The Chemical Cocktail of Love

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 Professor Cindy Hazan of Cornell University, New York, believes that falling “in love” involves the release of three chemicals in the brain: dopamine, phenylethylamine, and oxytocin. Even if the concentration of these chemicals were to remain at their peak for the rest of one's life, the body would develop a tolerance to it, and so the effect would diminish. In reality, research indicates that levels decline over 18 to 30 months and rarely return in a relationship.

“By that time,” she says, “couples have either parted or decided they are easy enough with each other to stay together. Love becomes a habit . . .”

Professor Hazan’s conclusions are based on 5000 interviews across 37 cultures and medical tests on couples.


 Source: The Australian, 27 July 1999, page 1, based on an article by John Harlow (London, The Sunday Times).

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