February, ah, love is in the air… although, have you ever thought of what love really is? Probably not, because the only time that we think about “love” is when we are “in love”, which makes it therefore impossible for us to think. Well, allow me to discuss the medical side of what we term as love. After reading this article, I challenge you to think twice when the term “love” is used.

Well, as everything else, everything starts from birth, where our hormones and emotions start their formal role in our life. As we grow older, our environment, our upbringing, and our genetics play a big role in our growing concept of what love really is. Basically put, love is a by-product of our human wanting to propagate or to multiply, a basic human instinct which is found in all creatures. It is love that gives us the yearning to have someone special which would later turn into our companion.

Concept of Beauty

Love starts with the basic criteria of what we think is “beautiful”. This concept is what makes us attracted to another person, and probably disgusted by another one. The idea of physical attraction is composed of a lot of criteria that we have in our brain, whether we like tall, dark, and handsome… or do we like short, sexy, and pretty. We slowly make these criteria from mostly our environment, like if you grow up in an environment where everyone’s concept of beauty is having very long necks (as it is in other countries), or having giant earlobes, or whatever quirks we may have that “turns us on”, the tendency is we are raised into thinking that that is beautiful. Well, sometimes the opposite happens like growing up in the savanna, with everyone around you is dark skinned and you tend to have a preference for light-skinned is again, opposite as it may be, still a criteria. The most common criteria that we find is a child’s criteria coming a lot from how their parents look like, especially if they had a close tie with their parents, like, “I like his nose, it reminds me of my Dad”… or “I love her eyelashes, reminds me of Mom.”.

At First Sight

That spark of fire that jumpstarts everything is the one that throws the snowball which eventually becomes an avalanche (to some, their love life is really an avalanche, but I will not deal on that). So what makes us “fall in love”? When we meet someone who has majority of the physical criteria that we have, our brain detects this and announces to our whole body, like a loud siren, that it has found a potential companion. The brain then secretes a hormone called phenylethylamine that starts the whole process of being in love.

Sparks Fly

It is described by others as imaginary fireworks which they feel when they find “the right one”. The common symptoms of love, including sweaty palms, shaky knees and general restlessness, are caused by the natural chemical, phenylethylamine (commonly dubbed the love molecule). Its release from the brain can be triggered from deceptively simple actions like the meeting of the eyes or touching of the hands. Heady emotions, racing pulses and heavy breathing results, and all these are (unfortunately) clinically explained as an overdose of this chemical.

A very interesting thing is that “Belgian chocolates” are known to have very high levels of this chemical…perhaps that’s the reason why they are considered as perfect gifts for valentines for your sweetheart.

Love is Indeed Blind

The cerebral cortex, the part of the brain which is the seat of logic and reasoning, is depressed by phenylethylamine, this causes the person “in love” to lose their basic form of logic, making them “blinded”. The limbic system, the seat of emotions and happiness now takes over the vacant position and rules the brain, this is the part which gets us into trouble, since while the “sane” part of the brain is depressed, it is replaced by a “mad man”. Oh no!

It also starts a cascade of other hormones that rage in our system, one of these hormones is the adrenaline hormone, which, as you all know, makes our heart beat faster, and gives us extra energy by turning the stored fat into readily available sugar. This gives us the feeling that we can run miles and miles without getting tired, but this also makes us unable to sleep.

Cortex to the Rescue

All of the hormones become rampant while our cerebral cortex is depressed, this lasts differently from one person to another, but usually, resolves in about a month. At this time, the hormones get depleted and the cerebral cortex kicks the limbic system from control and we regain our “proper state of mind”. What happens next is the part where we tend to re-assess what happened the days before, this would later take us to a crossroad where we decide whether this companion is the right one, by considering our likes and dislikes… our financial compatibility… what your relatives would think… and the like. This in turn would either make it a mere “infatuation” or “a lifelong commitment” (sadly for some, the period while they are “temporarily insane” becomes a lifelong commitment to become a mother).

To Fall or Not to Fall

Love as everything else, can be explained by science, it can be a simple interplay of hormones and mental criteria following an old human instinct of wanting to multiply, or it can be a very powerful force that can transcend millions of miles of distances to take two “soulmates”, that haven’t met before, to become together forever. The choice now lies in your hands… whether to believe in the power of love or to merely debunk it as interplay of hormones.

Make Someone Fall For You

In my next article, I will discuss ways on how to make someone fall in love with you the “artificially” natural way (without medications, drugs, pointed objects or explosives). If ever you know someone that you have been courting for quite some time now who doesn’t even notice you, then do wait for my next article which would change everything that you know about making someone fall in love with you.

Natural Criteria for Beauty

Beauty, however, in the field of cosmetics is bound by rules; there are criteria, like there is in art. There are measurements and procedures that make someone more beautiful. You may be surprised how a few millimeter rise of the nose bridge can make someone more beautiful, or the few inches off the belly can make someone more attractive.

At our clinic, we are offering free consultations in order for you to know what you need in order to achieve your full beauty potentials. We have a lot of patients coming in that don’t want any surgeries, so we have started offering non-invasive options for beauty. Feel free to visit us at our Cosmetic and Wellness Center at Britannia Medical Center for your free cosmetic consultation.