Love at first sight: what it is and 5 signs to detect a crush

Do you believe in love at first sight? Many people have ever felt that feeling of instant attraction and butterflies in their stomach when they first saw someone.

Although it is a very romantic idea, many claim to live it daily in the subway or on the street. But does it really exist? Have you ever experienced it? In this article we will tell you what love at first sight means and what signs that indicate that you are facing an instant crush.

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What is love at first sight?

As its name indicates, it is an experience in which we feel love at first sight towards someone we see for the first time. It is what some know as a crush, alluding to the arrows that Cupid throws to make him fall in love.

Whether crossing the street, seeing her on the subway or at an event, we feel that that person immediately attracts us as soon as we see her. But love at first sight is not only about attraction, since it also has a romantic component for which we feel an indescribable chemistry towards that person, as if there might be some kind of special connection between both of them.

Love is something that would go beyond physical attraction and could take time to develop, but in the case of a crush of this type, we feel a sense of instant crush on this person we just met. Have you ever felt it? Here we talk about the symptoms of him.

The 5 signs of a crush

When we experience the strength of a love at first sight, we just know it. But if you are not very sure of having experienced it, we will tell you what are the signs that identify it.

1. Impact

When you feel love at first sight for a person you have just crossed paths with, you know it because they have an intense impact on you. When we see that person, our body releases the hormone oxytocin, related to falling in love and that makes us feel exalted. Our feelings intensify and our body feels an adrenaline rush that makes us feel butterflies in our stomach. It basically takes your breath away.

2. Nerves

We also notice this adrenaline rush that we experience because our hearts skip a beat and our pulsations race. Heartbeat speeds up, body temperature rises, and you feel nervous being in front of your crush. You may blush or even feel a block that prevents you from acting.

3. Intense attraction

That person makes you feel an immediate intense attraction, but not only on a physical level. You can't stop looking away and feel the need to say something to him. You really want to go over to talk to her and want to know everything about your new love at first sight.

4. Immediate connection

Even though you just met her, you feel like you already know this person. It gives you the feeling of have a special connection or chemistry with her, and you may even believe that you have things in common or that your passion will have no limits.

5. You can't get it out of your head

One of the clearest signs of a love at first sight is that you can't get it out of your head. Even if it is a person whom you have just met or with whom you have crossed for a moment, you cannot stop thinking about that moment and if you will see them again.

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What is a crush according to science

We can feel all that, but is there really love at first sight? If love is already a complex subject to study, the phenomenon of a crush at first sight may be more difficult to understand. But this hasn't stopped researchers from trying to analyze it.

A group of researchers from the Department of Social Psychology at the University of Groningen, in the Netherlands, published in 2017 a study on what people experience when they say they feel love at first sight. The data allowed different conclusions about what this crush is and when it occurs.

First of all, this experience would be the result of a simple immediate physical attractionto. This immediate attraction would lead us to idealize the other person with other qualities that make us fall in love even without knowing them, in what they have called the “halo effect”. They also found that there were more cases of this type of crush the more attractive the person was.

On the other hand, love at first sight could also be about a construction or a false memory created by posteriori in a relationship, to give a romantic significance to the first meeting and to reinforce the love that exists in the couple. They also concluded that a crush could be a manifestation of infatuation, a state of irrational love and a lot of initial passion in a crush, which usually occurs at the beginning of a romantic relationship.

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Is there really love at first sight?

This study suggests that the concept of love at first sight exists and can be experienced. However, this does not represent the romantic conception that we associate with having found our better half or being really in love. Just it would be a very intense attraction, in which the main characteristics of what we understand by love are not reflected.

Love as we understand it is associated with an affective bond, in which factors such as intimacy, passion and commitment interact. In a person whom we have just seen or met, there could be a lot of passion associated with the physical attraction that awakens us.

Therefore, next time you obsess over a crush or love at first sight in the subway, in the bar or at that concert, remember that it is a simple "passion at first sight "and that if you have not been able to say anything to him, it is not the end of the world either, most likely you will return to experience it.

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