What Happens in Your Brain When You Fall in Love?

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsBrain Regions Involved in LoveNeurotransmitters: The Chemical Messengers of LoveEmotional and Behavioral ChangesThe Long-Term EffectsThe Bigger Picture of Love and Neuroscience

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

Brain Regions Involved in Love

Neurotransmitters: The Chemical Messengers of Love

Emotional and Behavioral Changes

The Long-Term Effects

The Bigger Picture of Love and Neuroscience

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Loveis that famous four-letter word that has inspired countless songs and sonnets. But what is it about this powerful emotion that makes our hearts thump, minds race, and palms sweat?

“Love is a powerful feeling, and it is often a little different depending on what a person is giving to or receiving from the person who they love,” saysHeidi Moawad, MD, an associate editor ofNeurologyand Clinical Assistant Professor at Case Western Reserve University.

“For example, maternal love is often protective. And romantic love will eventually also become protective as people grow closer to each other and learn each other’s vulnerabilities, but it doesn’t usually start out that way.”

Falling in love can be a thrilling, emotional experience, but what exactly is happening in your brain when youfall in love? It can feel like your brain has switched to vacation mode without telling the rest of you. Suddenly, logic and rationality seem to fly out the window, and you’re left with a head full of romantic notions straight out of a Disney movie or 90’s rom-com.

Those feelings are all part of the neuroscience of love. The chemicals that flood your brain can make you feel like you’re on top of the world.

At a GlanceBeing in love often feels like a natural high, and there’s a reason why. Love really is chemical. It’s the complex changes in our brains that explain why we feel this heady combination of longing, desire, and elation. While it might feel like a mysterious or even mystical experience, scientists have made important discoveries about what happens on a neurological level when you fall head over heels for another person.

At a Glance

Being in love often feels like a natural high, and there’s a reason why. Love really is chemical. It’s the complex changes in our brains that explain why we feel this heady combination of longing, desire, and elation. While it might feel like a mysterious or even mystical experience, scientists have made important discoveries about what happens on a neurological level when you fall head over heels for another person.

No matter what the poets say, love doesn’t actually come from the heart. Of course, writing verses about what’s happening in the depths of the ventral tegmental area sounds a bit less lyrical.

Thanks to advances in imaging technology, scientists now have a much clearer picture of what happens in the brain when people experience love.

Perhaps not surprisingly, there are actually manydifferent theories about what constitutes love, butone popular modelsuggests that it involves lust,attraction, andattachment. According to researchers, each element involves a different system in the brain.

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Brain Regions Involved in Lust and Passion

Feelings of lust stem from the brain’s hypothalamus. This small, almond-sized structure, positioned just above the brainstem, is connected to basic needs and desires like thirst and hunger. It also controls automatic internal processes such as body temperature, blood pressure, and sleep cycle.

And it’s one part of your brain that helps regulate your sex drive. It triggers the release of hormones that increase sexual desire.

When the hypothalamus region of the brain lights up, it’s normal to feel that intense passion that is characteristic of the first few months of a new romance.

Brain Regions Involved in Attraction and Romance

When it comes toattractionand romance, two specific areas of the brain play a key role: the ventral tegmental area and the nucleus accumbens.Both areas of the brain play an essential part in the brain’s reward system. This system floods the body withdopamine, a neurotransmitter that produces feelings of euphoria and pleasure.

That’s why the early stages of love can feel so thrilling and, at times,even addictive. It’s normal to feel like you can’t stop thinking about the other person and want to be with them all the time.

Parts of the Brain

Brain Regions Involved in Attachment

That’s because this area of the brain secretes chemicals that play a role infostering trustand emotional bonds.

Other Brain Regions Involved in Love

Other areas of the brain are also involved in our experience of love—makes sense so much of the brain is, it’s such a big feeling! Theamygdala, for example, helps to process the emotions that we experience.This is important because it creates the powerful associations we develop during the earliest stages of romantic relationships.

If it seems like rational thought seems to fly out the window whenever you fall in love, you can blame it on decreased activity in your prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is the region of your brain associated with logic anddecision-making.

When you fall for someone, this region of the brain tends to slow down.This might explain why we sometimes ignorered flagsand make poor judgments, particularly during those love-struck early days of a romance.

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The early stages of love often feel like a whirlwind of emotion. We see everything through rose-colored glasses (which is why we don’t see the red flags) and the euphoric feeling overrides everything else—but there’s an important reason why.

When you fall in love, the emotion triggers the release of chemicals such asoxytocin, vasopressin, anddopamine. Certain chemicals are associated with different stages of falling in love.

Testosterone and Estrogen Fuel Lust

We often wonder at the start of a relationship: Is it love, or just lust? This takes a little extra time to figure out, but lust is still present when you’re truly in love.

Lust involves a desire for sexual pleasure and gratification. There is an evolutionary basis for our need to reproduce, which is why, like our other basic needs, the hypothalamus is heavily involved in this aspect of falling in love.

The hypothalamus stimulates the testes and ovaries to release the sex hormones testosterone and estrogen. Both play a role in fueling feelings of passion and lust.

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Dopamine, Norepinephrine, and Serotonin Reward Love

Attraction is connected to the brain’s reward system, which involves the brain chemicals dopamine, norepinephrine, andserotonin. Dopamine is the “feel-good” hormone because it makes us experience feelings of pleasure.Norepinephrineis also released, which causes us to feel euphoric, and contributes to the ways we can feel giddy and excited during the early stages of love. However, this neurochemical can also fuel feelings of anxiety.

While the brain is experiencing an influx of these so-called “love chemicals,” there is also a drop in an important neurotransmitter called serotonin. You’re probably familiar with serotonin’s role in mood—but it is also connected to intrusive and anxious thoughts.

Low levels of serotonin chemical have been linked to increased anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

If you’ve ever found yourself obsessing over every small thing your new romantic partner has said or did, you can blame it on this drop in serotonin.

Oxytocin and Vasopressin Promote Bonding

“Romantic love is also often dependent on prosocial mental processes—which involves whether a person thinks that having a romantic relationship with a specific person will be accepted or admired within their social circle,” Moawad says.

As relationships progress, these prosocial processes become increasingly important in our experience of love.

When the feelings are reciprocated, and people feel that they are loved, hormones like dopamine and oxytocin provide positive feedback, which can make a person feel a sense of excitement, happiness, and contentment.—HEIDI MOAWAD, MD

When the feelings are reciprocated, and people feel that they are loved, hormones like dopamine and oxytocin provide positive feedback, which can make a person feel a sense of excitement, happiness, and contentment.

—HEIDI MOAWAD, MD

Some research suggests that it is the interaction between vasopressin and oxytocin that helps maintain romantic love, which is why it is so important for long-term relationships.

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Emotional and Behavioral Changes: The Impact of Love

Falling in love can feel like a roller coaster of emotion as you careen through thrilling highs and unexpected twists and turns. Not everyone experiences the same emotional or behavioral changes when they catch feelings for someone, but common experiences include:

While we often think of love in positive terms, it isn’t always sunshine and roses. Love can sometimes have a darker side, including feelings of hurt,jealousy, irrationality, and other challenging emotions.

The dopamine rush that makes us feel madly in love with someone can also leave us feeling despondent when we are apart.

As the saying goes, we are all fools in love, which we can partly blame on the decreased activity in areas of the brain connected to rational thought andself-awareness.

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Love’s Lasting Legacy: Long-term Effects on the Brain and Relationships

The neurological changes in the brain when we fall in love aren’t just a temporary effect. Experiencing love, particularly romantic love, can have powerful long-term effects on the brain.

Every relationship is different, and your own experience with love may vary depending on the nature and quality of your relationship. However,healthy, long-term relationshipshave been shown to have a wide range of positive health effects.

Love can change your brain and, in many cases, profoundly affect your well-being for years to come.

It might not sound particularly romantic, but it’s your neurotransmitters, hormones, and hypothalamus (along with other regions of your brain) that lie at the heart of every love story.

Dopamine–that “feel good” hormone that causes feelings of euphoria and pleasure–is undeniably the star of the show, but love isn’t a one-act play. Other chemicals play a part, too, including oxytocin, serotonin, estrogen, and testosterone.

It’s also important to recognize that while love can come in different forms, research also shows that these forms of love may share underlying neurobiological mechanisms. For example, one study found that maternal and passionate love both increase activity in the ventral tegmental area.

When we fall for someone, key brain regions light up like a busy city skyline at night. The ventral tegmental area floods the brain with dopamine. The brain’s reward system kicks into overdrive, processing these rewarding sensations and linking the rush of passion with other complex emotions like attachment and empathy. It’s why you might feel addicted to that special person you can’t stop thinking about.

