photo © Sergey Nivens | Fotolia
“The brain is the most outstanding organ. It works for 24 hours, 365 days, right from your birth until you fall in love.”
You may love dancing to the tune of “Crazy in Love” but I’m sure you’d rather be sane in love than being obsessed and bonkers over someone. Science suggests that we simply can’t help it.
Using brain scans, neurologists have unearthed shocking discoveries of what happens when the brain falls in love. Chemical changes occur but more interestingly, love can control which part of the brain to activate and which part to shut down. No wonder we sometimes don’t recognize ourselves during the heady days of love.
Let’s start with the bad news: Love shuts down the part of the brain vital to judgement, the frontal cortex. Prof. Zeki at University College London believes that it’s for “higher biological purposes.” In layman’s term, he or she isn’t really perfect; you’re just in love and nature wants you to procreate. It also lowers serotonin levels as dopamine increases, making you anxious and jittery.
Good news is, it shut downs fear and increases dopamine. It makes you stand on the railing of the ship, extend your arms and scream, “I’m flying!” Since dopamine is like drugs, it makes you addicted to that person, like a coffee or cigarette addiction. Sounds like bad news but at least it makes you happier. Most importantly, love is a creativity enhancer, according to a study at the University of Amsterdam. It may interfere with your analytical ability, makes you clumsy, and turn you into a drama queen, but at least that’s only half of the story.
