Symptoms of being in love

15 Things About Being in Love vs. Loving Someone

Romantic love is a key goal for many people. Whether you’ve been in love before or have yet to fall in love for the first time, you might think of this love as the pinnacle of romantic experiences — perhaps even the pinnacle of life experiences.

Falling in love with someone can feel exciting, even exhilarating. But over time, these feelings may settle into something that feels a little different. This love might seem mellow or calm. You might find yourself thinking “I love them” instead of “I’m in love with them.”

This transformation doesn’t necessarily mean there’s anything wrong with your relationship.

Loving someone instead of feeling “in love” with them simply illustrates how feelings of love evolve over the course of a relationship, especially a long-term relationship.

Being in love generally refers to those intense feelings that take over at the start of a relationship.

These include:

infatuation
happiness
excitement and nervousness
sexual attraction and lust

Here’s what these feelings might look like in action.

You feel charged and euphoric around them

It may not seem like it, but being in love is a somewhat scientific process. Falling in love involves a lot of hormones, which can supercharge your feelings and make them wildly fluctuate.

When you’re around the person you love, increases in dopamine and norepinephrine lead to feelings of:

pleasure
giddiness
nervous excitement
euphoria

Decreases in serotonin can fuel feelings of infatuation.

Sex hormones, such as testosterone and estrogen, also play a part by boosting libido and leading to feelings of lust.

Other key hormones, such as oxytocin and vasopressin, help cement your attraction by promoting trust, empathy, and other factors of long-term attachment.

You can’t wait to see them again — even when they’ve just left

Even after spending all day with your partner, you still feel lonesome when they leave. You wonder what they’re doing and whether they’re thinking about you. Maybe you already have plans to meet the next day, but you still wonder how you’ll manage until you see them again.

This is common when you’re in love. And while it’s certainly healthy to spend some time away from each other, that doesn’t mean you enjoy doing so.

If you can’t stop thinking about them even when you’re apart, you’re most likely enjoying that agonizing bliss of being in love.

Everything feels exciting and new

Being in love can change the way you see things. Even everyday activities like going to the grocery store can become more enjoyable.

You might also look at other things with new eyes. Many people in love feel more willing to try new things, or things they previously didn’t care for, simply because their partner enjoys them.

There’s nothing wrong with trying new things. In fact, openness to new experiences is a great trait to have. But it’s pretty common to feel swayed by a partner’s interests, so make sure you don’t feel pressured to go along with things you really don’t want to do.

You always make time for them

Typically, being in love with someone means you want to spend as much time with them as possible. Even if you’re busy, you probably find yourself arranging your schedule to see your partner.

This might also involve a desire to get to know more about them by exploring their interests. When love is mutual, they’ll probably feel the same way about you and want to spend just as much time getting to know your interests.

This is all pretty normal. It’s also common, however, for people in love to briefly “forget” about their friends.

Try to remember to spend time with your friends, too, instead of letting love completely sweep you away.

You don’t mind making sacrifices for them

In the first rush of being in love, you might feel completely dedicated to your partner, ready to do anything and everything to help them through a tough spot or even just make their lives a little easier.

Empathy and your fast-growing attachment can fuel your desire to be there for them and help them however possible. But the hormones involved in love can sometimes affect how you make decisions.

If you feel the urge to do something that would completely uproot or significantly change your life, take some time and think it through.

After some reflection, you may still want to quit your job and travel with your partner to a different country. But make sure you really want to do it for yourself, too.

Sacrifices can be part of any kind of love. In fact, partners who work to accommodate each other’s needs may have a stronger bond. But people in love have a tendency to charge forward and offer help without thinking twice.

You have fantastic sex

Sex doesn’t have to be part of a romantic relationship. But when it is, it can play a big part in falling in love with someone.

The intensity of the hormones involved can affect your sex drive, increasing your desire for your partner and the passion you experience during sex.