The brain in love is passionate, euphoric, and sometimes a little irrational. Love isn’t static, however. It can shift and change over time, from the high thrills of a passion to the devastating lows of jealousy and longing.

While love doesn’t actually come from the heart, you can take solace in knowing that your love story is written in the chemistry and function of something far more complex–your brain.

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11 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Seshadri KG.The neuroendocrinology of love.Indian J Endocrinol Metab. 2016;20(4):558-563. doi:10.4103/2230-8210.183479Mercado E, Hibel LC.I love you from the bottom of my hypothalamus: The role of stress physiology in romantic pair bond formation and maintenance.Soc Personal Psychol Compass. 2017;11(2):e12298. doi:10.1111/spc3.12298Šimić G, Tkalčić M, Vukić V, et al.Understanding emotions: Origins and roles of the amygdala.Biomolecules. 2021;11(6):823. doi:10.3390/biom11060823Shih HC, Kuo ME, Wu CW, Chao YP, Huang HW, Huang CM.The neurobiological basis of love: A meta-analysis of human functional neuroimaging studies of maternal and passionate love.Brain Sci. 2022;12(7):830. doi:10.3390/brainsci12070830Lin SH, Lee LT, Yang YK.Serotonin and mental disorders: a concise review on molecular neuroimaging evidence.Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci. 2014;12(3):196-202. doi:10.9758/cpn.2014.12.3.196Ortigue S, Bianchi-Demicheli F, Patel N, Frum C, Lewis JW.Neuroimaging of love: fMRI meta-analysis evidence toward new perspectives in sexual medicine.J Sex Med. 2010;7(11):3541-3552. doi:10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.01999.xCarter CS.The oxytocin-vasopressin pathway in the context of love and fear.Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2017;8:356. doi:10.3389/fendo.2017.00356Acevedo BP, Poulin MJ, Collins NL, Brown LL.After the honeymoon: Neural and genetic correlates of romantic love in newlywed marriages.Front Psychol. 2020;11:634. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00634Wlodarski R, Dunbar RI.The effects of romantic love on mentalizing abilities.Rev Gen Psychol. 2014;18(4):313-321. doi:10.1037/gpr0000020Pietromonaco PR, Overall NC, Powers SI.Depressive symptoms, external stress, and marital adjustment: The buffering effect of partner’s responsive behavior.Soc Psychol Personal Sci. 2022;13(1):220-232. doi:10.1177/19485506211001687American Psychological Association.How close relationships help us thrive.

