Special Things to be Learned from Louann Brizendine's The Female Brain
"Connecting through talking activates the pleasure centers in a girl's brain. Sharing secrets that have romantic and sexual implications activates those centers even more. We're not talking about a small amount of pleasure. This is huge. It's a major dopamine and oxytocin rush, which is the biggest, fattest neurological reward you can get outside of an orgasm. Dopamine is a neurochemical that stimulates the motivation and pleasure circuits in the brain. Estrogen at puberty increases dopamine and oxytocin production in girls. Oxytocin is a neurohormone that triggers and is triggered by intimacy. When estrogen is on the rise, a teen girls' brain is pushed to make even more oxytocin--and to get even more reinforcement from social bonding. At midcycle, during peak estrogen production, the girl's dopamine and oxytocin level is likely at its highest too. Not only her verbal output is at its maximum but her urge for intimacy is also peaking. Intimacy releases more oxytocin, which reinforces the desire to connect, and connecting then brings a sense of pleasure and well being."
Pg. 37
"The hormones usually associated with aggression in both males and females are androgens. They begin to rise early in puberty and continue until they peak at age nineteen in females and twenty one in males. The three main androgens that women make are testosterone, DHEA, and androstenedione. In a study at the University of Utah, the most in your face aggressive teenage girls were found to have high levels of the androgen androstenedione. Acne is a good clue that your teen's androgen levels are high. Girls with high levels of testosterone and DHEA also tend to have sexual intercourse earlier."
Pg. 54
"We spent more than 99% of the millions of years it took human beings to evolve living in primitive conditions. As a result, the theory goes, our brains developed to solve the kinds of problems that those early human ancestors encountered."
Pg. 60
"Women, researchers have found, also look for mates who are, on average, at least four inches taller and three and a half years older. These female mate preferences are universal. As a result, scientists conclude, they're part of the inherited architecture of the female brain's mate-choice system--and are presumed to serve a purpose."
Pg. 62
"Falling in love is one of the most irrational behaviors or brain states imaginable for both men and women. The brain becomes 'illogical' in the throes of new romance, literally blind to the shortcomings of the lover. It is an involuntary state. Passionately being in love or so called infatuation love is now a documented brain state. It shares brain circuits with states of obsession, mania, intoxication, thirst and hunger. It is not an emotion but it does intensify or decreases other emotions. The being in love circuits are primarily a motivation system which is different from the brains sex drive area but overlaps with it. This fevered brain activity runs on hormones and neurochemicals such as dopamine, estrogen, oxytocin and testosterone.
The brain circuits that are activated when we are in love match those of the drug addict desperately craving the next fix. The amygdala--the brain's fear-alert system--and the anterior cingulate cortex--the brain's worrying and critical thinking system--are turned way down when the love circuits are running full blast. Much the same thing happens when people take Ecstasy: the normal wariness humans have towards strangers is switched off and the love circuits are dialed up. So romantic love is a natural Ecstasy high. The classic symptoms of early love are also similar to the initial effects of drugs such as amphetamines, cocaine and opiates like heroin, morphine and OxyContin. These narcotics trigger the brains reward circuit, causing chemical releases and effects similar to those of romance. In fact, there's some truth to the notion that people can become addicted to love. Romantic partners, especially in the first six months, crave the exstatic feeling of being together and may feel helplessly dependent on each other."
Pg. 66
"Although sexual response varies a great deal during these years of erratic hormones, 50% of women age forty two to fifty two lose their interest in sex, are harder to arouse, and find their orgasms are much less frequent and intense."
Pg. 141
"These studies have clearly shown that estrogen promotes brain cell survival, growth and regeneration. Other studies in women suggest many benefits of estrogen on the growth of neurons and maintenance of brain function as we age. These studies scanned the brains of postmenopausal women, some who took HT and others who did not. The following areas were spared the usual age related shrinkage in women taking HT: the prefrontal cortex (an area for decision making and judgement), the parietal cortex (an area for verbal processing and listening skills) and the temporal lobe (an area for emotional processing).
[..] Researchers at the University of Illinois found that women who had never taken HT had significantly more shrinkage in all brain areas than did women who took HT. They also found that the longer women took HT the more gray matter, or brain cell volume, they had compared with women who aren't taking HT."
