Your Brain on Love (It Sounds Like This: "DURRRRRRRRR")

Last week I wrote a blog about our bodies' physiological reaction to falling in love (you can read it here).  It seemed to get a nice response, so I decided to look into this a little further.  You're welcome.

Recently, I'm most interested in learning about romantic attachment and whether it's prompted more by your mind/emotions or hormone-y types of chemicals.  I was hoping it'd be the latter of the two, so at least we have something to blame it on.

As it turns out, it is.  At least a little bit.

I found an article in Thirteen which starts off explaining that when you find yourself in love with someone, "the world has a new center."  (No shit.)  Helen Fisher, the biological anthropologist they spoke with, also confirmed what I talked about in my previous blog regarding love turning you into a chemically imbalanced, emotionally distraught, psychologically unstable bitch on wheels. 

She didn't word it quite like that, but reiterated that "intense energy, elation, mood swings, emotional dependence, separation anxiety, possessivness...and obsessive thinking" are all common behaviors and feelings.

Here's the cool part: Fisher has conducted fMRI studies on people in varying stages of love (people who have just fallen in love, people who just got dumped, and people who have been happily married for decades) and has concluded that there are three parts of our brain that can dictate our feelings and symptons of love: lust, romantic attraction, and attachment to your long-term partner.

In addition, she has found that there are indeed chemically-induced reasons why we're attracted to certain people and not others.  It's a physiological (not just emotional!) drive that is greater than everything--certainly sex.  (She uses the reasoning that being rejected for sex won't send you into a downward spiral, but being rejected from love totally can.  Either Helen Fisher makes an excellent point, or she's been sleeping with the wrong people.  Let's go with the former.)   

It's becoming more and more apparent that once you find that intense attraction toward another, your body takes over a lot more than we might have thought.   

It's an interesting idea to explore, particularly because women are pegged as being the overly emotional, dramatic sex.  In reality, many studies have shown that men and women undergo the same process of emotions; women just express it differently.  Kind of how women show affection through touching and nurturing while men show it through initiating sex.

Point of the story...Again, here we have people claiming that love and attraction are indeed alive and well in our brains and bodily chemicals.  So ladies, next time a guy tells you to calm down, now you know what to scream: "IT'S MY OXYTOCIN, ASSHOLE."

On that note, here's a picture of two tongues.  God speed.

 

My Love Affair with Sprouts Farmers Market

You all know how much I love my Fresh & Easy, but I had a religious experience in Sprouts today, and I know you're foaming at the mouth wanting to hear about it.

 

Okay, so it's not technically a full-blown farmers market, but it's pretty darn close.  These independent stores combine the elements of a traditional farmers market with those of a traditional grocery store, so you're stepping into neither Smith's nor Whore Whole Foods.

 

I'm a bit of a picky shopper these days, having decided to cut out animal products, with the exception of the slice of pizza I ate last night at work. 

 

But I digress.

 

Sprouts has a nice variety of products, which makes a Gemini like me super happy.  They offer all sorts of organic, not-even-remotely organic, all-natural, kinda-natural, gluten-free, vegan, and vegetarian goodies.  They even carry vegan butter and cream cheese, which I have yet to see anywhere else.

 

I spent a substantial amount of time squeezing and poking and sniffing all the fruits and wedgies and can confirm that they most definitely havn't been sitting there for eight years, unlike Smith's avocadoes, which usually have the consistency of guacamole by the time I get to them.  Sprouts is even sure to buy things whole and intact (like cheese) and only prepare them for sale once they're in the store, ensuring that the goodies stay fresh.  They make an effort to sell locally grown produce and are able to keep the prices a little lower because they've been in the biz for long enough to get great deals from farmers and brokers.

 

And it's not just food they carry.  Sprouts has all kinds of vitamins, alcohol (wee!), and body care products.

 

Obviously, you can expect to spend a little more depending on what you buy.  The price of their vegan butter gave me a minor heart attack, for instance, while most of the other stuff I bought was priced the same as or lower than I would pay at other establishments.

 

And numbers can't lie.  Well, they can.  Regardless, Sprouts is opening 20 new stores this year; so clearly, they're sleeping with all the right people.

 

If my own personal account and the information I ripped off their website still doesn't have you convinced, check out the place for yourself.

 

Unless they don't have Sprouts where you live, in which case.....good day to you.

The Physiological Effects of Falling in Love

Love is in the air.  It seems that a lot of people around me lately have found happiness with that special one.  Lucky little shits.

For only God knows what reason, I was reminded today of the first man I fell in love with.  It's been awhile, yes, but I haven't forgotten much about how utterly insane it made me.  And you can see it in others.  I decided to probe a little deeper and read more on what's actually happening in our bods when we find someone so pants-droppingly irresistible that our minds can think of no one else.

I was surprised to learn almost immediately that the physiological signs of falling in love closely parallel those of mental illness.

That certainly explains a lot.

The Frisky elaborates that when the human brain is high on love, it exhibits tendencies similar to mania, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and depression.

So, ladies, don't be merely paranoid that you've lost your mind--you have.

People in love also experience a surge of feel-good neurotransmitters that are responsible for rapid heartbeat, increased energy, and feelings of euphoria and greater sociability--namely noradrenaline, dopamine, oxytocin, and phenylethylamine, says Quality Health.  The greater the attachment becomes, the more the neurotransmitters go batshit crazy.  You're literally at their mercy.

And if you think you can hide your feelings, wrong-o!  It's written all over your face, no joke.  Cosmo says that our pupils are sensitive not only to light, but positive emotions as well.  Thus, when you're looking at the one you love, your pupils can begin to narrow.

As we all know, these feelings will simmer down eventually.  But why, and how long do you have until the euphoria dissipates?  The Frisky continues on to claim that those feelings of being crazy in love usually make their exit at about the two-year mark.  Why?  Because that's how long our bodies think it takes to "produce and wean one child."  Those feelings aren't needed beyond that point because reproduction has occurred, leading us to believe that the need to pass our genes on dictates our feelings of love more than we may have suspected.

Reliable resources?  Probably not.  Interesting nonetheless.

Recycle Your Ish and Help the Planet

I don't know what the arrangement is for everyone else, but our subdivision doesn't offer any recycling services.  They also let your packages sit in the office for weeks, don't return your phone calls, and frequently gate you out of your own building.

So I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.

Up until recently, I was guilty of throwing away plenty of material that could've been recycled--paper, junk mail, plastic bottles, cardboard boxes, etc.  I finally got online and found plenty of facilities within 20 minutes of my home that will happily take these things off my hands.  I chose Re-New Recycling.  Everyone was super friendly and get this: They actually PAY you for your recyclables, which I didn't know.  I walked away 45 whole cents richer.

But that's beside the point, and money shouldn't be the motivating factor here, no matter how much it is.

I know that we all like to exclude ourselves as part of the problem.  "I'm just one person.  It won't make that big of a difference."

Except everyone is saying this.  So basically, we're killing the earth and we're all going to die.  So just recycle your shit.  If you need to be guilted into it, visit Going Green Today and read about some of the damage we're doing.  You're welcome.

~M