"wave of love"?

[PinkTaffy]

Okay, this is probably a moronic post to make, but I've been pondering it for some time and just have to ask.

For years now, I've noticed that certain people I am extremely enamored of have the ability to give me a strange feeling in my chest. It usually happens when I see the person unexpectedly, or when they do something that is really attractive (eg smile at me or flirt). It's a very difficult feeling to describe, though I imagine everyone's experienced something like it at some point- my "heart" feels like it does a flip-flop and a nice warm feeling spreads from the center of my chest, through the rest of my body. I imagine this is what people are talking about when they speak of a "wave of love" flowing over them (hence the post title), but I might be wrong.

On a related note, I get a similar, but negative, feeling in specific situations. In particular, when I unexpectedly receive bad news, or when I become insanely jealous. The only difference being that it feels hot/cold instead of warm (well, that and it's terribly nasty instead of warm and cuddly). Sometimes this bad version is so extreme that it makes me feel like I'm going to pass out when it "washes" over me.

So, my question is... WHAT THE HECK ARE THESE WEIRD FEELINGS? It doesn't seem to be just an emotional response- I can actually, physically, feel it. Is it some kind of release of chemicals, or hormonal reaction? And why does it seem to originate from the chest area??? Hopefully everyone knows what I'm talking about and I don't sound like a raving lunatic

(btw, I'm not talking about heart palpitations or anything like that- this is something entirely different)

 

[evanspa]

This is the most unromantic thing I can imagine writing - but here goes...

Scientists have discovered that the brain has a specific response to images of those we 'love'. Four areas of the brain light up (under MRI scanning) - the medial insular, the anterior singulate cortex, the caudate nucleus and the putamen.

The arrangement of 'hotspots' associated with this emotion is unique, and helps explain the feelings associated with love. In particular, the medial insular has strong links to the gut area, which could explain the feelings you are describing. Basically as the brain lights up, you feel this (as the brain doesn't 'feel', in a nervous sense) in your gut/chest area.

...and I always thought it was mysterious and mystical! :? How depressing!

 

[evanspa]

Sorry - further unromance...

The adrenal glands (which produce adrenaline when the brain senses stress or excitement) are located at the top of each kidney. I can often feel a flood of adrenaline at times of stress, and that feeling definitely starts in the gut before it spreads elsewhere.

I am going to stop now before it gets any worse.

 

[mindalai]

My opinion is it's all to do with blood flow. Negative situations or people put you on the defensive, making your sympathetic nervous system kick into action - diverting blood away from the digestve system and into muscles etc. The sinking, sicky feeling in your stomach - butterflies - is just lack of blood to the area.

In my opinion of course.

 

[placeholder]

i think it's because i forget to breathe in that situation

now isn't that a bit more romantic! :lol:

 

[James_H]

Yeah

Heart leaping thru the mouth

Butterflies

It happens to me all the time, but I'm easily enamoured.

 

[squonky]

my "heart" feels like it does a flip-flop and a nice warm feeling spreads from the center of my chest, through the rest of my body.

I've experienced the same kind of thing. I presume these kind of feelings are the reason that the heart came to be associated with feelings of love.

 

[Awestruck_]

Okay, this is probably a moronic post to make, but I've been pondering it for some time and just have to ask. ... So, my question is... WHAT THE HECK ARE THESE WEIRD FEELINGS? It doesn't seem to be just an emotional response- I can actually, physically, feel it. ...

Dear girl, please remember that there is no such thing as a stupid question. Unfortunately, but most likely, sometime in your life you will know firsthand that "just an emotional response" can be extraordinarily powerful. Emotions can create physical sensations more intense than physical pain. That is why people suffering from great grief will sometimes pull the hair from their heads, or people who have suffered terrible emotional trauma will cut their own bodies. Physical suffering to them has become no more than an escape from the much worse suffering of emotional pain. People have been known to faint, vomit, become seriously ill, and ultimately die from emotional pain, and I don't doubt it for a minute.

And love, feelings of love can be unimaginably powerful. I remember one point in my life thinking that I had known love, and then I fell in love on a level I hadn't even guessed existed. I imagine there's no limit to it. My best guess now is that love knows no bounds.