Lavender, Love, and the Brain

Feb 10

During the month of Valentine’s Day, it feels fitting to explore the connection between lavender, love, and the brain. Lavender is more than just a beautiful plant; it serves as a starting point for understanding how scent can influence our emotions and memories. Love, in this context, becomes the lived experience, shaped by both personal feelings and neurological responses. The brain, meanwhile, offers the scientific explanation for how these elements are intertwined. By considering lavender as the entry point, love as the experience, and the brain as the explanation, we gain a deeper appreciation for the ways our senses and emotions interact, particularly during a season dedicated to love.

Understanding Lavender: Characteristics and Uses

Lavender is a perennial shrub known for its silvery-green foliage and vibrant flowers, which can appear in shades of purple, pink, or white. As a member of the mint family, lavender holds a special place in gardens and landscapes, not only for its beauty but also for its symbolic meanings. The flowers of lavender are often associated with purity, serenity, grace, and calmness, making the plant a favorite in settings where tranquility is valued.

Originally native to Mediterranean regions, lavender is now cultivated across the globe, demonstrating its adaptability and widespread appeal. Its usefulness extends far beyond its visual charm. For more than 2,500 years, lavender has been valued for its fragrance, therapeutic properties, anointing oils, culinary applications, and as an ornamental shrub. Today, it continues to play a significant role in these areas, maintaining its reputation as both a beautiful and practical plant.

Lavender, Love, and the Limbic System

The interaction between lavender and love in the brain is closely linked to the limbic system, which serves as the emotional center responsible for memory, instincts, and feelings. When the scent of lavender is inhaled, it travels through the olfactory system and quickly reaches the amygdala and hippocampus—key areas of the brain involved in emotional processing and memory formation.

Scent plays a significant role in triggering memories, and lavender’s aroma can act as an emotional anchor. Unlike sight or sound, smell bypasses rational processing and goes straight to memory and emotion. As a result, smelling lavender often brings back feelings of safety, love, or calm that were experienced in the past.

Lavender aroma alters brain chemistry, boosting GABA to reduce anxiety and promote calmness. It raises alpha and theta brain waves linked to relaxation, balances brain signals, and slows excitability. Inhaling lavender helps shift the nervous system from stress to a relaxed state, allowing clearer thinking.

Lavender scent can reduce cortisol, the stress hormone, helping the brain feel more at ease. Its main species have medicinal and sedative properties due to linalool, a compound that acts on brain receptors and systems to lower blood pressure. Aromatherapy with lavender has also proven effective in treating anxiety and depression. Lavender primes the brain for connection with others by calming threat responses. It doesn't create love, but it creates the neural conditions where love can emerge. Once the brain is calm, love becomes easier to access.

Romantic Love and the Brain: Insights from Helen Fisher

Anthropologist Helen Fisher examined over 150 societies across the world and discovered that the vast majority exhibited evidence of romantic love within their relationships. In 2005, Fisher led a research team that conducted MRI brain scans on 2,500 college students who were involved in romantic relationships. The results revealed that romantic love activates specific areas of the brain rich in dopamine, the neurotransmitter often referred to as the “feel-good” chemical.

During conversations about their loved ones, several regions within the participants’ brains became highly active. Notably, these areas included the regions associated with reward detection, pleasure, and focused attention. In addition to these, the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex—key structures forming part of the brain’s reward circuit—also showed significant activation.

When a person falls in love, chemicals associated with the reward circuit flood the brain and produce a variety of physical and emotional responses. Hearts race, palms sweat, cheeks flush, there are feelings of passion and sometimes of anxiety.

The Reward Circuit: Physical and Emotional Responses to Love

These responses are the result of powerful neurotransmitters released in the brain when someone experiences romantic love. The activation of the brain's reward system leads to noticeable physical changes, such as an increased heart rate, sweaty palms, and flushed cheeks. Emotionally, individuals may feel intense passion and excitement, as well as occasional anxiety. These effects highlight the strong connection between the brain's chemistry and the physical expressions of love, making the experience both exhilarating and challenging.