When you first fall in love, sex can also help increase closeness to your partner. Great sexual chemistry can make you feel good about sex and increase your desire to keep having it. Wanting to explore each other’s sexual interests usually doesn’t hurt, either.

You idealize them

Being in love can make it easy to idealize your partner’s best traits (great listening abilities, musical talent, warm smile) and gloss over the less than positive ones (doesn’t return texts right away, flirts with your friends).

It’s normal to focus on someone’s best side when in love. But it’s also important to watch for red flags or relationship incompatibilities.

If your friends point things out, consider what they have to say. They aren’t in love with your partner, so they have a clearer perspective and may notice things you miss.

Love takes a lot of forms, and it can change over time. These are some of the ways your feelings may change when you love your partner but don’t necessarily feel in love with them.

You’re secure in their affection

When you first fall in love, you might not only idealize your partner but also want to present an idealized version of yourself.

You might, for example, always try to look your best. Or maybe you try to hide what you believe are flaws that might turn off your partner.

But over time, as your relationship strengthens, you may feel more at ease being yourself. You don’t worry they’ll dump you if you leave dishes in the sink or forget to take out the trash. You accept that both of you will always wake up with morning breath.

This doesn’t mean you don’t make an effort to maintain this affection and help it flourish. It just means you’ve switched over to a realistic view instead of idealized versions of each other.

You don’t feel the need to hold back your opinions

If you’re in love with someone, it’s easy to take on their opinions as your own. Sometimes you may not be completely conscious of this.

You may find it easier to openly share your feelings with a partner you love and feel comfortable with. Love often conveys a sense of security, so you may not feel like you need to hide your feelings or opinions to protect the relationship.

Even when you have a small disagreement, you know you can talk through it.

You see (and accept) the good with the less than good

Your partner, like you, is an imperfect human. They have good traits, of course, which probably helped you fall in love with them. But they most likely have some aspects of personality or habits you don’t find so great.

Even the things that seemed endearing when you first fall in love, such as the way they brush their teeth at the kitchen sink, may become something you sigh and roll your eyes over.

Loving someone requires you to see them wholly and accept all their parts, just as they see and accept all of you. Minor flaws often don’t really matter over the long term.
But when something does bother you, you’ll probably feel comfortable enough to speak up about it and work to encourage and support each other through personal growth.

This doesn’t include serious red flags or signs of abuse. Always reach out to a professional if abuse is present.

Intimacy might require more effort

When you fell wildly in love with your partner, you probably had sex all the time. As your relationship stabilizes, you certainly still have sex, but maybe less often or with less intensity.

The first time you fall asleep without having sex, or spend a night alone, it might seem like you’ve lost something. You might even worry the relationship is failing.

But often this only means the demands of life have made it necessary to plan time with your partner. Sexual activity might happen less often, but the effort you put into connecting intimately can make those moments even better.

The relationship takes more work

It’s easy to give a relationship your all when you’re head over heels in love. The relationship might seem to progress smoothly, even flawlessly, and the two of you seem to be on the same page about absolutely everything.

This isn’t sustainable over time. Eventually you may need to prioritize your partner slightly less to take care of daily life.

Spending time together may seem less natural and easy, especially when you’re both busy or tired. But love means you keep trying and make an effort to show you care.

You feel deeply connected

Loving someone can involve a sense of strong connection and trust. You know your partner well enough to rattle off their likes and dislikes, values, and strengths without a second thought.

They’re probably the first person you turn to when feeling down and the first person you want to share your successes and aspirations with. You’re a team. Sometimes you might even feel like a single unit.

So, you know you love your partner, but you think you may not be in love with them any longer.

That’s perfectly all right. In fact, you might even feel a bit relieved to know your hormones have settled down a little.

Some people prefer the excitement of being in love. Others prefer the intimate, deep connection associated with long-term love. Many people work toward long-term relationships for this very reason.

What you want out of a relationship may make one seem better than the other, but healthy relationships are possible with either.

Research does suggest many people seek divorce after falling out of love. But no longer feeling in love doesn’t mean you have to leave your partner or that your relationship is doomed to end. It just means you may need to put in a little extra effort to recharge things.

You might feel sadness or regret if you feel your relationship has lost the “spark” associated with being in love. Maybe you want sex to be more spontaneous, or feel excited about seeing your partner instead of comfortable.

Talking to a relationship counselor can help you rekindle the feeling of being in love, but these tips can also help:

Maintain an interest in their thoughts and feelings. Don’t forget about everyday check-ins. Ask how their day’s going, making sure you really listen to their response.
Prioritize time together, including intimacy. This might mean dipping out of a work event early or taking a rain check on those movie plans with your friend.
Don’t forget maintenance tasks. Think of your relationship as a car you depend on to get to and from work. To keep it going, you’ve got to get regular oil changes, rotate the tires, and so on. Give your relationship regular tune-ups by making a conscious effort to communicate openly and offer affection. These don’t have to be big, over-the-top displays. A kiss to welcome them home can go a long way.

After making it past the early stages of infatuation, your feelings for your partner might become less intense. You may not long for their company in quite the same way. In fact, you might even enjoy time apart.

Don’t worry. This is pretty normal, and it doesn’t have to spell the end of things.

Long-term love involves commitment. If you and your partner devote effort to maintaining your bond, at the very least, you’ll probably have a strong relationship. And you just might keep that actively in love feeling alive, too.

Crystal Raypole has previously worked as a writer and editor for GoodTherapy. Her fields of interest include Asian languages and literature, Japanese translation, cooking, natural sciences, sex positivity, and mental health. In particular, she’s committed to helping decrease stigma around mental health issues.

How Do You Know If You Love Someone? Platonic or Romantic

Ask anyone if love is complicated, and there’s a good chance they’ll probably say, “yes,” or “sometimes” at the very least.

Part of love’s complications stem from the fact that it can be challenging when the person you love doesn’t feel the same way — or when they do, but your relationship fails to take off.

Love can also complicate life because it takes different forms, and you might not immediately recognize which type of love you’re feeling.

Deciphering your feelings and trying to identify exactly which type of love you feel — while tight in its grip — might not be the easiest task, but we’re here to help.

Keep reading to learn more about how to tell these related, but still uniquely different, experiences apart.

Love doesn’t always look the same.

Sometimes, it progresses through specific stages.

The first flicker of love, when you fall head over heels for someone, often seems more like infatuation, complete with plenty of excitement and nervousness.

And if it’s mutual? The euphoric bliss many people experience can keep you and your partner completely wrapped up in each other. Over time, that just-fell-in-love feeling often transforms into something less charged, but more stable and lasting.

Higher-than-usual levels of hormones, like dopamine and norepinephrine, drive the intensity of these early feelings. Eventually, these surging feelings often settle into a deeper affection with the help of oxytocin, a hormone that plays a role in attachment.

But feelings of love don’t always follow a linear path.

What does being in love mean?

Maybe you fall for someone you just met, but you eventually realize the first blush of love has tinted your view. Once the first intensity fades, your feelings begin to wither without taking root.

You can also develop romantic love without experiencing euphoric, heart-pounding excitement. Someone who falls for their best friend, for example, might notice their long-standing platonic love become more romantic and sexually charged almost overnight.

And, of course, the love you feel for friends, or platonic love, can still run pretty deep — even though it doesn’t involve any romantic or sexual attraction.

People often talk about love as if everyone experiences it in the same way, but life experiences and relationship history can alter the course of “typical” romantic attraction.

If you’ve experienced relationship abuse or betrayal, you might feel cautious about letting your guard down again. This could temper the feelings of euphoria and impulsivity that often accompany the first stages of love.

In short, while there’s no single way to fall in love, you’ll probably notice a few key physical and emotional signs:

Your thoughts return to them regularly

Maybe you frequently think back to your last interaction or plan your next meeting. You want to tell them about your experiences every day: the great, the awful, and the ordinary.

