Spring Fever

I'm discovering there is a lot of science behind things I took for granted were...well, they just were.

In my post at Romance Worth Killing For on Valentine's Day, I outlined a few interesting tidbits of information on the chemistry of love.

I just finished a class on creating sexual tension and discovered, yet again, that the sex drive, attraction and love are all evolution and chemistry based.

Now, I try to look up a bit of info on spring fever and what do I find? More science!

Here's what the experts say:

• That surge of optimism? Merely the serotonergic response to increased daylight.
  
• The distraction and dreaminess? The neurotransmitter dopamine is responding to light and warmth.


• The "gathered fragrance" of romance in the air? The sensitivity of the olfactory system has been proven to directly relate to pheromones, the essential chemical ingredient of sexual attraction.

This information echoed the article in National Geographics on love chemistry: novelty increases the dopamine and norepinephrine levels in the brain. Dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonine are chemicals that give us that high we experience with new love. Key word there: New. Novelty.

Which got me to wondering...is that why some people have affairs? Why they can get addicted to affairs and have serial affairs or continue an affair even when their logical mind tells them it's not ethical or practical?

It's been proven that people with OCD and people newly in love have similar brain chemical make-ups. Are affairs a combination of novelty and obsession? Of high dopamine and low seratonin? And if so, could someone prone to affairs be phamaceutically treated for such a bent?

I could go off on all kinds of tangents here. Interesting concept, don't you think?