Your mind and your body are on high alert when it comes to love and if it does these five things, then you know you've hit the jackpot.
Some of us go years without finding the right man. Or maybe you have found yours and you don't know it yet, but if you paid attention to what your body and mind are telling you, they might have a different story to tell. And it is those signs we tend to ignore, but they are the sure factors that you've found the right man.
It's the adrenaline and norepinephrine that rushes through your body causing your heart to beat faster and your palms to begin sweating. That blood then pumps to your brain's pleasure center, the nucleus accumbens. "MRI scans have documented that the pleasure center of the brain (the nucleus accumbens) lights up when we fall in love," explains Dr. Laura F. Dabney, a relationship psychiatrist, according to Martha Stewart Weddings. So your body starts to associate that pleasure with your partner, essentially telling you that he's the right man.
You can blame dopamine, the "happy hormone" for all those butterflies flitting in your stomach when you're around him. "When people fall in love, their dopamine level spikes creating feelings of happiness and pleasure," says Dr. Shelley Sommerfeldt, a clinical psychologist who specializes in relationships. She also mentions that this feeling mimics hikes in cortisol, which is the stress hormone. However, in this case, this feeling takes on a positive connotation.
Oxytocin, otherwise called the "love" hormone, starts to increase when you're with him, especially if you are physically intimate. "Levels are particularly increased through physical contact like hugging, kissing, or sex, which tend to be higher in the initial stages of the relationship creating even more increases in desire and attraction," Dr. Sommerfeldt says. "Oxytocin can deepen feelings of attachment toward your partner and provide you a feeling of safety, calmness, and security."
According to Live Science, when oxytocin and another hormone called vasopressin are released during your attraction to him, they permeate the brain. This causes feelings of well-being and security. Additionally, "Love activates the same neural receptors in the brain as many pain-relieving medications so we, therefore, experience fewer aches and pains when we are in love," says Dr. Sommerfeldt. "We also have less perceived pain due to the influx of neurochemicals, such as dopamine and oxytocin, which produce feelings of pleasure and euphoria, making us less likely to focus on or feel any pain." So when there's no fear of pain, you feel safe.
When you're with the man you love, your serotonin levels start to drop. "This lower serotonin level and link to obsessive compulsive behaviors explains why we tend to obsess, overanalyze, and intensely focus on our new love during the initial stages in a relationship," says Dr. Sommerfeldt. "This reaction increases our emotional dependency, infatuation, and craving to be with the other person." As clinical as it might sound, it's just that being with him brightens up your day more than you know.
References:
https://www.marthastewartweddings.com/655000/scientific-ways-love-affects-body-brain
https://www.livescience.com/43395-ways-love-affects-the-brain.html
