wo sterblade the Response systems in the brain control feelings of love

OLIVIA HINER co-editor-in-chief

Valentine’s Day is known as being a day for love, but what many may fail to realize is how neurological love actually is.

The age-old question “Is love real?” is a debated topic. To answer this, Amy Jo Stavnezer, professor of neurobiology at The College of Wooster said: “...Technically you are nothing but the combination of chemical and electrical reactions in our brain, but that doesn’t mean that your life, emotions, feelings, perceptions, memories, etc. aren’t real – it just means they are created by your brain. So, yes, in the end, love is the result of many, many chemical and electrical reactions in many, many regions of your brain, and love is a real emotional and physical phenomenon… There are brain areas that become more active when being measured in a brain scanner when we look at the faces of people that we love – that’s real, and it is brain activity.”

When looking at love itself, there are many different forms or definitions.

When looking romantically, Stavnezer discussed that one feels a higher stress response, lower serotonin levels and higher oxytocin levels. Oxytocin is known as, “the love hormone,” and according to a health.harvard.edu article from July 20, 2021, it’s a,

“hormone that’s produced in the hypothalamus and released into the bloodstream by the pituitary gland. Its main function is to facilitate childbirth, which is one of the reasons it is called the ‘love drug’ or love hormone.”

Along with these levels, Stavnezer discusses how love activates stress response systems. Stavnezer states that, “that’s in part why we feel nervous and anxious at the start of a relationship. Our stress responses are driven by 2 main systems –the autonomic nervous system which uses norepinephrine, as its main chemical signal, and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) that leads to the release of cortisol. These systems tend to be more active early in love, in the falling in love phase.”

Not only are there effects in the brain, but love leads to other benefits as well.

Melanie Vinion, IB science teacher, lists that the benefits of love include decreased risk of heart disease, lower blood pressure and improved immune health.

When looking biologically, Vinion said that love is a neurochemical event. She states, “Love begins in the womb, literally shapes our brains, and determines how we think, feel and act throughout life…”

So, the answer to “is love real?” can actually be answered when looking at the response systems within the brain.