Lovely Facts About Love
All you need is love.
Love conquers all.
Love is enough.
All you need to do is listen to essentially any song ever sung. Or book ever written. Or speak to anyone who's ever spent time in a happy marriage. The message is the same: love is what it's all about.
But that doesn't mean it's easy. Humanity's smartest minds have spent entire lifetimes trying to understand this most basic of human needs. And yet it still confuses us. What's a person to do?
Well, Factinate is here to help. We might not be able to help you find The One... but we can give you all the knowledge we can, in the hopes that it'll help you out. That being said, here are 41 lovestruck facts about love.
1. Monogamy
Love just might be universal.
Though we’d like to think we’re unique from the rest of the animal kingdom, humans are far from the only animal to mate monogamously. Wolves, gibbons, albatrosses and even termites have been known to mate for life.
No word yet on the rate of animal adultery, though. Maybe these "marriages" aren't all happy.
And just imagine a divorce-court for wolves. Things would get ugly...
2. Timed
You already know the importance of first impressions. But did you know just how quickly we make a judgment about the people we meet? Researchers have shown that it takes just 4 minutes to decide whether or not you like someone.
It’s not just what you say either: your body language, tone, and the speed of your voice are all factors in another person's opinion of you.
When it comes to making a decision about someone else's character, our brains take in an astonishing amount of information very quickly.
We're like super-computers built specifically for going on first dates.
3. Synchronized
For whatever reason, eye contact is a massive factor in human intimacy.
Maybe it isn't a huge mystery: researchers have shown that 80% of the information our brains process in a given moment is visual.
So when it comes to love, remember to lock eyes. When two lovers stare into each other’s eyes, their heartbeats will synchronize after about 3 minutes.
Meanwhile, other studies have shown that couples spend about 75% of a conversation making eye contact... as opposed to around 40% for an average non-romantic pair.
Just remember to blink. Nobody likes to go on dates with a shark.
4. Addicted
You're love, you're love, is my drug
- Ke$ha
If the music career doesn't work out for Ke$ha, she could easily be a scientific researcher on human intimacy.
After all, she's figured out one scientific truth: the human brain reacts to romantic love almost exactly the way it reacts to certain illicit substances.
It's all about neurochemicals and neuropathways— the machinery in your brain that determines how you respond to the world around you. When a person takes a stimulant drug (like coke) their brain is triggered to release dopamine...
one of the most powerful feel-good chemicals in the brain. What else causes that same reaction? Falling in love. And unlike coke, which damages the dopamine-receptors (causing addiction and other harm) love is essentially harmless.
So there you have it: if you want a real buzz, just try love. We don’t condone coke, but we certainly condone a little romance.