When falling in love high levels of dopamine, which is the chemical that gets the reward system going, are released. Oxytocin is also released and deepens feelings of attachment and makes couples feel closer to one another. Serotonin that assists in promoting emotional stability and contentment is released as well.

Researchers Schwartz and Olds state that attachment and love do not necessarily need to be the romantic type of love to provide beneficial effects on the brain. Humans throughout all of history survived and thrived because of belonging to groups. These benefits of improved mental and physical health are still evidenced today. Scientific data supports the belief that there are incredible health benefits of having friends and connections with other people.

Biblical Symbolism of Lavender and Love

Lavender and sweet-smelling fragrances are frequently referenced in the Bible for their symbolism and significance. Aromatic plants were regarded as symbols of luxury, purity, devotion, and love. Their presence in biblical stories demonstrates their esteemed status in ancient times as both sacred and valuable.

The New Testament highlights the importance of fragrant oils through the story of Mary anointing Jesus’ feet with oil. In John 12:3, Mary’s act of devotion and love for Christ is marked by her use of a precious, fragrant oil, which carried deep meaning for those present. Jesus recognized and honored the symbolism of her gesture, acknowledging the oil’s connection to love and sacrifice.

Fragrant oils, including lavender, are celebrated in biblical poetry. The Book of Song of Solomon describes being anointed with various fragrant oils, associating their scent with themes of love and intimacy. Similarly, the Psalms use the imagery of incense and fragrance to express prayers and devotion, as David describes his prayers rising before the Lord like incense.

Fragrance has thus become a symbol of love, devotion, and fidelity—especially in the context of romantic love. Its sweet aroma and association with purity have reinforced its role throughout history as a representation of enduring affection and commitment.

Love Is Not Just a Feeling

Love is not just a feeling; it's a neurobiological state supported by safety and calm. As human beings we have a biological need to be loved. God made us that way. He tells us in his Word at creation, "It is not good for man to be alone..." Connection with God and with others keeps the brain healthy. Loving relationships calm the nervous system. Love is a memory-maker. Scents along with the positive emotions associated with love leave a long-lasting imprint on our brains. Emotional memories tied to certain scents are some of the strongest memories the brain keeps. Love is how the brain learns safety, meaning, and belonging. The love of Jesus is our best example of this. He first loved us and as a result, we love Him. Through the love of Jesus, we feel safe. He gives us our reason for living, and we have the benefit of belonging to the great big family of God.

Summary

This document explores the interplay between lavender, love, and the brain. It discusses lavender’s traditional and modern uses, its calming effects on the brain and nervous system, and how its scent can evoke emotional memories and promote relaxation. The text highlights the role of the limbic system in linking scent with emotion, and presents research on romantic love, showing how it activates brain regions associated with pleasure, reward, and emotional arousal. Together, these elements demonstrate how sensory experiences like lavender can shape feelings of love through neurological processes. To summarize: lavender quiets the body; quiet calms the brain; a calm brain allows the heart to remember love; and love, once remembered, reorganizes us from the inside out.

(Based on research by Helen Fisher, 2005; Nancy Maffia, 2021; and Richard Schwartz & Jacqueline Olds, 2015)

Dress up & Join us for Ladies in Lavender on February 27th

An evening designed to slow the pace, spark creativity, and nurture meaningful connection. Hosted at The Hotspot ceramic studio, this special gathering invites you to step into a calming lavender-inspired atmosphere where creativity and conversation come together.

Guests will create mosaic art pieces while enjoying relaxed connection, light supper offerings, and a restorative evening centered around presence and self-expression.

Lavender reminds us to pause.
Connection reminds us we are not alone.
Creativity reminds us we are always growing.

Come create, connect, and leave feeling a little lighter.

RSVP today and bring a friend!