February is considered the month of love because of Valentine’s Day. It is not just about romance and sweethearts; instead, it can also be a month for self-care and fostering relationships with family, friends, and caring for others in your life. You can find more of our Do You Know Series, here.
“Can’t Take My Eyes off of You”
King Harald of Norway vowed to remain unmarried for life unless he could marry his true love, the daughter of a cloth merchant. She became the Queen of Norway.
Couples who are in love synchronise their heart rates after gazing into each others’ eyes for three minutes.
A beautiful face attracts more partners than a beautiful body, according to a scientific survey.
The heart symbol was first used to denote love in the 1250. Prior to that, it represented foliage.
Romantic love is biochemically indistinguishable from having a severe obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Flirting Fruit
Philophobia is the fear of falling in love.
Two percent of couples have fallen in love in a supermarket, according to a survey.
Marriage started shifting from arranged to love-based marriages in the 18th century.
In ancient Greece, throwing an apple at someone was done to declare one’s love.
Nearly 25% of the couples who meet through online dating end up marrying.
The Magic of Memory
There are about 3 million first dates every day worldwide.
Men are more likely to say “I love you” first than women are, a study found.
“Erotomania” is a psychological disorder in which the affected people believe a famous person is in love with them.
Cuddling triggers the same neurological reaction as taking painkillers.
Looking at a photo of a loved one reduces pain by 44%, a study found.
Socialising Sweethearts
Often referred to as the “love molecule”, oxytocin is typically associated with helping couples establish a greater sense of intimacy and attachment.
People with relatively prudent and reliable partners tend to perform better at work, earning more promotions, making more money, and feeling more satisfied with their jobs, according to research.
Recovering from a break-up is like a kicking an addiction to a drug, researchers found from looking at the brain scans of the broken-hearted.
The average human will spend 6.8% of their lives socialising with someone they love, or the equivalent of around 1,769 days.
In Auschwitz, an SS guard fell in love with a Jewish prisoner. He saved her life multiple times and she testified on his behalf during his post-war trial.
Staying Together
A series of studies found that couples who were more grateful toward each other were more likely to still be together nine months later.
Sanskrit has 96 words for “love” ancient Persian has 80 and English only one.
Post-relationship grief affects men, in the long term, more than women.
“Frustration attraction” means that the individual who was dumped will lust for the person who dumped them even more.
A study published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin found that, while men were attracted to nice-seeming women upon meeting them, women did not feel the same way about nice men.
A heartbroken Argentine farmer spent decades cultivating a guitar-shaped forest to honour his late wife.
