What happens in the brain during a crush?
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There’s a lot at play really, and we’re still ferreting out most of the neurochemistry.
Essentially what we understand though, is Dopamine (Happy/Reward), Oxytocin(Love), and Serotonin(Happy/Focused).
Serotonin makes you feel good while you’re doing something, being in the zone. It keeps you calm, happy and focused.
Oxytocin is the derpy happy love you feel when you see a cute puppy. It also gets released in a huge quantities when you have sex (or sexy thoughts), which is why before people get older and a bit jaded, sexual attraction = love.
Dopamine is the chemical that you get when you do something and it feels satisfying. It encourages long term objectives and social cohesion. Interestingly, the same system that regulates pleasure regulates pain. It tries to keep a balance, so if you get too much pain, it releases pleasure, and if you get too much pleasure, it releases pain. Rejection triggers this pain system especially hard, which is why emotional pain hurts the way it does. As a super weird side effect to this duality, you can reduce heartbreak with ibuprofen.
When you have a crush (or fall in love, same difference as far as chemicals go), your brain gets flooded with all 3 (with a smattering of other things). This gives you single-minded focus, alternating pain and pleasure, and derpy happy lovey feelings clouding out your normal thinking. Given all that, its pretty understandable why it makes you crazy, and why it’s wonderful and terrible all at once
Edit: Something about norepinephrine which I’ve forgotten completely, which causes fight or flight nerves, and removed the myth about turkey causing drowsiness.
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