Sexual arousal is a complex process. It combines the processing of information coming from outside (for example, the appearance of a partner), and excitement in the broad sense of the word, and an anticipation of pleasure, and a response from the genitals – blood flow to the penis or clitoris, the production of natural lubrication. what
what happens in the blood? It turns out that in both men and women, testosterone is primarily responsible for interest in sex .
It is traditionally believed that this hormone is responsible for male sexuality – but studies give conflicting results. Of course, testosterone is responsible for the development of male primary sexual characteristics and for processes associated with puberty, but its role in sexual arousal is ambiguous. In various studies, the degree of excitability and sexual interest depended either on the level of testosterone in the blood, or on the stage of puberty. In general, scientists agree that men need testosterone to maintain interest in sex, but it primarily affects the brain, but with erectile dysfunction, testosterone replacement therapy does not always help.
Love
At the stage of falling in love, as it turned out in one of the studies , the level of cortisol, stress hormone rises – this is probably due to the excitement of a new social contact. The concentration of testosterone increases in women and decreases in men – as scientists believe, the initial stage of falling in love is associated with an attempt to erase the body some differences typically associated with testosterone. If behavior followed such changes in testosterone levels, women would become bolder at this stage, and men, on the contrary, would smooth out aggression – but no real behavioral changes were found in this case, so obviously everything is much more complicated. The same study notes: when hormone concentrations were measured after a year and a half, they all returned to their usual level, not associated with acute love, even among those who continued the relationship.