Even though the two can often times be synonymous, studies have shown that intense feelings of love can in fact counter the effects of pain, indicating a modulatory relationship. "It turns out that the areas of the brain activated by intense love are the same areas that drugs use to reduce pain," said Arthur Aron, PhD, one of the study’s authors. The neurotransmitter responsible for this analgesic effect is dopamine, known to influence our moods, and to play a prominent role in human “reward” processes. These processes involve activation of the reward areas of the brain during a multitude of experiences, from answering a question correctly in class, to winning the lottery, to taking drugs such as cocaine.
The study focused on undergraduates who were in the first nine months of a relationship, when love can still be considered “very passionate”. After that, habituation comes into effect, and the love one feels is more mature and less intense (not to discredit marriages, but it takes effort to keep the fire burning!). Since distraction has also been known to provide relief from pain, the experimenters used controls to ensure that these feelings of love provided more than mere distraction. While each may equally dissipate the effects of pain, love and distraction were viewed to stimulate very different areas of the brain: Distraction excites higher cortical areas of the brain, while love stimulates the deeper “reward” centers of the brain. The stimulation of these primitive underlying areas suggests pain relief at the spinal level. These regions are associated with our perception of reward and prove crucial for learning processes, as feelings of positive emotion help to reinforce desirable reactions, and also guide us in learning from previous mistakes. If a certain action is associated with the positive effects of dopamine, chances are we will continue performing that action to attain that feeling. This explains why this area is involved in situations of drug abuse; it’s hard to kick a habit when it evokes such a positive “high”.
This opens doors of limitless opportunity for those with chronic pain, because further research may lead to a day when a reliance on drugs is no longer necessary, potentially avoiding any problems associated with negative side effects of these drugs. A fiery, passionate love affair isn’t quite the ultimate cure for chronic pain just yet, but this knowledge holds a promising future for research into alternative methods for pain relief. Who knew, love is a drug: the high is great, withdrawal sucks, and it's no surprise that addicts already exist.
For more information, follow this link:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101013173843.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment