Crush: Between falling and rising in love
He entered the room with a big smile, and my heart skipped a beat. I was struggling to breathe evenly. The uneasiness in stomach and sweaty palms were making me even more conscious. My emotions were again out of my control.
Losing the battle against my emotions made me wonder, what happens to me suddenly when I am around him? This doesn’t happen when I am around other guys! Except for the obvious reasons that he is handsome or smart or funny, I mean I know many guys who are similarly attractive or supposed to be attractive. But I lose myself only around him. Why?
I couldn’t resist but started researching about the science of ‘getting attracted to someone’ aka crush.
Hormones again!
The trio of Dopamine, Oxytocin and Cortisol is responsible for this feeling. Dopamine has a drug effect on our brain. The limbic system secretes dopamine when we are attracted to someone, and is like a fuel for our brain. Hence it asks for more and more of it (Now you might understand why we keep on finding the stupidest reasons to meet him/her again). Oxytocin is a happy hormone. It elevates your mood (The reason you always feel good around him/her). Cortisol on the other hand helps you manage the stress (This is why just seeing their smile wipes away all the bad memories).
But that is not it!
Now I wonder how only some of them make our brain secret those hormones? and how does the body know he/she is the one?
It’s all about fundamentals — the genetic system. We are attracted to those who have similar genetic composition for pheromones as ours. Pheromones are chemicals secreted into the environment and are responsible for producing odor that attract mates (I wonder how those perfumes are helping now!). Also, people who have different immune system than ours are the ones we get attracted to (In order to produce healthy offspring with stronger immunity!)
Trust me the science of crush is equally complicated as having one and handling one. The deeper I dig, the deeper I get stuck into the tunnel of questions.
But thankfully we are out of that primitive stage. Over the period of time our brain have managed to overcome the hormonal attack and select the love of our lives on rational and practical basis.
Similarly I managed to overcome (actually hide) my excitement and started a talk with him, hoping that this crush might turn into something deeper. Well don’t know yet if there is a science behind that as well ;P
Tell me about your experiences with crush and share the story. We might find some deeper science with that.
