5 Interesting Facts About Love You Probably Don't Know

When you think about love, you probably picture couples holding hands or driving off into the sunset together. You might picture yourself falling in love with the one special person of your dreams. You might even have a list of things your perfect mate should embody. The thing is, there are many biological factors that go into “falling in love.” Love is overly romanticized in today’s culture, so you probably don’t know these scientific facts about love

1. LOVE CAN LITERALLY MAKE YOU CRAZY

Something you may or may not know about love is that it can lead to serious infatuation. The same levels of serotonin that bring about the infatuation are found in those with obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is an anxiety disorder. This is probably why you cannot seem to think of anyone else when you have fallen in love

2. FALLING IN LOVE IS AS ADDICTING AS COCAINE

Dopamine, a chemical that is released during the initial attraction stage of the relationship is also activated when using cocaine and nicotine. It gives you that rush of pleasure and happiness that makes those drugs so addicting. It also enhances the release of testosterone, which as stated above is essential for attraction. I suppose falling in love would be the safer drug of choice if you had to choose between the three.

3. LOVE NEEDS TO BE “BLIND” FOR SURVIVAL

It does not seem to matter what others say to a new lover—he or she is always perfect in our eyes. This blindness is critical for us to move forward in our relationship and is usually required to move onto the “attachment stage” as scientists call it so that they can stay in love long enough to have and raise children; in other words, to populate the earth.

4. WE ARE ATTRACTED TO THOSE WHO LOOK AND/OR SMELL SIMILAR TO ONE OF OUR PARENTS

As creepy as this sounds, a partner who looks similar to one of our parents is found to be comforting. If you are a female and your father wore certain cologne, it is a familiar and comforting scent. This makes sense or has a particular trait that your father possessed, you will be so attracted to him rather than losing likewise applicable to male.

5. WE ALSO TEND TO FALL IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE WHO LOOKS LIKE OURSELVES

Aside from facial features, hair color, and eye color, we also tend to be attracted to those with the same lung volumes, earlobe lengths, and metabolic rates.

Although we might not want to think about these things when we are falling head over heels, it might be necessary to remind ourselves to not completely lose our heads in the chemical love spell we are surely under.