how long does it take to fall in love?

Saturday, 25th May, 2013 |

» Posted in Love at 9:46 am

have you ever timed how long it takes to fall in love? I figured it was pretty quick but apparently a new study has discovered that it only takes 5 seconds. The heart doesn’t waste time & of course then it can take years to get out of love. Maybe it’s gotta happen quickly so that you don’t think of escaping & once you’ve fallen there is no escaping for a very long time.

“You can’t blame gravity for falling in love.” Albert Einstein

Science Daily posted an article called Falling in Love Only Takes About a Fifth of a Second, Research Reveals which reveals this new study:

A new meta-analysis study conducted by Syracuse University Professor Stephanie Ortigue reveals falling in love can elicit not only the same euphoric feeling as using cocaine, but also affects intellectual areas of the brain. Researchers also found falling in love only takes about a fifth of a second. Results from Ortigue’s team revealed when a person falls in love, 12 areas of the brain work in tandem to release euphoria-inducing chemicals such as dopamine, oxytocin, adrenaline and vasopression. The love feeling also affects sophisticated cognitive functions, such as mental representation, metaphors and body image. The findings raise the question: “Does the heart fall in love, or the brain?”
“That’s a tricky question always,” says Ortigue. “I would say the brain, but the heart is also related because the complex concept of love is formed by both bottom-up and top-down processes from the brain to the heart and vice versa. For instance, activation in some parts of the brain can generate stimulations to the heart, butterflies in the stomach. Some symptoms we sometimes feel as a manifestation of the heart may sometimes be coming from the brain.”
Other researchers also found blood levels of nerve growth factor, or NGF, also increased. Those levels were significantly higher in couples who had just fallen in love. This molecule involved plays an important role in the social chemistry of humans, or the phenomenon ‘love at first sight.’ “These results confirm love has a scientific basis,” says Ortigue.
The study also shows different parts of the brain fall for love. For example, unconditional love, such as that between a mother and a child, is sparked by the common and different brain areas, including the middle of the brain. Passionate love is sparked by the reward part of the brain, and also associative cognitive brain areas that have higher-order cognitive functions, such as body image.

“Falling in love consists merely in uncorking the imagination and bottling the common-sense.” Helen Rowland

However another study has found that men take 8.2 seconds to fall in love. Marie Claire mentions this in their article Men Need 8.2 seconds to Fall in Love and notes:

The longer a man’s gaze rests on a woman when they meet for the first time, the more interested he is. If it lasts just four seconds, he may not be all that impressed. But if it breaks the 8.2 second barrier, he could already be in love.
However the same is not true for women. They let their eyes linger on men for the same length of time whether they find them attractive or not, the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior reported.
The researchers believe that men use eye contact to seek out fit and fertile mates. But women are more wary of attracting unwanted attention because of the risks of unwanted pregnancy and single parenthood.

“This is what happens when you fall in love. You’re looking at a natural disaster.” Janet Fitch

So scientists continue to investigate Love & Love continues to take its toll on humans. But it does add magic to Life and you never know when you’re going to be fall, no matter how careful you are. All the control in the world goes to hell when it’s your time, as we all know. Like a drug however, it does change the color of your Life and if you can aim for unconditional love then it makes the world a better place. Good luck with it…

And now for a video with two things I love: my fave comedian Eddie Izzard on my fave city San Francisco. Really hilarious as usual, enjoy…