We Are Attracted to People Who Are Physically and Mentally Like Ourselves
According to the first of our love facts, we’re attracted to people who are like us. This includes details like facial features as well as background, intelligence levels and personality. In fact, it has been discovered that happily married couples often have similar DNA. Even more interestingly, over time, spouses tend to become more and more like each other in both personality and looks. They may eventually appear to be able to read each other’s’ minds and finish each other’s’ sentences. Opposites attract? We are too narcissistic for this to hold true it turns out. We just want to woo – ourselves.
Love Can Relieve Pain
Being in love is a natural painkiller. Oxytocin, released when we experience love, makes us feel great but it can also lift that headache. Holding hands with someone relieves both pain and stress. Love facts reveal that simply cuddling up to your loved one releases natural painkillers in the body. So, if you’re hung-over or suffering from a cold, forget the trip to the pharmacy – simply gaze at a photo of a loved one. That’s right – even a picture will do the trick.
The Chemical of Love, Oxytocin, Is Released During Orgasm and Childbirth
Weirdly, oxytocin is released during two serious love moments: orgasm – and childbirth. Furthermore, bonding with a new baby is much like the intense loving rush of a new relationship. When we first fall in love we decrease our levels of the hormone serotonin – which can plummet to levels that are also seen in people with OCD. To summarize: love really knows how to play around with your hormone levels!
We Sometimes Fall in Love with Someone Who Is Like Our Parents
We tend to fall in love with a partner who has some resemblance to our parents, which goes back to aspects of our psychological development. This was explored first by Oedipus in his plays and later developed into a psychoanalytical theory by Freud: people, firstly as children, fall in love with the parent of the opposite sex and act out their desires in life. Generally, this is a stage we go through while growing up, but in some people it develops further into a mother or father fixation, leading them to choose a partner like their parent.
We Can Make Ourselves Fall in Love by Staring into Someone’s Eyes
One of our more surprising love facts explains that looking into someone’s eyes for a long time can make us fall in love. Four minutes is the time it takes, to be precise. It is interesting that after this amount of time, your heart rates will also synchronize. It seems that this works on both a physical and mental level as you gradually tune in with a person’s expressions and thoughts. Good news for anyone experiencing unrequited love – perhaps all you need to do is figure out how to keep the object of your affections staring at you for four minutes!
Animals Can Have Monogamous Relationships
Love and loving isn’t confined to the human world, as love facts reveal – even some animals enjoy monogamous relationships. Species that mate for life include gibbons, swans and albatrosses, as well as rats and vultures. This may well suggest that monogamy is good for the perpetuation of the species – in family groups, animals and humans tend to take care of each other. It can, of course, also make for cute photo opportunities.
Love Drives Our Species Forward
From a sociological point of view, love drives our species forward. Parental love nurtures, sex perpetuates our species, and attachment makes us stronger as groups. Darwinian Theory, or survival of the fittest, can be seen through this lens: those in love are more likely to have children. People who are in love tend to be healthier, happier and live longer. People in happy relationships visit the doctor less frequently, suffer less from depression and stress, have lower blood pressure and even have fewer colds.
Love Inspires Creativity
Love facts reveal that experiencing this emotion makes us more creative; it encourages holistic thinking and even creative insights into problem solving. Consider the poetry, music and art inspired by love and even loss of love. The recurring theme of love can be seen in famous works like that of the Metaphysical poets, the plays of Shakespeare, and the works of the Romantic poets. Being in love inspires a burst of creative energy which can lead to many kinds of achievements, as well as those exploring the theme of love.
Our Sense Perceptions Help Us to Fall in Love
All our senses are at work as we figure out our attraction towards others. Sight clearly helps us to establish aspects of beauty; hearing alerts us to personality and humor. Handshakes can precipitate attraction. Interestingly, smell is a particularly strong means of establishing connections between individuals and this can be the predominant, albeit, most subtle way of realizing attraction – it is literally a chemical force. The perfume industry cashes in on this, sometimes using pheromones in their scents.
Love Mainly Comes Down to Timing
Do we all have a soul mate waiting for us somewhere in the world and we just have to find them? No. Rather unromantically, it’s mainly about timing. People tend to meet their spouses some time before they are ready to procreate, so again Darwinian forces drive us forward. Once we have reached the age and set of circumstances (urge for adventure, secure finances, desire to leave home and so on) that make us likely to be receptive to love, many possible partners will do.
