7 Weird Things You Do When You're Falling In Love

Love is beautiful and love is bizarre. Not only are you nervous and overwhelmed by the new object of your affection, but your brain chemistry is literally changing — resulting in some weird, obsessive behavior. What are some weird things you only do when you're falling in love?

Feeling head over heels leads you to have some beautiful moments, where everything in the world seems beautiful and brand new. It also causes you to do extremely annoying things, like refusing to acknowledge that nobody else actually cares to know the pet names you share with bae. I still feel bad about the novellas I texted to my friends in those early days. Why did I put them through that?!

Falling in love causes your confidence to soar to new heights, and your priorities to change. You listen to love songs with a whole new understanding. I mean, come on, scientists and researchers have devoted their careers to studying how the mind reacts to the stimuli of new love — this is some serious business.

As strange as our behavior may be, it all stems from one of the greatest human experiences anybody could ever know — so enjoy these neuroses if you are ever lucky enough to experience them.

1. Your Brain Chemistry Changes, And You Are More Fearless

A study between University College of London and Rutgers University used MRIs to observe the brains of folks in love, and the amygdala and frontal and prefrontal cortecies revealed diminished activity — and those are the regions of the brain that are “associated with fear, ...learning from one's mistakes, ...analysis and judgement, delayed gratification, and predicting the outcomes of events.”

2. You Buy New Outfits To Wear During Your Most Mundane Interactions

It doesn't matter if you are going out to dinner or accompanying your new S.O. on errands — you are going to look and feel your best because you are IN LOVE.

3. You Text Unnecessary Details To Any Friend Who Will Listen

Your heart is too close to bursting for you to keep all of your excitement over your new love to yourself. The thing is, everything excites you when you're falling in love. So what are you supposed to do with all your newfound joy?! Well, you'll probably bother numerous people with texts detailing the cute way your partner blesses you after you sneeze or the cute nicknames they are already giving you.

4. You Get Excited Over Any And Every Shared Moments Together

It doesn't matter if you are taking a moonlit walk along the beach or driving the block between their place and 7-11 to pick up chips. Any time spent between you and your significant other in those first throes of new love is thrilling. You consider it to potentially be the best, most important time in your life.

5. You Enjoy Your Reflection A Whole Lot More

When you are falling in love, your brain reacts by producing more oxytocin, which makes you happier in general. The happier you are, the more confident you feel. But on top of that, your new lover is likely helping you to appreciate things about your body that you had previously ignored — or perhaps even hated. New love makes every experience feel somewhat brand new again — and it's like your looking at your own reflection with brand new eyes.

6. You Develop A One-Track Mind

A Syracuse University study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine in 2010 observed the brain activity of people looking at photos of their significant others, and found that the same brain regions activated in these swooning subjects were activated in cocaine addicts. Another study from the University of Pisa found that the brain of newly in love folks demonstrated diminished serotonin levels, which can produce obsessive behavior. So you are literally addicted to and obsessed with your partner. How beautiful!

7. Those Cheesy Love Songs Suddenly Don't Seem As Cheesy

You suddenly relate quite a bit to all those romantic tunes you once laughed at. Like, they kind of take over your playlists.

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