What is love at first sight?

What is a "crush" or love at first sight? The science behind falling in love.

Have you ever had the strange feeling that your heart was racing when you saw a person at a train station, for example? It is a magical moment when we are intoxicated by a feeling that is hard to describe. Some people feel butterflies in their stomach. It may be that we are in the presence of a fleeting love..

And the person in front of you is a complete stranger. The love at first sight o crush describes this moment, and the scientific community and academics do not agree on whether this phenomenon really exists or is more of an illusion. Be that as it may, many people report having felt this, even several times a day.

But, what psychological mechanisms are behind romantic crushes?

Recommended article: "Types of love: what kinds of love exist?"

What characterizes love at first sight or crush?

Well, above all, what its name indicates: it is a love at first sight, a crush.. When a friend introduces us to a person we are instantly attracted to, or we meet someone at the bus station and quickly feel that we must meet him or her at any rate. It can also happen in a fleeting exchange of glances in a music bar... at any moment a romantic crush can occur.

Although many people confuse it, a love at first sight is not exactly a platonic love. They may have some small points in common, but Plato's romantic idea refers to a perfect idea of love, not necessarily unrequited, that iswhich is not necessarily unrequited, which exceeds the limits of the carnal and which entails enormous difficulty.

The idea of Platonic love may have a connection with that of love at first sight in the fact that it seems extremely complicated for two people who have just met to consummate their passion. However, Plato's idea alluded to an absolutely pure and disinterested love, in which nothing of the material world had any weight, and in which the intellectual and moral facets are the basis of the common feeling.

In other words, romantic love is not based on the mere attraction of one individual for another, this love is centered on goodness and something more spiritual.

Physical signs of love at first sight

It is public and notorious that when we feel a love crush, our body secretes a hormone called oxytocin that makes us more sensitive, compassionate and a state of exaltation of emotions comes over us.

In addition to this, there are several clues and signs that can help you identify if you have fallen in love at first sight.

• Body sweat. Especially if you are close to the desired person, you feel your body temperature rise, your hands sweat, you blush and, consequently, a warmth builds up inside you. This can lead to you feeling a little more insecure than usual, or perhaps a little overwhelmed by the situation.
• Nervousness. You may get a bit blocked in conversation, your words may not come out, and you may not be as fluent as you would be in a more everyday situation. You may even find it hard to string sentences together and say something that doesn't make much sense. This may be because you are trying to impress the person you like and, by overthinking your words, the result is the opposite of what you want.
• Increased blood pressure. In relation to the other two points we have already described, another characteristic point of crush or love at first sight, is that the Blood Pressure shoots up. It is like a shot of adrenaline for having met someone you like so much.
• If for whatever reason you don't get to talk to him or herWhen you get home, you will constantly think: what is the name of the man or woman I ran into? Why didn't I have the courage to go and talk to him or her? Will I ever run into this person again?
• After several days of thinking about the same thing, you start to feel a bit "silly", because that love at first sight can be a bit of a "fool's errand".because that love at first sight may be nothing more than an attraction to someone you don't know, and real love is born when you connect with a person not only on a physical level, but also on an emotional one. It may be at that moment that you realize it wasn't worth obsessing over.

More about love and falling in love

Science and psychology continue to investigate in the field of love and the feelings that the brain provokes in people, since many of the chemical and neuronal reactions that provoke this behavior are unknown.

In the article "The chemistry of love, a very potent drug", the psychologist Jonathan García-Allen explains how our body and mind process love.

In addition, if you want to know some curiosities about love and falling in love, we invite you to read the post "Love and falling in love: 7 surprising discoveries".