True Love?

[TheMercenary]

January 4, 2009

Scientists discover true loveJohn Harlow and Brendan Montague
SCIENTISTS have discovered true love. Brain scans have proved that a small number of couples can respond with as much passion after 20 years as most people exhibit only in the first flush of love.

The findings overturn the conventional view that love and sexual desire peak at the start of a relationship and then decline as the years pass.

A team from Stony Brook University in New York scanned the brains of couples who had been together for 20 years and compared them with those of new lovers. They found that about one in 10 of the mature couples exhibited the same chemical reactions when shown photographs of their loved ones as people commonly do in the early stages of a relationship.

Previous research suggested that the first stages of romantic love, a rollercoaster ride of mood swings and obsessions that psychologists call limerence, start to fade within 15 months. After 10 years the chemical tide has ebbed away.

The scans of some of the long-term couples, however, revealed that elements of limerence mature, enabling them to enjoy what a new report calls “intensive companionship and sexual liveliness”.

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/l...cle5439805.ece

I still feel it often. That same level of true love when we first met, 25 years ago.

[Sundae]

My Dad drives my Mum crazy.
In a bad way.
And I must admit her acerbic reaction to him sometimes is hard for me to witness.

But I know they have a healthy sex life, simply from things they say occasionally (I go to bed after them and wear earplugs through choice).

They certainly make eachother laugh, enjoy eachother's company (they are together approx 23 out of every 24 hours) and still have sex. They might not be in the first flush of love, but after 40 years I think that is amazing.

[Stormieweather]

10% ! And the other 90% are married to the wrong person? Or someone they don't love? Ouch.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

But I know they have a healthy sex life, simply from things they say occasionally (I go to bed after them and wear earplugs through choice).

Don't be silly, parents don't do it. That would ya know, be like ya know, icky.

[Laurie Henderson]

My mom & I were out and about yesterday... she saw an elderly couple, she with a walker, he with his hand on the back of her elbow. They both had the sweetest smiles on their faces. My mom said "I guess that will be your dad and I in a few years, shuffling along..." I asked her "what's so wrong with that?? it's all I ever wanted, but what I won't ever have." We both started crying.

[monster]

Originally Posted by Laurie Henderson

she with a walker, he with his hand on the back of her elbow.

he was just trying to dip in her pocket for some beer money....

[lumberjim]

wuv, twoo wuv....



have you tha wing?

[skysidhe]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

I still feel it often. That same level of true love when we first met, 25 years ago.

You are one of the lucky ones.