Hi All I found this interesting article in my latest National Geographic magazine. It gives a nice Bio-Psycho-Social explanation for long-term attachments, the power of love, romance, passion, etc. Here are some highlights: People who are "in love" have similar brain chemistry to those with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Translation: Love and mental illness may be difficult to tell apart No wonder people get goofy in love. Why people have A and so on. It feels good but makes you act stupid. But, alas, passionate love tends to fade over time. Usually within 2 to 4 years. The passion is there for evolutionary reasons, procreation. Once the baby gets into toddler age, the passion starts to fade between the parents. The mother is no longer nursing, and both people are now free to meet another mate and have more children. Very anthropological of course. I find it interesting though that the whole idea of M for a life-time is really not built into the human makeup. That is a cultural/social creation. No wonder it is sooo difficult to sustain. But passion and romantic love has been found to be panhuman, embedded in our brains, not just a Western creation. We tend to embrace it is the West but it is seen as dangerous in cultures like India. Physiologically, couples tend to go from the dopamine-drenched state of romantic love and move into the relative quiet of an oxytocin-induced attachment. Oxytocin is what helps create that feeling of attachement and bonding. (Must have been in short supply in H for a while there) Couples need to find a way to stimulate or sustain oxytocin production in each other. You can do this by massage. making love, some close physical contact. I like this next line: "That's good advice, but it's based on the assumption that you still want to have sex with that boring windbag of a husband. Should you fake it til you make it?" Lol The answer is yes. Assuming a fairly healthy R, if you have enough orgasms with your partner, you may become attached to him or her. You will stimulate oxytocin.
So the Just Do It approach seems to be backed up with some research. Now if we could all just get are partners to agree. right?
