December 1, 2012
MODERN LOVE
Author: Darlene Turner
Love@FromDateToMate.com
July 9, 2012
ADDICTED TO LOVE
Robert Palmer sang “you know you’re gonna have to face it, you’re addicted to love,” as it turns out according to a recently published study in the Journal of Sexual Medicine wherein 20 studies were examined to determine the effects of sex and love on the body, he was right. The insula and the striatum are areas in the brain responsible for tracking the way in which human sexual desire evolves into feelings of love. While lust triggers the parts of the brain responsible for the pleasurable feelings we experience through sex, love activates the parts of the brain that controls habitual behavior over time.”The change from desire to love is the bonding mechanism in relationships,”says lead author of the study Concordia Psychology Professor Jim Pfaus.He continued, “we assign different language to love and sexual desire and addiction, but really, they’re all being processed in a similar place. When we see this, the idea of love at first sight probably isn’t true. People are feeling desire.”
Our brains process love the same as it does habits over time. After lust may come love. Feelings of love transfer to the region of the brain that controls habits and reward patterns.This is the exact same pattern that occurs when people become addicted to drugs.
“Habits usually get a bad reputation, but it’s an important thing that the brain imposes. The change from desire to love is the bonding mechanism in relationships. So, really, drug addiction is an embellished expression of something perfectly normal,” said Pfaus. Bonding mechanisms influence monogamy, create connectedness, and activate us to defend our mate and offspring’s interests.The downside to this mechanism of lust potentially turning into love is that a good relationship requires more than desire and genetic compatibility, which means partners who are otherwise ill suited may wind up having their lust develop into love via habituation.
These findings explain in part why is often difficult to end a relationship that is unhealthy or that we’ve out grown. Given that the regions of the brain triggered when in love are the same as those responsible for addiction it makes sense that when relationships end some people experience physiological pain as withdrawal, their thinking becomes obsessively focused on their former mate, and they may loose interest in normal pleasures and even basic needs. Luckily for most people with time this diffuses and they are able to move on.
Author: Darlene Turner
http://www.fromdatetomate.com/trendy/index.html
Love@FromDateToMate.com
October 8, 2010
The REAL Lowdown on Alcohol and Your Libido…
Breeders Remorse…
When you drink the reward areas of the brain known as the nucleus accumbens and ventral striatum, responsible for mediating sexual attraction, become superstimulated by dopamine. This release of dopamine makes you feel really good. Unfortunately it also makes those who otherwise would never strike you as such, appear to look really good. The compromising of cognitive abilities in this specific region of the brain are responsible for why people end up intimately engaged with those they would not normally even look at, let alone touch when stone cold sober. A word to the wise, be cautious of the company you keep when drinking or you may well awake in the morning with breeders remorse.
Alcohols Effect on Testosterone…
Even moderate alcohol consumption spikes testosterone levels in women. This spike may cause some women to become more easily aroused, and act in a more sexually aggressive, promiscuous manner. Unfortunately there are unscrupulous men, who are only too happy to seize the opportunity to pounce on you like prey when in this compromised state of mind. Yet another reason women need to be aware of exercising caution when they drink. A reminder to men, it is never wise to have casual sex with an intoxicated woman. Even if she seems willing, you still run the risk of putting yourself in a dangerously ambiguous date rape situation.
For men heavy use of alcohol creates potential risks of another kind.When men imbibe too much alcohol it actually causes their testosterone levels to plummet, suppressing production of testosterone in the testes. So why then you might wonder, is it that men still feel arousal and remain desirous of sex when drunk? This is thanks to a surge in a secondary luteinizing hormone, released as a means to stimulate testosterone production when levels become low. As many a highly inebriated man has discovered, no matter how deep his desire it cannot fuel the physiological functioning required to achieve and maintain an erection when chemically cock blocked by alcohol.The repercussions of impotence can have a devastating effect on a mans ego, and in some instances his sexual partners as well. Fortunately for most this is a temporary impairment, and not reflective of a mans erectile abilities when sober.
However, chronic heavy drinking can cause some very unattractive consequences to the sexual appeal of a man, beyond frequent impotence. Chronic heavy drinking can make a mans testicles actually shrivel up. It can also cause his hips to widen, pronounced breasts to develop, and make his chin grow smooth and plump up. These feminizing effects are the consequences of low testosterone levels, caused by prolonged heavy use of alcohol. Sadly for some men this aesthetic damage is permanent.
Darlene Turner
Relationship & Communication Expert
(c) 2010
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