If they’re having a hard time, you may worry about their difficulties and brainstorm ways to help.

When spending time with family and friends, you might talk about them a lot and imagine how much your loved ones will like them, too.

You feel safe with them

Trust is generally a key component of love. If you’ve experienced relationship trauma or heartbreak before, you might assign particular importance to this sense of emotional safety.

When you see them, you might notice your tension relaxes, in much the same way as it does when you return home after a long day.

It’s normal to want to protect yourself from pain. Feeling safe enough with someone to trust them with your personal weaknesses or vulnerabilities often suggests developing love.

Life feels more exciting

The rush of hormones associated with love can make everything seem more exciting, particularly when you know you’ll see them soon. Time might seem to fly by when you’re together and crawl like a turtle after they leave.

You might even notice renewed energy and interest in the mundane things you do every day. Folding laundry? Taking a walk? So much more fun when you’re in love (especially when they’re nearby).

You want to spend a lot of time together

Loving someone often means wanting to spend plenty of time with them, so you might find yourself craving their company more than ever before.

You might leave their company feeling somewhat unsatisfied, as if the time you spent together wasn’t enough.

You may not care much about what you do together, simply that you are together.

Another key sign? Your interest in spending time with them doesn’t depend on their mood or energy level. Even when they feel sad, cranky, or frustrated with life, you still want to show up and offer support.

You feel a little jealous of other people in their life

Jealousy is an emotion like any other. Generally speaking, it’s what you do with jealousy that matters. Talking about your feelings never hurts, but you might want to skip the digital snooping and social media stakeouts.

When you love someone, you might fixate on the other people they spend time with and wonder about their relationship with each other, or worry about potential threats to your love, such as an attractive co-worker they mention regularly or an old flame who’s still part of their life.

Generally speaking, these worries tend to fade as trust develops.

You feel compassion for them

When you’re in love with someone, you’ll start to develop strong compassion for them. The powerful urge to be connected to this person brings new aspects to your relationship, such as emotional or physical intimacy, passion, and a desire to know everything about them, and be known by them in return.

You may also find yourself wanting to take care of or be cared for by your partner.

Platonic love involves deep affection, but no romantic or sexual attraction. It’s absolutely possible for people of any gender to maintain a friendship without sexual tension or attraction.

When you love someone platonically, you might notice some basic signs of love.

You might also:

have similar interests, values, and goals
discuss emotions and relationships you have with others
support each other through difficulties
enjoy spending time together

Embracing platonic love successfully requires you to set any romantic feelings aside. Loving platonically doesn’t mean simply waiting and hoping the person will fall in love with you someday.

Good friendship behaviors can help you maintain platonic love. For example:

Communicate. Everyone has different communication needs, but you can maintain your closeness by calling or texting. When you do talk, try to spend at least as much time listening as you do sharing your own thoughts.
Set boundaries. Some platonic friends may be perfectly fine spending the night at your place, hanging out at all hours, or discussing the sexual details of your other relationships. Others may reserve these activities for romantic partners. Talking through boundaries can help you avoid any miscommunication.
Spend time together. Stay connected, even when you can’t physically see each other, by planning online chats, video game sessions, or virtual movie nights.
Offer emotional support. Love and friendship can make it easier to weather life’s challenges. Show your love by checking in with a friend or asking, “What can I do to help?”

Loving someone romantically usually involves a desire for a many-faceted connection.

You value their personality and want their friendship. You might lust after them a little (though you can experience romantic love without ever desiring a physical relationship).

Maybe you find their looks appealing, but you mostly want to spend a lot of time with them because you value them as a whole person and want to develop a lasting emotional connection.

