The Science of Love
By: Jessie Anak
Limbang
When do you know if you
fancy someone? And why do you feel like your heart is pumping so fast when you
see that someone? This is what we called falling in love. Centuries have passed by, relationships have
bloomed and so have love. But no one can give the proper definition of love. According to the Bible, love is patient, love is kind, and it has no envy,
nor it boasts itself and it is never proud. In one of Dr. John Gray's audio
cassettes he defines love as a feeling directed at someone which acknowledges
their goodness.
Falling in love
is a magical experience that happens between two people. With an irresistible
cocktail of chemicals, our brain entices us to fall in love. We believe we are
choosing a partner, but we may merely be the happy victims of nature’s lovely
plan.
Psychologists have shown it takes between 90 seconds and 4 minutes to decide if
you fancy someone. Research has shown this has little to do with what is said,
rather 55% is through body language, 38% is the tone and speed of their voice
and only 7% is through what they say. Helen Fisher, a leading
expert in the topic of love, divides the experience of love into three partly
overlapping stages that are lust, attraction, and attachment.
For
the lust stage, this is when the initial passionate
sexual desire that promotes mating, and involves the increased release of chemicals such as testosterone and estrogen. These
effects rarely last more than a few weeks or months. Simply said, this is the first stage of love and is driven by the sex hormones
testosterone and estrogen that happen in both men and women. For instance, when
you are falling in love with someone, automatically your brain will stimulate
to release both of the chemicals and these chemical will contributes to an
active sexual drive in your body. That is the reason why you will feel
uncomfortable.
The last stage of love is attachment. The attachment is the bond
that keeps couples together longs enough for them to have and raise children. Scientists
think there might be two major hormones involved in this feeling of attachment
that are oxytocin and vasopressin. Oxytocin is a hormone released by men and
women during orgasm. It probably deepens the feelings of attachment and
makes couples feel much closer to one another after they have had sex. The
theory goes that the more sex a couple has, the deeper their bond becomes. Vasopressin
is another important hormone in the long-term commitment stage and is released
after sex. Its potential role in long-term relationships was discovered when
scientists looked at the prairie vole. So, attachment is generally based on commitments such as marriage and children, or on mutual friendship
based on things like shared interests.
As a
conclusion, love is obviously a wonderful feeling that everyone should
experience. If you have ever to fallen in love, then you know that you can
feel whether happy or miserable. If you don't take the chance then you will
never know how a loving feeling feels. For those who have found their true love,
hold on tight to it. Be together, share your joy and sorrow, understand each
other, provide space to each other, but always be there for each others need, and
surely love will blossom to strengthen your relationship with your matter of
affection.
p/s: hehe masa nie tengah jiwang2... hadoi pun...... simple things he do to me, made my whole day sparkling... hahaa lol :)