Love is a many splendid thing, or is it? Let's digs deep to find out what truly happens to our body when we fall in love.

Your eyes meet across the hall, and in a heartbeat the hustle and bustle that's of everyone else seems to disappear and the world is left with just the two of you. That special person takes your breath away, and your heart races with the thought of speaking to that person. Is this love?

We call it love. It feels like love. But according to recent research, the most exhilarating of all human emotions is probably nature's beautiful way of keeping the human species alive and reproducing. With an irresistible cocktail of chemicals, our brain entices us to fall in love. We believe we're choosing a partner but we may merely be the happy victims of nature's lovely plan.

Romance novels and movies have most of us longing for true love but is that simply fluff that sells? It's truly interesting to find out what falling in love does to your brain chemicals. Scientists believe they have the answers as to whether falling in love is just a phase that will eventually pass away, and we can only attribute those delirious beautiful moments as temporary insanity.

It's What You Didn't Say

Psychologists have shown it takes between 90 seconds and four minutes to decide if you fancy someone. Research has shown this has little to do with what is said, but more with what's not being said:

55 percent is through body language 38 percent is the tone and speed of their voice

Only 7 percent is through what they say

Helen Fisher of Rutgers University in the US has proposed three stages of love - opposite attracts attraction, and attachment. Different hormones and chemicals might drive each stage.

STAGE 1

OPPOSITE ATTRACTS

This is the first stage of love and is driven largely by the hormones, testosterone, and estrogens - in both men and women. This theory is as old as time!

STAGE 2: ATTRACTION

This is the amazing time when you are truly love-struck and can think of little else. Scientists think that three main neurotransmitters are involved in this stage: adrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin.

ADRENALINE The initial stages of falling for someone activates your stress response, increasing your blood levels of adrenalin and cortical. This has the charming affect of making your heart skip a beat and your mouth go dry when you meet your new love.

DOPAMINE Helen Fisher checked newly "love-struck" couples' brains and discovered they have high levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine. This chemical stimulates "desire and reward" by triggering an intense rush of pleasure. Fisher suggests "couples often show the signs of surging dopamine: increased energy, less need for sleep or food, focused attention, and exquisite delight in smallest details of this novel relationship". So, that brings to light how new couples seem to be able to come to work on time even after spending the whole night talking on the phone!

SEROTONIN And finally, serotonin. One of love's most important chemicals that may explain why when you're falling in love, your new lover keeps popping into your thoughts.

STAGE 3: ATTACHMENT

This is one of the most important stages when it comes to love because this is the stage that makes a couple stay in a monogamous relationship. Attachment is the bond that keeps couples together longs enough for them to have and raise children. Scientists think there might be two major hormones involved in this feeling of attachment: oxytocin and vasopressin.

OXYTOCIN It is affectionately known as The Cuddle Hormone". It deepens the feelings of attachment and makes couples feel much closer to one another. The theory goes that the more intimate a couple is with each other, the deeper their bond becomes. Oxytocin also seems to help cement the strong bond between Mum and baby and is released during childbirth.

VASOPRESSIN (also called anti-diuretic hormone) works with your kidneys to control thirst. Its potential role in long-term relationships was discovered when scientists looked at the prairie vole. Prairies are also like humans - they form fairly stable pair-bonds. When male prairie voles were given a drug that suppresses the effect of vasopressin, the bond with their partners deteriorated immediately as they lost their devotion and failed to protect their partners from new suitors.

Does Love Change The Way You Think?

A landmark experiment in Pisa, Italy, showed that early love (the attraction phase) really changes the way you think. Dr. Donatella Marazziti, a psychiatrist at the University of Pisa, advertised for 20 couples whom have been madly in love for less than six months. She wanted to see if the brain mechanisms that cause you to constantly think about your lover, were related to the brain mechanisms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

By analysing blood samples from the lovers, Dr. Marazitti discovered that serotonin levels of new lovers were equivalent to the low serotonin levels of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder patients. Perhaps this all sounds a little too cynical but new research does support that falling in love changes the body chemicals and makes you see things, think, and act differently altogether!

Love Needs To Be Blind

Research seems to think if nature doesn't step in with altering our body chemicals, we might not end up with anybody at all! Newly smitten lovers often idealise their partners, magnifying their virtues, and explaining away their flaws. New couples also exalt the relationship itself, and this is very apparent when you listened to your friends gush about their new relationships. And most often than not, everyone in love seems to think they have a relationship that's closer and more special than anyone else's. Psychologists think we need this rose-tinted view because it makes us want to stay together to enter the next stage of love - attachment.

All You Need Is Love?

But all said and done, love is a many splendid thing, and no amount of science can erase the wonderful feelings of being in love. Call it denial if you want, but love will forever remain a beautiful mystery.

How to Fall In Love

Try this experiment out, and find out for yourself if you can make someone fall in love with you!

• Find a complete stranger.
• Reveal to each other intimate details about your lives for half an hour.
• Then, stare deeply into each other's eyes without talking for four minutes.