Try these tips to cultivate and maintain romantic love:

Practice open communication. Relationships require open honesty to thrive. Sharing feelings, setting healthy boundaries, and discussing relationship goals early on increase your chances of a lasting relationship.
Avoid getting swept away by lust. In the early days of love, you might dedicate a lot of time to thinking (and talking) about what you’ve already done between the sheets (or anywhere else) and fantasizing about future encounters. This is absolutely normal. Just make sure you’re working toward an emotional connection, too.
Learn and grow together. If you want to make your love last, it’s essential to really get to know each other. This might mean discussing dreams and goals, sharing challenges and successes, and trying new things. You maintain your own identities, but you also develop a shared third unit: the relationship itself.

Romantic and platonic love are two different things, but many people consider them equally valuable.

Humans need connections to survive, generally speaking. Some people go through life without ever experiencing romantic or sexual attraction, and that’s OK. You can absolutely get the love you need from relationships with family and friends.

Others thrive with both friends and romantic partners in their lives. Perhaps you can’t imagine life without romance and pursue relationships in the hopes of finding the right partner or partners.

Your friends, however, remain part of your life even as partners come and go (often supporting you through breakups).

In short, platonic love might not fulfill the same needs as romantic love for everyone, but it’s equally valuable and equally worth pursuing.
Friendship isn’t a silver medal or a consolation prize. In fact, some types of platonic love may prove more stable and secure than romantic love.

If you’re experiencing confusing new feelings, you might have some uncertainty about how to handle them.

Falling for a friend, for example, can feel pretty terrifying. You think you could have a fantastic romance, but what if you end up losing the friendship instead?

Even when you love someone you know less well, you might wonder what your feelings mean. Do you truly want to develop a relationship? Simply get closer? Or are your feelings just lust-driven?

Asking yourself the following questions can yield some insight:

Which types of connections do I find most appealing? Emotional, physical, or a combination of both, for example.
Can I see myself sharing my life with this person?
Do I want to experience different types of intimacy with them? Or do I just want more of what we already have?
Is a general desire for physical intimacy complicating my platonic love for them?
Do I actually desire romantic love, or is it something I’m pursuing because people think I should?

A sudden change in attraction or existing feelings for someone can pull the rug out from under you.

Not sure about the best way forward? You have a few options:

Talk about it

You can’t pursue any type of relationship until they know how you feel. If you’re already friends, think back to how your friendship developed. You probably bonded over shared interests and one (or both) of you expressed the desire to spend more time together. Romantic relationships often develop similarly.

Preparing to share your feelings often involves some preparation for potential rejection. If you don’t feel comfortable telling them in person, try a letter, but avoid email or text.

Once you feel ready, ask if they can set aside some time to talk instead of suddenly dropping it into casual conversation. Choose a time when the two of you have some privacy.

Don’t forget to offer them space to sort through their own feelings, especially if you already have a platonic relationship. It may take time for them to evaluate and come to terms with their own feelings.

Consider other factors

Before you confess your love, take a careful look at the situation. You can’t help who you fall for, but you can help how you choose to handle your feelings:

Do they already have a partner? If so, you may want to hold off on sharing your love.
Are they a good friend’s ex? Proceed with caution — particularly if the breakup hurt your friend or the relationship ended badly.
Has your friendship given you insight into bad behaviors? Maybe they lie to partners, ghost dates, or see multiple partners without openly discussing non-monogamy. People can change, yes, and it’s tempting to believe your friendship and love will inspire that change. Just be sure to consider potential outcomes for your friendship if this doesn’t happen the way you envision.

Let it lie

Perhaps you decide you’d rather cherish your friendship than take a chance on anything more. That’s entirely your choice. Remember: platonic love offers many of the same benefits as romantic love, and one isn’t necessarily better than the other.

Just allow yourself the time and space to fully address your feelings and come to terms with them. Accepting them completely can make it easier to let them go. Try spending a little less time with that person for now, or avoid hanging out one-on-one.

If you feel lonely or in need of physical intimacy, dating others may offer a way to create new connections and ease feelings of longing.

What if your feelings are unrequited?

