Who never confused desire and love and was confused if they were liking the person or just wanted sex with them? This is a very common situation and defining feelings is really difficult. Even more so at times where other emotions are present to encourage you to enter a relationship. This dilemma, which has already been explored by artists and philosophers, now gains its space in science as well.
Some studies try to make this dilemma clearer for those who live in doubt in these cases. According to studies by American psychologist Judith Orloff, desire focuses more on the person's appearance, you feel like having sex with them, but you don't feel like talking or staying up late spending time together. The feeling is more fanciful and does not go into the details of reality. In the case of love, the main stimulus is not linked to sex. You feel like you want to spend more time with the person and you want to talk and get to know them better, understand their feelings and make them happy. It is something that involves much more emotion than just the sexual desire for the person.
Other fields of study, which look at how the brain works, indicate that desire and love activate different areas of a person's brain, but there is a place that is activated in both cases. According to a study by Concordia University in Canada, a part of the brain called the “striatum” is activated in a certain place in both cases. What scientists look at from this is how desire can lead to love and vice versa.
To get an idea of ​​how the brain works in both cases, the part that is activated when you are having sexual desire for someone is the same area that is stimulated when you have some rewarding experience, for example, eating a yummy candy or having a orgasm. The part of the brain that is activated by love is the same part that is activated by drug addiction.
To understand the practical use of these discoveries of science, we can understand how desire and love can be used to benefit each other. And many are the love affairs that started as a sexual desire and then turned into something bigger. And, on the other hand, a love affair can and should arouse the sexual desire of both. And so, regardless of which part of the brain is stimulated, the relationship must be unique and pleasurable.
Written by Ricardo Sturk of the Eu Sem Fronteiras Team
