Falling in love gives you butterflies in your stomach, but why?

Usually, when we fall in love, when there is someone special around us that we want to hug and kiss, a strange feeling of happiness occupies us as if butterflies are flapping wings in our stomachs. While butterflies are a widespread even lovely feeling, they indicate that a complex connection from deep inside the brain has been awakened, appearing around the body, which includes the gut.

This is the joy and misery of the early days of dating. Your heartbeat is quickened, your emotions are apprehensive but, ideally, still enthusiastic, your ears are humming, your throat is dry, and you’re trying to catch the air. The background noise of the world drifts away, becoming hazy around the border as your crush remains the center of your concentration. The secret is to control these aggressive butterflies and let them beneficial to you since this bodily reaction is meant to provide you an injection of energy while you’re supposed to be at your clearest.

• Why? ;

Whether the brain senses danger for safety or apprehensive enthusiasm on a first date, butterflies suggest “emotional arousal,” either favorable or adverse, and can cause a stress reaction. When you and the new couple are still essentially strangers, going on dates and learning to know one another is a critical process. It denotes that another person is weighing and measuring you in order to determine whether they think you are suitable. People are concerned about the risk of being dismissed, about feeling discovered failing. The most self-assured person might find this both aware and unintentional process uncomfortable. The hormonal reaction is therefore triggered by putting oneself out there and assessing a new possible companion. This is where the butterflies occur.

Evelyn Mercado is a post-doctoral fellow in psychology at UCLA and co-author of a study held in 2016 in the journal Social and Personality Psychology Compass.

In her interview for Toronto Star she says that;

“When we think about stress, we think about the bad things. But what our physiology reacts to is challenges in the environment that requires us to adapt. It could be a positive challenge, like meeting a person you’re interested in romantically, which requires both physical and mental resources.”

The heart beats more quickly, pumping blood through your body more quickly. Adrenaline also drives your liver to produce a lot of glucose and diverts circulation toward your stomach, both of which perform a survival function and heighten your awareness. And when you experience symptoms like a racing heart, butterflies in your stomach, or other similar feelings, you are actually experiencing them. “I have butterflies in my stomach” merely signifies a complicated underlying biological response to an imagined or genuine threat. One could feel high as a result of the adrenaline reaction, which also gives one superpowers like increased energy and awareness.

Whether you are feeling relaxed or anxious, falling in love is one of the strangest but most beautiful things a person can experience. What do you think? Is getting butterflies in your stomach making you feel happy or anxious? Is it good or bad? Let me know!

I was the guest on kAndy podcast this week and we talked about love. Don’t forget to check it out!