It’s natural to hope the person you love returns your feelings, but romance doesn’t always play out as planned. Recognizing love sometimes requires you to accept that it may not flourish as you wish.

“If you love someone, let them go,” really does emphasize one key component of love. True, compassionate love means wanting those you love to find happiness and contentment, even when those needs conflict with what you want for yourself.

Resist the temptation to press your case by showing them what a great partner you’d make, since this will likely only damage your existing relationship.

Instead, show respect by honoring their feelings and giving them any space they ask for. Make it clear you intend to go forward by maintaining your platonic friendship. This can help ease any awkwardness that might come up.

Attraction and affection can change and grow over time, and people feel and show love in many ways.

Any type of emotional commitment can fulfill the human need for connection, provided you make the effort to sustain it.

What happens to us when we fall in love?

February 14, 2015

Image copyright Thinkstock

Image caption

Love goes through several stages, but not necessarily in the same order. The stages are always the same - but their sequence can be anything. nine0014

The word "chemistry" is figuratively used in relation to love, but in fact love is really a series of chemical reactions. Scientists believe that falling in love triggers a number of processes in our bodies that are ultimately aimed at preserving the human race.

The symptoms of love are like a disease state: sweaty palms, loss of appetite, euphoria, flushed face and rapid heartbeat.

Love goes through several stages - each of them depends on certain chemical elements that trigger the corresponding reactions in the body. nine0005

Image copyright, Thinkstock

Image caption,

The first stage, the desire stage, is determined by the action of sexual hormones and is expressed in the search for a partner

But the order in which the stages follow one another can be arbitrary, emphasizes a researcher at Rutgers University in New Jersey Helen Fisher.

"You may have a strong attachment to someone at work or in your social circle, and only after many months or years something happens, the situation changes, and suddenly you find that you have fallen in love with this person," explains Helen Fisher . nine0005

"So first comes attachment, then comes romantic infatuation, and only then emotions associated with sexual attraction. Or we can meet someone who seems sexually attractive to you, you fall in love with him, and only then come to a feeling of deep affection Or you can suddenly fall in love, literally lose your head because of someone with whom you had sex a long time ago, at that moment it did not cause strong feelings, "continues Fisher.

image copyrightThinkstock

Image caption,

The symptoms of love are similar to a disease state: sweaty palms, loss of appetite, euphoria, flushed face and rapid heartbeat.

At each of these stages, different chemicals come into play, and scientists now know which elements correspond to which process.

Stage 1: Sex

Desire (or to put it more roughly, but exactly - lust) is caused in us by sex hormones testosterone and estrogen. Testosterone is not exclusively a "male" hormone. In the female body, it plays the same important role in arousing sexual desire. nine0005

Stage 2: Attraction

Image copyright Thinkstock

Image caption

Long-term relationships are based on the instinct to care for children and secure their future apart from the object of desire, they sleep badly and are always in a state of blissful or disturbing thoughts about it. They may even lose their appetite.

At the attraction stage, a group of neurotransmitters from the monoamine group enters into action:

Dopamine is the same substance for which some people inject cocaine and nicotine into their bodies
Norepinephrine is the closest relative of adrenaline. Makes us sweat and our hearts beat faster.
Serotonin is the main "engine" of love, its deficiency leads to depression, and its excess leads to natural madness.

Stage 3: Attachment

These are the feelings that arise in us if the relationship is destined to last for a long time. If the attraction stage continued indefinitely, they would hardly have turned out to be anything worthwhile, except for a bunch of children. nine0005

Photo credit, Science Photo Library

Photo caption,

Oxytocin is responsible for a strong emotional bond between mother and child

Attachment is a long-term voluntary commitment, it is a bond between people who decide to form an alliance and acquire offspring.