Watching Movies with Your Spouse Makes You 50% Less Likely to Divorce
According to studies of couples, those who attended counselling together or watched movies and discussed them together were 50% less likely to divorce after 3 years. The thinking behind this is that watching movies, especially romantic comedies, is likely to inspire conversation and the linking of similar emotions from the film to one’s own situation. Spending time together, sharing interests and – mostly importantly – talking to your partner, are crucial for successful relationships.
Your Brain Is Wired to Want a Certain Amount of Sex
Research from the University of California focused on determining what makes some people want more sex than others. Brain scans were performed on volunteers, who also answered questions about their sexual history and preferences. Those who showed the most signs of brain activity as they viewed suggestive images were those who had had the most sexual partners. Finding a partner with similar preferences to you will make your relationship much more likely to last.
Heartbreak Is Real, Not Just Metaphorical
The pain of heartbreak is not just mental; it can have physical manifestations as well. The sense of emotional loss caused by separation from a loved one can cause physical symptoms in the short term like sickness, pain, anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, headaches and loss of appetite. People can literally die from a broken heart as the period following a break up can make you eight times more likely to have a heart attack. There are lots of documented cases of people who have been married for many years dying a short time after their spouse.
Love Features Heavily in Mythology
Heroic figures are prominent in mythology from all cultures, suggesting the importance of love transcending cultures and time. Cupid, the Roman God of love, often appears in works of art with a bow and arrow, which is to shoot desire into an unsuspecting party. Eros, his counterpart in Greek mythology, has a similarly mischievous propensity for playing with the desires of unsuspecting mortals. In Egyptian mythology, the goddess Hathor, symbolizes love from the perspective of motherhood and fertility.
Many Great Literary Lovers Have Become World Famous Icons
Throughout history, many literary lovers have gone on to become iconic figures. Romeo and Juliet are the most famous example, choosing death over separation in Shakespeare’s play of the same name. In Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, Cathy and Heathcliff experience great conflict when Cathy marries Edgar Linton first, choosing family approval over love. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice finally end up together despite his imperfections, while Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester do too, in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, but only after his first wife leaves the story. Conflict and great emotional turmoil make these stories an enduring part of our culture.
Signs of Virility Make Someone Attractive
It’s no secret that good-looking people tend to be more attractive to the opposite sex – but there is a scientific reason for this. Outward signals that suggest fertility and virility send unconscious signals. Therefore, youthfulness, symmetry, a broad chest or hour glass figure are suggestive of the potential to bear children. On the other hand, traits like a pot belly or bad health habits are a turn off because they indicate a lower possibility of perpetuating the species.
Self-Confidence Is More Important than Beauty in Attracting the Opposite Sex
Beauty and attraction are very different. Attractiveness goes way beyond the superficial presentation of a person’s body and face to encompass aspects like personality, humor, smell, and, perhaps most importantly, self-confidence. This perhaps explains why so many people find love when they are not actively looking for a relationship and are happy in themselves, and why people who are eagerly seeking a partner often find it much more difficult.
Most People Fall in Love with Someone They Have Known for Some Time
Perhaps because the basis of true love is incredible friendship and empathy for another rather than sexual attraction, most lasting relationships are formed by people who began as friends, as opposed to those who form relationships that began with sex. Although sexual attraction can last, and can form the basis of a happy marriage, that seems to work only when great friendship develops too.
There Is a Love Detector Service in Korea
An unusual service in Korea can record you speaking with a loved one and analyze their voice patterns in order to determine, through frequency, pace and tone, whether he or she is being honest and is truly committed to you. People using this service receive a breakdown of data regarding levels of affection, surprise, commitment and honesty. While this seems somewhat untrusting, it does suggest that love can be detected in the voice.
Staying in Love Is Not Always Easy and Can Require Hard Work
Falling in love is easy but staying in love is a greater challenge, as love facts explain. Relationships go through many phases and not all of them are good. After a while, you discover each other’s’ imperfections. It’s a myth that people who are happily married are just lucky. Being successful in love, like anything else, requires a bit of work. It is crucial to talk to your partner, to be honest, considerate and not take them for granted. Other secrets to long happy marriages include laughing together, being able to compromise, being kind and giving each other space.
Love Facts – Facts about Love Summary
Love Facts
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