Can you feel the love tonight?
Scientists have devised a series of maps revealing where in the body love is felt.
The study, published this month in the journal Philosophical Psychology, is said to be the first mapping of embodied experiences associated with 27 types of love.
Researchers at Aalto University in Finland asked participants how they experience romantic love, sexual love, parental love, and love for friends, strangers, nature, God or themselves, among other types of love.
Participants were asked to pinpoint where they felt the love in their bodies; how intensely the feelings were physically and mentally; and how the love was associated with touch.
All types of love were felt strongly in the head, but differed elsewhere.
Some spread only to the chest, while others had people curling their toes.
The strongest forms of love (passionate, true and love for life) were felt most widely throughout the body, while the weakest (practical) was only felt in the head.
“It was noteworthy, though not very surprising, that the types of love associated with close relationships are similar and are the most strongly experienced,” philosopher Pärttyli Rinne, who coordinated the project, said in a statement.
“It was also interesting to find a strong correlation between the physical and mental intensity of the emotion and its pleasantness.”
“The more strongly a type of love is felt in the body, the more strongly it’s felt in the mind and the more pleasant it is,” he added.
For example, romantic love mostly gathers in the head, heart and stomach, while sexual love is centered in the groin.
A mother’s love for their child is strongly in the heart, while a love of nature is focused in the head.
“When we move from more strongly experienced types of love to less strongly experienced types, the sensations in the chest area become weaker,” Rinne explained.
“It may be that, for example, love for strangers or wisdom is associated with a cognitive process. It may also be that there are pleasant sensations in the head area. This is something that should be investigated further.”
He made sure to note the cultural differences in love, pointing out that answers would vary by demographics.
“If the same study were done in a highly religious community, love for God might be the most strongly experienced love of all. Similarly, if the subjects were parents in a relationship, as in our ongoing brain study project, love for children could be the strongest type of love,” he said.
While people may experience the physical feelings of love in similar ways, how and when people express their love verbally tends to differ.
Contrary to stereotypical gender norms, men in heterosexual relationships are more likely to admit to being in love first. On average, men considered confessing love 69 days into a relationship, while women didn’t think about it until 77 days in, one study found.
Although lovers might have been feeling it for a while, “I love you” wasn’t usually said until 107 days in for men and 122 days for women.
An emotional connection is obviously integral to any romantic relationship — and research shows it’s also a key element to “great sex.”
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