11 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Seshadri KG.The neuroendocrinology of love.Indian J Endocrinol Metab. 2016;20(4):558-563. doi:10.4103/2230-8210.183479Mercado E, Hibel LC.I love you from the bottom of my hypothalamus: The role of stress physiology in romantic pair bond formation and maintenance.Soc Personal Psychol Compass. 2017;11(2):e12298. doi:10.1111/spc3.12298Šimić G, Tkalčić M, Vukić V, et al.Understanding emotions: Origins and roles of the amygdala.Biomolecules. 2021;11(6):823. doi:10.3390/biom11060823Shih HC, Kuo ME, Wu CW, Chao YP, Huang HW, Huang CM.The neurobiological basis of love: A meta-analysis of human functional neuroimaging studies of maternal and passionate love.Brain Sci. 2022;12(7):830. doi:10.3390/brainsci12070830Lin SH, Lee LT, Yang YK.Serotonin and mental disorders: a concise review on molecular neuroimaging evidence.Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci. 2014;12(3):196-202. doi:10.9758/cpn.2014.12.3.196Ortigue S, Bianchi-Demicheli F, Patel N, Frum C, Lewis JW.Neuroimaging of love: fMRI meta-analysis evidence toward new perspectives in sexual medicine.J Sex Med. 2010;7(11):3541-3552. doi:10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.01999.xCarter CS.The oxytocin-vasopressin pathway in the context of love and fear.Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2017;8:356. doi:10.3389/fendo.2017.00356Acevedo BP, Poulin MJ, Collins NL, Brown LL.After the honeymoon: Neural and genetic correlates of romantic love in newlywed marriages.Front Psychol. 2020;11:634. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00634Wlodarski R, Dunbar RI.The effects of romantic love on mentalizing abilities.Rev Gen Psychol. 2014;18(4):313-321. doi:10.1037/gpr0000020Pietromonaco PR, Overall NC, Powers SI.Depressive symptoms, external stress, and marital adjustment: The buffering effect of partner’s responsive behavior.Soc Psychol Personal Sci. 2022;13(1):220-232. doi:10.1177/19485506211001687American Psychological Association.How close relationships help us thrive.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Seshadri KG.The neuroendocrinology of love.Indian J Endocrinol Metab. 2016;20(4):558-563. doi:10.4103/2230-8210.183479Mercado E, Hibel LC.I love you from the bottom of my hypothalamus: The role of stress physiology in romantic pair bond formation and maintenance.Soc Personal Psychol Compass. 2017;11(2):e12298. doi:10.1111/spc3.12298Šimić G, Tkalčić M, Vukić V, et al.Understanding emotions: Origins and roles of the amygdala.Biomolecules. 2021;11(6):823. doi:10.3390/biom11060823Shih HC, Kuo ME, Wu CW, Chao YP, Huang HW, Huang CM.The neurobiological basis of love: A meta-analysis of human functional neuroimaging studies of maternal and passionate love.Brain Sci. 2022;12(7):830. doi:10.3390/brainsci12070830Lin SH, Lee LT, Yang YK.Serotonin and mental disorders: a concise review on molecular neuroimaging evidence.Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci. 2014;12(3):196-202. doi:10.9758/cpn.2014.12.3.196Ortigue S, Bianchi-Demicheli F, Patel N, Frum C, Lewis JW.Neuroimaging of love: fMRI meta-analysis evidence toward new perspectives in sexual medicine.J Sex Med. 2010;7(11):3541-3552. doi:10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.01999.xCarter CS.The oxytocin-vasopressin pathway in the context of love and fear.Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2017;8:356. doi:10.3389/fendo.2017.00356Acevedo BP, Poulin MJ, Collins NL, Brown LL.After the honeymoon: Neural and genetic correlates of romantic love in newlywed marriages.Front Psychol. 2020;11:634. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00634Wlodarski R, Dunbar RI.The effects of romantic love on mentalizing abilities.Rev Gen Psychol. 2014;18(4):313-321. doi:10.1037/gpr0000020Pietromonaco PR, Overall NC, Powers SI.Depressive symptoms, external stress, and marital adjustment: The buffering effect of partner’s responsive behavior.Soc Psychol Personal Sci. 2022;13(1):220-232. doi:10.1177/19485506211001687American Psychological Association.How close relationships help us thrive.

Seshadri KG.The neuroendocrinology of love.Indian J Endocrinol Metab. 2016;20(4):558-563. doi:10.4103/2230-8210.183479

Mercado E, Hibel LC.I love you from the bottom of my hypothalamus: The role of stress physiology in romantic pair bond formation and maintenance.Soc Personal Psychol Compass. 2017;11(2):e12298. doi:10.1111/spc3.12298

Šimić G, Tkalčić M, Vukić V, et al.Understanding emotions: Origins and roles of the amygdala.Biomolecules. 2021;11(6):823. doi:10.3390/biom11060823

Shih HC, Kuo ME, Wu CW, Chao YP, Huang HW, Huang CM.The neurobiological basis of love: A meta-analysis of human functional neuroimaging studies of maternal and passionate love.Brain Sci. 2022;12(7):830. doi:10.3390/brainsci12070830

Lin SH, Lee LT, Yang YK.Serotonin and mental disorders: a concise review on molecular neuroimaging evidence.Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci. 2014;12(3):196-202. doi:10.9758/cpn.2014.12.3.196

Ortigue S, Bianchi-Demicheli F, Patel N, Frum C, Lewis JW.Neuroimaging of love: fMRI meta-analysis evidence toward new perspectives in sexual medicine.J Sex Med. 2010;7(11):3541-3552. doi:10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.01999.x

Carter CS.The oxytocin-vasopressin pathway in the context of love and fear.Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2017;8:356. doi:10.3389/fendo.2017.00356

Acevedo BP, Poulin MJ, Collins NL, Brown LL.After the honeymoon: Neural and genetic correlates of romantic love in newlywed marriages.Front Psychol. 2020;11:634. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00634

Wlodarski R, Dunbar RI.The effects of romantic love on mentalizing abilities.Rev Gen Psychol. 2014;18(4):313-321. doi:10.1037/gpr0000020

Pietromonaco PR, Overall NC, Powers SI.Depressive symptoms, external stress, and marital adjustment: The buffering effect of partner’s responsive behavior.Soc Psychol Personal Sci. 2022;13(1):220-232. doi:10.1177/19485506211001687

American Psychological Association.How close relationships help us thrive.

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