Have you ever asked yourself, why do we fall in love? Love is a many splendored thing, or at least that’s the way an ancient song goes. We may not always know why we fall in love, but the truth is, there is something very comforting about being in love.
Once you have fallen in love for the first time, you forever chase the rush that it gives you.
You might’ve heard the saying that love is just a bunch of chemicals in your brain, and this must’ve made you curious as to how we truly fall in love. A complex combination of similarities and chemicals, why people love one another is still a mystery even to the most coveted scientists.
Many theories exist about why we fall in love, but to date, there is no one really good explanation why two people mutually feel love for each other. We all know that sometimes people can love us, or we can love others, and it isn’t returned. But when there is a meeting of two people’s desires, it is one of the most miraculous things in the entire world.
# Emotional maturityPeople who are on the same level emotionally are more likely to love each other. Highly empathetic people fall in love with other highly empathetic people and aren’t very likely to fall for someone selfish or self-serving. When you are both at the same emotional maturity level, not only are you more likely to fall in love, you will probably enjoy a more satisfying life together.
This is why when you’re on a similar wavelength to someone emotionally, it’s easier to fall in love with them. There’s an instant emotional connection and intimacy, and that alone can build an attraction for someone.
Once the chemical reactions like pheromones that draw us closer fade, having an emotionally level platform from which you both stand makes for more understanding throughout the peaks and valleys of life.
# A woman’s evolutionary detailsMen are more likely to fall in love with women who have the proper “measurements.” That isn’t always what women want to hear, but it is what science proves. We are nothing but animals in clothes when it comes to our desire to survive and procreate.
A woman who has “childbearing hips” in relation to her overall stature is viewed as more highly attractive than those who look more fragile for mating. The waist-to-hip ratio is one of the biggest things that draws two people together and is one of the reasons why we fall in love.
This might sound superficial and surface-level, but this is the science behind falling in love. After all, before having that first conversation with someone, physical attributes are all you have as first impressions.
# IdeologyWe tend to fall in love with people who have the same or similar ideology as our own. Whatever side of the political fence you are on, you will be more attracted to people who have the same perspective as you.
Surprisingly, scientists have found that political affiliation is more critical to falling in love than similar personality styles or religious beliefs! Politics is not just about how you see the economy, but how you guide your decision and determine what is right or wrong.
That is why those who think similarly view one another more favorably and are more likely to fall in love with each other. So if you’re asking, why do we fall in love, it all comes down to your core values and beliefs, which are likely molded in your younger years.
When you find someone with similar values to you, it’s easier to fall in love with them than with those you have contradicting beliefs with.
# Beauty
There is no mystery that the first thing that makes two people fall in love is attraction. Scientists have long been researching what makes someone more beautiful than someone else. The aspects that appear to determine your hotness on a scale of 1 to 10 is something called symmetry.
Symmetry is the way that the two sides of your face match. For evolutionary reasons, the symmetry of your face signals to a prospective mate that you have good genes to carry on the species. That is what drives you to want to sleep with them, smell them and just be around them.
Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder, but more in how your face shows how good your genetic makeup is for the survival of the human race. And that’s a fascinating reason why we fall in love.
After all, beauty is the first impression to have of someone you cross paths with, whether you like it or not.
# Where you liveVarious cultures value different attractive traits. Those who live in areas where food is scarce are more attracted to heavy people. It is a sign that they are affluent and a part of the upper crust of society. In reverse, if you are from somewhere where food is in abundance, being thin may be more desirable.
Even something like breast size may be about more than just big and beautiful; it may trigger a man to believe that the woman has the means to be well-nourished, which is a status symbol in some nations. This is one of the overlook reasons people fall in love, but it definitely counts.
# Similar features
Have you ever noticed that couples start to look like one another as they get older? That may be more of a chicken versus egg argument. In fact, research has shown that we usually fall in love with people who don’t look like us at all. But when studying long-term relationships, scientists have found that when people look similar to one another, they have a greater probability of falling in love and staying in love.
For evolutionary reasons, we tend to go for people who don’t look like us, but we settle with those who are more similar to our own features. The reason is that we have the drive to avoid having sex with people who we are related to. So that is why we find dissimilar people more sexually attractive.