, it can happen.
Researchers found that lovers who stared into one another’s eyes for three minutes had nearly the same heart rates.
The exact reason for this is unclear, but it could be due to sharing such a deep physical and emotional connection with someone.
8 – Kissing Can Help
You Choose The Right Partner Kissing is a long-standing way to show your partner you care, but it can also help you find the right partner in the first place.
Studies find that kissing can be a deciding factor in choosing a partner. Men and women measure compatibility a great deal by how their partners kiss.
Furthermore, the frequency of kissing is associated with the overall quality of the relationship.
9 – Thinking Of Love
Influences on Creativity And Concrete Thinking Researchers conducted a study based on the Construal Level Theory – which describes the relationship between psychological distance and people’s thinking, whether abstract or concrete.
They found that reminders of love reinforce more abstract thought and creativity because they are more abstract concepts: the future, devotion, commitment, and intimacy.
Reminders of intimacy, on the other hand, trigger concrete thinking. It makes a person think about the here and now, the ‘day-to-day’ details rather than long-term goals and ideas.
10 – Men Fall In Love Faster Than Women
While women are often perceived to fall in love faster than their male counterparts, one study has found that actually, men tend to fall in love more quickly than women.
Moreover, men tend to say, “I love you” first in a relationship.
Though they don’t know for sure why this is, it could be because women are more reluctant to admit love because they are warier of heartbreak.
11 – Love Can Reduce Your Pain
Love can take away your pain, and not just the emotional kind.
When people are in love, their lives and moods change, as do how they feel and experience pain.
Strong feelings of passionate love can relieve physical pain, akin to that of taking a painkiller.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that being in love will make you impervious to pain, but it’s interesting to consider.
12 – Love Also Has Healing Powers
They say that time and love can heal all wounds, and they may be right. Research has shown that there is a link between stress and the speed at which wounds heal.
A study was conducted with 42 married couples aged 22 and 77. It showed that wound healing is slower in couples with rocky marriages.
Hostility between couples has also been shown to slow recuperation when it comes to wounds.
13 – A Loving Relationship
Means A Healthy Heart Being in a healthy relationship or marriage has benefits.
A study conducted on 3.5 million people showed that married couples have lower rates of cardiovascular diseases compared to single and those who are divorced or widowed.
People who are less than 50 years of age and married can enjoy a 12% drop in the odds of having a cardiovascular disease.
14 – There Are Five
Different Love languages describe the different ways that people feel and show love. This can be in the form of service, words of affirmation, physical touch, quality time, and giving gifts.
Discovering your partner’s love language will help you appreciate them better.
Knowing your partner’s love language means that you understand what is most important to them, and it’s the best way to let them know you love them.
15 – Couples Who Are Too Similar
To Each Other Are Not Likely To Last Couples who are too similar may not always be the best match. In fact, any kind of extreme in a relationship is to its detriment.
Whether it be too many similarities or too many differences.
Research shows that it’s best to have a foundation of similarities, but differences are important, too. This way, couples can do things separately, and they can also learn from one another.
Suggestion: Love Text Messages – The Best Way to Express Your Love
16 – Long-Term Commitment
Memory Have A Strong Connection
How much do you remember about your relationship? All the details? How it progressed, and what significant steps you both took to get to where you are?
According to studies, happy and committed couples will often remember the timelines and important milestones of their relationship.
Couples in more strained relationships, however, do not remember them as accurately. They actually choose to remember things wrong – to avoid disappointment.
17 – Love Is Blind
Now that we’ve discussed several societal and physiological factors regarding love, it’s time to discuss the most debated and cliché quote: “Love is blind.”
Meaning that in your eyes, your partner always seems perfect. No matter what others say about them, you will always look past your partner’s imperfections and flaws.
Love is indeed blind, but it’s essential and advantageous in a relationship. It helps couples move to the commitment stage.
The science of love is both simple and complex. It is a fascinating subject that will surely surprise and excite us all.
That said, research on the subject of love is often sensationalized. It can be challenging to make a solid,
scientifically supported conclusion about all of the many facets of love.
Nevertheless, how committed, long-lasting, loving, and deep your relationship is still depends on your choices.
What do you think? Do you know any other interesting facts about love?
Feel free to add them in the comments section.
