The reason why falling in love messes with your mind, according to science

A study recently published in the International Journal Behavioral science She revealed what many people have felt at least once: falling in love messes with the brain. Apparently, there's a synergy of chemical and behavioral changes that makes the person you love stand out in the brain – which is why you can't stop thinking about someone.

Those who proved this were researchers from the University of South Australia, the Australian National University, and the University of Canberra. Science has always known that the human mind becomes “confused” when one person falls in love with another person. However, the survey of 1,556 young people – all currently in an emotional state – helped clear things up.

Participants were asked to answer a series of questions so that scientists could analyze the feelings and behaviors surrounding their loved ones. In the second phase, the study delved into the topic: the intensity of love and romantic interest in relatively new relationships. For this reason, they only applied 812 young people who said they had lived for less than two years.

Falling in love with someone moves (and changes) the brain

The combination of oxytocin and dopamine is responsible for transforming the brain when we fall in love. (Source: Getty Images)

One of the researchers' main goals was to discover whether the behavioral activation system – BAS, which is its abbreviation in English – plays any role when talking about romantic love. In general, BAS is a neural mechanism that stimulates certain behaviors in order to obtain some type of reward.

The conclusion was that, When there is a love interest in someone, the gears of the brain temporarily shift and make that person the center of all thoughts.. In other words: Falling in love actually changes the brain, even if it's not a permanent change. Therefore, this may not be the optimal time to make big financial decisions, for example, as your mind is focused on something else.

This scenario may be a reflection of the presence of some hormones. Oxytocin, known to scientists as the “love hormone,” is one of them, and circulates abundantly through the bloodstream when a loved one is nearby.

But what's new is what's new A combination of oxytocin and dopamineWhich has been proven to be responsible for making us think about our loved ones all the time and changing our focus. Simply put, dopamine is a neurotransmitter closely associated with the feeling of pleasure and is a chemical that the brain releases when we feel romantic love.