¿Qué es el amor?

¿Qué es el amor? ¿Cómo definir algo tan complejo, contradictorio, fascinante y que al mismo
tiempo nos hace sentir tan vivos? No puede observarse bajo un microscopio, hay quien lo
define en términos químicos y quiénes hacen poesía de él.

Si ya has estado o estás enamorado, sabes de sobra lo que se siente aunque no lo puedas
expresar en una definición. Así, si hay algo que la mayoría sabemos es que no siempre somos
libres de enamorarnos de quien de verdad desearíamos. Por decirlo de otro modo:
el amor nos elige.

Según la ciencia, cuando estamos enamorados se activan regiones cerebrales relacionadas con
la recompensa y la motivación, como el hipocampo, el hipotálamo y el córtex del cíngulo
anterior. Adicional a esto, la oxitocina y la vasopresina, producidas bajo el efecto del
enamoramiento, estimulan la liberación de dopamina y nos generan sensaciones placenteras
asociadas a la persona amada, su presencia y sus recuerdos.
Desde el punto de vista puramente psicológico, el amor es una experiencia afectiva
conformada por un conjunto de variables muy concretas: necesidad de vincularnos a alguien,
necesidades de intimidad, pasión, sexualidad, etc.

Para concluir el amor sería una combinación de todos estos aspectos tanto científicos, como
psicológicos dando como resultado uno de los sentimientos mas bonitos y en ocasiones
desastrosos que nos toparemos en la vida.
 What is love?

What is love? How to define something so complex, contradictory, fascinating

and that at the same time makes us feel so alive? It cannot be observed
under a microscope, there are those who define it in chemical terms and who
make poetry out of it.

If you have already been or are in love, you know very well what it feels like
even if you cannot express it in a definition. Thus, if there is something that
most of us know, it is that we are not always free to fall in love with who we
really want. To put it another way: love chooses us.

According to science, when we are in love, brain regions related to reward

and motivation, such as the hippocampus, hypothalamus, and anterior
cingulate cortex, are activated. In addition to this, oxytocin and vasopressin,
produced under the effect of falling in love, stimulate the release of
dopamine and generate pleasant sensations associated with the loved one,
their presence and their memories.
From a purely psychological point of view, love is an affective experience
made up of a set of very specific variables: the need to bond with someone,
the need for intimacy, passion, sexuality, etc.

To conclude, love would be a combination of all these scientific and

psychological aspects, resulting in one of the most beautiful and sometimes
disastrous feelings we will encounter in life.
 Speaking

What is love? How to define something so complex, contradictory,

fascinating and that at the same time makes us feel so alive? It
cannot be observed under a microscope, there are those who
define it in chemical terms and who make poetry out of it.

If you have already been or are in love, you know very well what it
feels like even if you cannot express it in a definition. Thus, if there
is something that most of us know, it is that we are not always free
to fall in love with who we really want. To put it another way: love
chooses us.

According to science, when we are in love, brain regions related to

reward and motivation, such as the hippocampus, hypothalamus,
and anterior cingulate cortex, are activated. In addition to this,
oxytocin and vasopressin, produced under the effect of falling in
love, stimulate the release of dopamine and generate pleasant
sensations associated with the loved one, their presence and their
memories.
From a purely psychological point of view, love is an affective
experience made up of a set of very specific variables: the need to
bond with someone, the need for intimacy, passion, sexuality, etc.

To conclude, love would be a combination of all these scientific and

psychological aspects, resulting in one of the most beautiful and
sometimes disastrous feelings we will encounter in life.