The science of love. Where does love come from? The brain? The heart? Let's clear some misconceptions

When love happens, everything about a man (and a woman too) changes. Let me start this post with my own story; my love story.

In my second year in school, I met this young lady in class. She was full of energy and potentials, the type you hardly see in a girl of her age. We spoke. We exchanged contact. We connected. We became best friends. We became closer and I knew something was changing with us but I wasn't sure what it was. Could it be love? Whenever I see her, My hands feel sweaty while my tongue clings to the roof of my mouth. I could feel movement in my tummy and my heart beats faster than before. I gathered the courage I had and told her "I love you." I felt it wasn't convincing enough so I repeated myself. I said, "I love you with all my heart."

Love is something we've all heard about and probably felt before. We must have loved something or someone before. Maybe your mum, your bicycle, your friend, your dress or even yourself.

Can we really love someone with all our heart or even some part of it? Does the heart have a role to play in love?

What Is Love?

The word love has been explained in so many ways and by so many people. Poets have written verses on the topic. Musicians have composed songs for it. Philosophers have explained it. Religious teachers have taught it. Some languages even have more than one word to explain this concept. For example, the Greek has four words for love. The four words are storge (love between parent to offspring), philia (between good friends), eros (sexual and romantic desire), and agape (divine love) ^[ref]. >Love defines emotional feelings and deep affections to sexual attraction for someone as well as great interest and pleasure in something. ^{Oxford dictionary}

History of love coming from the heart

Right from time, humans have always been curious to know how things around them work as well as things in their body. Some people made effort to understand how these things work and also tried to explain to others. One of them is Aristotle.

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher of the fourth century B.C. He thought that the heart was the seat of the soul. And the other organ like the brain was responsible for cooling it down. According to him, the heart was the most important organ in the body. I guess he concluded on this after he opened a fertilized egg and saw the embryo's heart beating inside. I know this is far different from what you know but we can't blame him. He didn't have much information as we have today.

The ancient Egyptians named the heart the seat of emotion, thought, will and intention. Not only that, they believed the heart will be examined in the afterlife by Anubis during the Weighing of the Heart ceremony. If the heart had more weight than a feather called the feather of Maat, a monster will consume it and the soul becomes restless forever.

Another person who tried to explain the function of the heart is Aelius Galenus who lived about 1,800 years ago. He believed the soul has three parts. The rational, spiritual, and appetitive soul which are found in the brain, heart, and liver respectively. Although he knew the brain was involved in thinking, he still wrongly associated the heart with passions like anger. ^[ref]

The ancient writers of religious books like the Bible also made reference to the heart as the center of thoughts. Hence, love was wrongly associated with the heart because the center of thought is the center of love.

"For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies..."_{Matthew 15:19}

What then is the heart?

Place your hand on the left part of your chest and locate the area where you notice a rhythmic beat. Your hand is just on your heart at that point. The human heart is a muscular organ and its work is to circulate blood through the body. The heart is divided into four chambers. The upper part is the Atria (singular = "atrium"), that is, left atrium and left atrium. The lower part is the two ventricles; the left ventricle and right ventricle. The heart circulates blood to the body through blood vessels. The arteries convey blood away from the heart. While the veins carries blood back to the heart.

Also, the heart is able to supply all the cells of the body oxygen and subsequently removing Carbon dioxide. During pulmonary circulation deoxygenated blood is conveyed to the lungs and exchanged with oxygen-rich blood through respiration. Through the systemic circulation, the oxygen-rich blood is transported around the body and supplied to all the cells. The heart through the circulation of blood also helps to transport nutrients and assists in the removal of metabolic wastes.

The brain's activity in love

As a CPU is to a computer, so is a brain to a body. The brain is protected by the skull. The spinal cord together with the brain makes up the Central nervous system. The brain performs a central role in coordinating and controlling all the functions of the body. The brain collects information from the body through the sense organs, it analyzes and process this information, and sends instructions to the body. The brain is responsible for several activities going on in your body. The brain is at work when you are solving maths or dancing. The brain is also at work when you are feeling all emotional too.