Pgs. 166-167
"One variation that appears on a continuum in females is same-sex romantic attraction. This is estimated to occur in five to ten percent of the female population.
The female brain is only half as likely to be wired for same sex attraction as is the male brain. Therefore men are twice as likely as women to be gay. Biologically, genetic variations and hormonal exposure in both male and female brains are thought to lead to same-sex attraction.
[...] Sexual orientation in females occurs along more of a continuum that in males, with females reporting more bisexual interests. "
Pgs. 185-186
Pg. 37
"The hormones usually associated with aggression in both males and females are androgens. They begin to rise early in puberty and continue until they peak at age nineteen in females and twenty one in males. The three main androgens that women make are testosterone, DHEA, and androstenedione. In a study at the University of Utah, the most in your face aggressive teenage girls were found to have high levels of the androgen androstenedione. Acne is a good clue that your teen's androgen levels are high. Girls with high levels of testosterone and DHEA also tend to have sexual intercourse earlier."
Pg. 54
"We spent more than 99% of the millions of years it took human beings to evolve living in primitive conditions. As a result, the theory goes, our brains developed to solve the kinds of problems that those early human ancestors encountered."
Pg. 60
"Women, researchers have found, also look for mates who are, on average, at least four inches taller and three and a half years older. These female mate preferences are universal. As a result, scientists conclude, they're part of the inherited architecture of the female brain's mate-choice system--and are presumed to serve a purpose."
Pg. 62
"Falling in love is one of the most irrational behaviors or brain states imaginable for both men and women. The brain becomes 'illogical' in the throes of new romance, literally blind to the shortcomings of the lover. It is an involuntary state. Passionately being in love or so called infatuation love is now a documented brain state. It shares brain circuits with states of obsession, mania, intoxication, thirst and hunger. It is not an emotion but it does intensify or decreases other emotions. The being in love circuits are primarily a motivation system which is different from the brains sex drive area but overlaps with it. This fevered brain activity runs on hormones and neurochemicals such as dopamine, estrogen, oxytocin and testosterone.
The brain circuits that are activated when we are in love match those of the drug addict desperately craving the next fix. The amygdala--the brain's fear-alert system--and the anterior cingulate cortex--the brain's worrying and critical thinking system--are turned way down when the love circuits are running full blast. Much the same thing happens when people take Ecstasy: the normal wariness humans have towards strangers is switched off and the love circuits are dialed up. So romantic love is a natural Ecstasy high. The classic symptoms of early love are also similar to the initial effects of drugs such as amphetamines, cocaine and opiates like heroin, morphine and OxyContin. These narcotics trigger the brains reward circuit, causing chemical releases and effects similar to those of romance. In fact, there's some truth to the notion that people can become addicted to love. Romantic partners, especially in the first six months, crave the exstatic feeling of being together and may feel helplessly dependent on each other."
Pg. 66
"Although sexual response varies a great deal during these years of erratic hormones, 50% of women age forty two to fifty two lose their interest in sex, are harder to arouse, and find their orgasms are much less frequent and intense."
Pg. 141
"These studies have clearly shown that estrogen promotes brain cell survival, growth and regeneration. Other studies in women suggest many benefits of estrogen on the growth of neurons and maintenance of brain function as we age. These studies scanned the brains of postmenopausal women, some who took HT and others who did not. The following areas were spared the usual age related shrinkage in women taking HT: the prefrontal cortex (an area for decision making and judgement), the parietal cortex (an area for verbal processing and listening skills) and the temporal lobe (an area for emotional processing).
[..] Researchers at the University of Illinois found that women who had never taken HT had significantly more shrinkage in all brain areas than did women who took HT. They also found that the longer women took HT the more gray matter, or brain cell volume, they had compared with women who aren't taking HT."
Pgs. 166-167
"One variation that appears on a continuum in females is same-sex romantic attraction. This is estimated to occur in five to ten percent of the female population.
The female brain is only half as likely to be wired for same sex attraction as is the male brain. Therefore men are twice as likely as women to be gay. Biologically, genetic variations and hormonal exposure in both male and female brains are thought to lead to same-sex attraction.
[...] Sexual orientation in females occurs along more of a continuum that in males, with females reporting more bisexual interests. "
Pgs. 185-186