“Love lasts 3 years” isn’t just the title of a book by Frédéric Beigbeder or the film based on it.
When someone says that love lasts three years (the rough equivalent of Anglo-Saxons’ concept of the “seven year itch”), it’s also a reference to a biochemical theory.
It seems that divorce most commonly happens after three years of living together. In biochemical terms, love is a combination of oxytocin, dopamine, prolactin, noradrenaline and luliberin. Intense feelings of happiness are released by phenethylamine (PEA), while tenderness is associated with endorphins.
So, that’s the biochemical aspect. But in reality, the real question is, how it is possible to love the same, single person, whereas we can have many friends throughout our life? 3 years of love and that’s it? How long does love last?
Why does love last 3 years?
It seems that, in order to have a life span that’s prolonged by 10 years, and to be in good health, you have to have around a dozen sexual relations a month. Okay, fine, but does love really last 3 years?