The parts of the brain involved in emotion together with some other structures form the Limbic system located at the base of the brain. Researchers have found activities in this region of the brain when they scan the brain of those who are in love. One of those researchers is Helen Fisher. According to Helen Fisher, a human behavior researcher, she identified three emotional categories in the brain which are necessary for mating, reproduction and parenting, i.e., Lust, Romantic Attraction, and Attachment. Each of these has their own distinct functions. Lust... Lust comes in form of sex drive exist to motivate the mating process. This desire is attributed with an increased level in the hormones estrogens and androgens. They are both referred to as the sex hormones and they are responsible for the development of sexual characteristics and sexual arousal. Attraction... Attraction is to make the mating partners focus their energy on a specific partner at a time. Attraction comes with an increase in the level of dopamine and norepinephrine and decreased levels of serotonin. Dopamine is increased in the brain when one anticipates a reward of any type. The dopamine pathways is an important part of the reward system. Increased concentration of dopamine is also associated with addiction and wanting. At this stage, there is increase obsession between lovers. According to this article, a decrease in the level of serotonin may be responsible for the obsessive thinking of a partner. Serotonin controls happiness, mood, appetite, sexual desire etc... Attachement... The last part is the attachment and it is there to enable the partners to show commitment for as long as possible to enable them to perform their parenting duties to their offsprings. And the hormones oxytocin and vasopressin play the main role in attachment. Oxytocin which is also known as the "love hormone" or "cuddle-hormone" is responsible for milk production for breastfeeding. It makes a bonding between the parent and their offspring and this hormone together with vasopressin are responsible for the sexual Attachment stage.

Can we really love someone with all our heart or even some part of it?

For someone who has been in love or someone who is still in love, you might still have this question. If you can't love with all your heart, can't you at least love with some part of it? Why does your heart beat faster when you see, hear, smell or even think about the one you love? Why do I feel physical pain in my chest? What about the heartache that comes after a breakup? And the one that feels like a butterfly in your belly? Why does love hurt? Heart beating faster? Butterflies in the belly? Whenever we experience a life-threatening experience of a sudden attack, our body responds with the reaction known as The fight-or-flight response. This is the experience you get when you see a group of harmed robbers pointing a gun to your head. You may not think of seeing your crush as a life-threatening experience but your body does respond with the fight-or-flight response.

This also is a function of the brain. The part of the brain known as the amygdala sends the message to the hypothalamus when it recognizes a threat. The hypothalamus releases the corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) which activates the pituitary gland to secrete Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). The adrenal gland becomes active almost immediately and releases the hormone adrenaline and also release the steroid hormone, cortisol. The release of these hormones into the bloodstream causes an increase in blood pressure and the acceleration of heart.

The feeling of butterflies in the belly is caused by adrenaline with a reduction of blood flow to the stomach. More blood is flowing to your muscles and lungs where your body needs it the most at that moment.
Heartache? Physical pain in the chest?
Heartache seems to be more than just an emotional pain, sometimes we feel physical pain too. It can be caused by a breakup or when a loved one dies. An emotional pain that is severe can cause broken heart syndrome also known as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy. This may even cause a physical damage to the heart. in which there is a sudden temporary weakening of the muscular portion of the heart.

Heartache is a mix of several emotional stress like muscle tightness and increased heart rate, body pain, and weakness. Unusual stomach activities with irregularities in breathing occur too. The region of the brain that is activated when we feel physical pain is involved too when we feel emotional pain. The anterior cingulate cortex of the brain can overstimulate the vagus nerve during stress. This is what then causes pain and muscle tightening in the chest and also the feeling that you want to vomit.

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So maybe love is not that magical but simply Chemical. Loving someone with your heart might make a good line in a poetry verse, but now you know better that the brain plays a major role when it comes to love.
Thank you for reading my blog!

Reference:

• Ancient Egyptian concept of the soul
• The Human heart
• What Causes Chest Pain When Feelings are Hurt?
• Broken heart syndrome
• Fight or flight response
• Fisher, H.E., Aron, A., Mashek, M.A., Li H. and Brown, L.L. (C2002). Defining the Brain Systems of Lust, Romantic Attraction, and Attachment. Archives of Sexual Behavior, Vol. 31, No. 5, October 2002, pp. 413–419