At this stage, the nervous system releases two hormones into the body, which, according to scientists, are responsible for the social connection between people:

Vasopressin is an important chemical element for establishing long-term commitment. Experiments on mice suggest that as soon as the amount of vasopressin in the organisms of males decreases, their ability to create a pair with a female immediately decreases. They stop caring about the female and become indifferent to the attention paid to her by other males. nine0058
Oxytocin - secreted by the hypothalamus during childbirth and also helps the mammary glands to secrete milk. Socially, it helps to strengthen the bond between mother and child. In addition, this hormone is released by both men and women during orgasm and - as scientists believe - brings partners together emotionally. According to the theory, the more sex you have with your partner, the stronger your relationship!

Being in love, signs of falling in love, love and being in love, being in love

Love is, of course, not a disease, but it has clear signs that are difficult to confuse with anything. Usually a person quickly realizes that he has fallen in love, but how? Scientists are trying to decompose the feeling into components and find out their causes. We collected signs that indicate that there is more than just friendship between you.

You feel a little drunk

"Drunk in love" is not such a figurative expression. A slight dizziness, a feeling of euphoria and a feeling that nothing is impossible - familiar feelings after the first date? Scientists have found that alcohol and oxytocin, which is called the “hormone of love,” act on the brain in about the same way. In an experiment on animals that were injected with oxytocin through the nose, it turned out that with an increase in the level of this hormone, sympathy for one's neighbor, a tendency to self-sacrifice, generosity and trust increase, while fear, anxiety and stress levels are greatly reduced. Therefore, after the first awkward kiss, a person feels the same as after drinking a glass of champagne. nine0005

You become less sensitive to pain

A Stanford University Medical School study found that falling in love has an effect comparable to that of pain medication. This is due to the activation of the nucleus accumbens. The same zone wakes up when you receive analgesics or, for example, when you win big in a casino. For the experiment, the researchers recruited students who were in a romantic relationship for up to nine months. A thermal stimulator was attached to their arm and heated to a temperature that caused pain. After that, students were shown photos of lovers, and the level of pain decreased significantly. At the same time, activation of the nucleus accumbens was clearly observed on MRI. In addition, students were shown photos of random attractive people, but this effect no longer arose. nine0005

You feel like you've run a hundred meters

You are thrown into a fever, your heart is pounding, your breathing is fast and intermittent - as if you are not looking into the eyes of another person, but just set a world record in sprinting. It's all a surge of hormones. Falling in love increases the level of adrenaline and norepinephrine, which causes the pulse to increase. Breathing involuntarily quickens, and you become hot. This is all reminiscent of the body's reaction to a very strong fright. But this is the charm of the human psyche: one emotion differs from another by a set of elements. When falling in love, a pinch of dopamine and other hormones of pleasure is added to adrenaline, and sensations are born that are not at all the same as with fear. nine0005

You lose your appetite

Just yesterday, eating a whole pizza alone was not difficult, but today, after that very meeting, you don’t even want an apple? It's oxytocin again. Studies have shown that increasing the level of this hormone dulls the feeling of hunger and leads to a decrease in the number of calories needed. So from love you can really lose weight.

Seeing a loved one makes your pupils dilate

This unusual physiological reaction was noticed by scientists from the University of Rhode Island (USA). When a person sees the object of his love, his pupils expand to cover the entire image. The same thing happens when we first see a person we find attractive. Then the whole world around seems to fade, and all our attention is focused on it. Romantics explain this with love at first sight, scientists - with the expansion of the pupils. nine0005

Your face is glowing

Love decorates, that's a fact. A light appears in the eyes, the skin seems to glow from the inside, and there is a constant smile on the face. The thing is that hormones accelerate blood flow, which means that more oxygen enters the skin. Because you look like you just had a rest in an alpine village.

You can't connect two words

When a person is in love, he is a bit like the characters in Jane Austen's books: he blushes, turns pale, mumbles something unintelligible. The palms become wet, and the mouth is dry, like in the desert. This is what an explosive mixture of noepinephrine and oxytocin does to us. Their level rises sharply when the one with whom we really want to start a relationship is nearby.

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