There is a belief that such a high feeling as love has an expiration date, and it depends not so much on the intensity and depth of emotions, but is regulated at the physiological level. We decided to check whether hormones really play such a significant role that without them, feelings die during this period.

The title of Frederick Beigbeder's novel “Love Lives for Three Years,” published in 1997, is well known to many. The author writes that people’s love feelings for each other depend on the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is responsible, in particular, for the reward system. The weaker its effect, the faster the romantic feeling disappears. The same justification for the fragility of romantic feelings can be found not only in fiction, but also in media materials, for example Theory and Practice or Psychologies, as well as in numerous regional publications. Usually this is the duration tie up with the period necessary in primitive times for procreation: “The beginning of a relationship, the conception of a child, pregnancy and childbirth in a woman, then recovery after childbirth and support of the child in the early stages of development fit into approximately three years.”

Also supporters of the “expiration date” of feelings refer on the American professor of anthropology Dr. Helena Fisher - allegedly her research showed that the active production of dopamine can last no more than 30 months.

Hormones and neurotransmitters indeed play an important role in regulating the emotional sphere of a person. When a person falls in love, begins active production of dopamine, norepinephrine, phenylethylamine and serotonin - hormones responsible for the feeling of pleasure from communicating with a partner, vasopressin and oxytocin, which form affection, and, of course, androgens and estrogens associated with libido. In addition to the hormonal surges that occur, the activity of the brain changes - certain areas of its cortex are excited. Interestingly, when looking at a photograph of their passion, volunteers of one experiment demonstrated MRI of the brain shows excitation of the same areas that are activated when taking cocaine, morphine or cannabinoids. Of course, both chemical and physiological changes do not last a lifetime, but their duration is not limited to three years.

American researchers dialed a group of volunteers, some of whom have been in relationships for more than ten years, and some of whom have only recently found their soul mates. By showing the experiment participants photographs of both their partners and random people, the scientists compared the activity of different areas of the brain on MRI. Both groups showed a similar response to seeing pictures of their loved ones, namely an increase in signals in the area of the cerebral cortex associated with reward and pleasure. The only difference between the “old-timers” and the “newcomers” was that, in addition, the “newcomers” reacted more actively in the zone of sexual desire.

Data on different areas of the brain responsible for sexual passion and love affection, confirmed and an international experiment conducted by scientists from Canada, the USA and Switzerland. Volunteers were analyzed for the excitation of different brain structures in response to being shown photographs of loved ones or images of erotic content. Favorite faces activated one zone (by the way, the same as drugs) - rewards and pleasures, and exciting pictures - one that can also be stimulated by tasty food or sex.

Another experiment showedthat even in couples who have been married for more than 20 years, when looking at their favorite faces, the same areas of the brain are activated as in those who have only recently begun to build a relationship. By the way, it is these zones, when activated, that give the signal for the production of the main love hormone - dopamine. However, in addition to looking at the beloved, the production of dopamine stimulate and the relationships themselves, primarily sex. It is important to note that US anthropologist Helen Fisher in her works researched only periods of maximum active production of dopamine, creating the euphoria of falling in love. Her findings cannot be interpreted in favor of perishable feelings, since she notes that the constant novelty and diversity in a couple’s relationships allows them to maintain romantic feelings for a much longer time. In particular, in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Helen Fisher herself confirmedthat “a deep feeling of affection between people can last a lifetime.”

After three years, the production of another important substance, oxytocin, or the bonding hormone, does not stop. Regular sex, especially with orgasm, allows the body maintains the level of oxytocin for a long time, therefore, attachment to the partner does not disappear anywhere.

Пара, Любовь, Брак, Пожилой, Единение, Монохромный

Thus, there is no scientific evidence to suggest that love has an expiration date on a physical level. Couples who have been married for decades demonstrate exactly the same physiological manifestations of love as those who have just met their soulmate.