Whenever we talk about falling in love, we always try to romanticize it as much as possible. We talk about how it’s always such a sudden rush of emotions that overload and overwhelm your senses.
We talk about how incredibly amazing that feeling truly is and how it might even be the strongest force in this world. It’s always such an intense and passionate affair.
And that might be true for the lot of us. Love can always feel so immensely amazing and exciting whenever it’s first starting out. However, that initial feeling of thrill and exhilaration eventually fades away over time.
And all of those rollercoaster feelings are going to subside leaving you with a certain sense of stability and consistency in your relationship.
Is there really rhyme and reason to all of these feelings? Is there a way to concretize these feelings so that you are actually able to figure out whether someone is in love with you or not? It’s an age-old question that a lot of us can struggle within our adult lives.
But is there a biological reason behind these feelings? And why do you fall in love with that one person you do? Is there a way that you can approach love in a scientific manner or is it purely an emotional pursuit?
That’s what we’re going to try to tackle in this article.
As it turns out, there might actually be a way to concretize love in scientific formats. Dr. Helen Fisher is a renowned anthropologist and she has dabbled very deeply into the realms of love and romantic relationships. She claims that there are 3 very distinct phases that make up the process of falling in love.
First, there is lust, and it’s usually driven by the hormones in our body. The testosterone in men and estrogen in women are primarily responsible for us feeling lust towards other people who we might find attractive. And it’s not really all that different from other mammal species.
The second phase of falling in love is “attraction”. And it’s something that you can relate to drugs and alcohol. You might feel a certain sense of euphoria and ecstasy whenever you fall in love.
There are certain chemicals in the brain that get triggered including dopamine, adrenaline, melatonin, and norepinephrine. It can make the process of falling in love feel like such a rush and that can be incredibly addictive.
In particular, adrenaline is going to serve as the reason that your cheeks will feel flushed and your palms become sweaty. It is also responsible for your heart racing.
In the very early stages of your relationship, even the simple act of seeing a picture of the person you love is going to be enough to release dopamine into your system. And then you will feel an immense pleasure as a result.
The third and final phase of falling in love is “attachment”. It’s the feeling you get whenever you become closely bonded with another human being.
It’s when you feel like you have a real connection with one another and so you decided to make plans for your shared futures. Scientifically speaking, it’s when your body releases all of the dopamine and it all gets replaced by oxytocin – the hormone responsible for you to feel comfortable with another human being.
Those are the 3 basic phases of falling in love. But what factors do people really consider whenever they fall in love with another human being? What do you need to do? What kind of traits do you need to have?
If you’re looking for the answer to those questions, then you need to read on until the end of this article. Here are some 4 reasons why you might fall in love with someone and it’s all based on science.
1. Smell
Did you know that as a human being, you have your own very distinct smell? The better you smell, the more likely that a person is going to fall in love with you. It just helps relax the senses.
2. Similarities and Like-Mindedness
Don’t buy into the whole “opposites attract” kind of idea. Science has shown that people typically fall in love with those who are like-minded and similar as they are.
3. Appearances
Granted, love isn’t going to be all about appearances. However, it would be foolish to think that your looks won’t factor into whether people fall in love with you or not. But then again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What is attractive to some might not be so attractive to others.
4. BMI
A person’s body mass index is also going to play a very important factor in determining whether people would fall in love with you or not. Scientifically speaking, people who have good BMI levels are seen as more suitable mates because they are healthier and they are perceived to have better fertility.
