Is love a chemical reaction in your brain?

(CNN) We call it “falling in love,” as if we have no control over how we topple into that dreamy state of emotional bliss. But those sweetly warm feelings we connect to our heart are actually chemicals and hormones flooding an organ higher up — our brain.

What is the chemical that stimulates love?

dopamine
High levels of dopamine and a related hormone, norepinephrine, are released during attraction. These chemicals make us giddy, energetic, and 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.

Is love more than just chemicals?

The answer: Yes. Those sweetly warm feelings we connect to our heart are actually chemicals and hormones flooding an organ higher up — our brain.

How does love happen scientifically?

The initial happy feelings of being in love is stimulated by 3 chemicals in the brain: noradrenaline that stimulates adrenaline production causing that racing heart and sweaty palms; dopamine, the feel-good chemical; and phenylethylamine that is released when we’re near our crush, giving us butterflies in our tummies.

Is love ‘just’ brain chemistry?

But to say that love is “just” brain chemistry is like saying Romeo and Juliet is “just” words – it misses the point. Like art, love is more than the sum of its parts. So those of us lucky to experience its chaos should let ourselves be carried by the waves.

What part of the brain controls love and attraction?

D: Several of the regions of the brain that affect love. Lust and attraction shut off the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which includes rational behavior. Meanwhile, attraction seems to be a distinct, though closely related, phenomenon. While we can certainly lust for someone we are attracted to, and vice versa, one can happen without the other.

How does love light up your brain?

When romantic love is examined with imaging of the brain, the areas that “light up” overlap with those supporting reward-seeking and goal-oriented behaviour. But that parts of our brains are set ablaze by one thing does not tell us much if they are just as excited by a very different, other thing.

What happens to your body when you’re in love?

High levels of dopamine and a related hormone, norepinephrine, are released during attraction. These chemicals make us giddy, energetic, and 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.