There’s the sudden serotonin rush
And the delightful flood of dopamine,
Plus norepinephrine’s warm gush
And the torrents of acetylcholine.
Soon one’s a phenylethylamine fool,
Simply awash in anandamide
(The endocannabinoid molecule)
Along with the calcitonin peptide.
Then follows the hypothalamic force
Of oxytocin, the lovers’ touch hormone,
Compelling cuddling, of course,
And setting intimacy’s pace and tone.
Cytokines, glucose and endorphins swell,
While immunoglobulin-A increases.
These calm create and anxieties quell,
As the level of lactate decreases.
Now arginine vasopressin asserts its will,
Helping that penile erection maintain;
Be quick about it, it’s a short-lived thrill
With but a 20-minute half-life in the brain!
All this, the biochemistry of passion,
Or, as some say, the symptoms love inflicts,
How the limbic system, in a fashion,
Ensures attraction’s disposition sticks.
Most don’t care about neurophysiology
And, really, how can one dissuade
Their profound disinterest in biology,
When their goal’s to just get laid?
Nonapeptides, or oxytocin, are hormones that are believed to play a vital role in how humans form and maintain social bonds.
