Being smitten with someone is an amazing thing, the world seems a much better place and you feel a lot more tolerable of things that usually sour your mood. However, those butterflies in your stomach can also wreak havoc on your appetite. Individuals explain how they feel content when they meet the person they are in love with, and they often have to be reminded that they need to eat (it is true!)

While you may think these are just new feelings, this isn't just about adjusting to new emotions, you will be surprised to know that there are complex hormones at play and here is how it can affect your appetite with many unexpected aspects of falling in love.

Is Butterflies In Your Stomach Just A Feeling?

Studies have shown that in the first few stages of your attraction to someone there is a part of your brain that is activated, and that part of your brain is responsible for you feeling hungry or thirsty. This connection suggests that powerful emotions that are associated with attraction to someone are very much connected to fundamental biological drives of the body. The brain releases a surge of chemicals, which includes dopamine, we all know that dopamine is responsible for the happy and excited emotion, not only that but it also influences the hypothalamus, the brain region responsible for appetite regulation basically when you are hungry and when you are not.

One thing you must remember is that you need water and food to survive, i.e. thirst and hunger. So, one can say that love is necessary for survival as it can trigger these chemicals that motivate you to get better and be at the top of your game. From this we understand that the feelings of attraction and hunger are two very interconnected feelings.

When you meet someone new, it is the excitement of getting to know the person and the thrill of being attracted to them, but it can also induce a state of stress. Studies have shown that your stress levels increase during the early stages of falling in love. But it is a normal response to your body feeling the intense emotional and the physiological changes occurring within the body. This stress response can lead to a decrease in the levels of another neurotransmitter that regulates your mood, which further makes the feelings of anxiety and unease worse. This internal turmoil can manifest physically, impacting digestion and often leading to a temporary loss of appetite.

How Do Your Priorities Shift?

The hormonal changes that are associated with attraction don't just involve stress hormones, they also include a flood of feel-good chemicals. Do you know the feeling of happiness and contentment when you see your partner after a long time? It is because of the chemicals that are released when you are feeling love or connected to someone. It can create a state of euphoria and intense focus. This heightened state of excitement and preoccupation with the person who is your focus of affection can temporarily overshadow other needs, including the need for food.

Basically, the need to eat can disappear because you are satisfied and very content with your partner. The brain's reward system becomes so engrossed in the pursuit of connection and the experience of pleasure that basic biological drives, like hunger, can take a backseat. It can feel similar to when you are engrossed in an activity that you love and only when you are finished with it, do you realize that you haven’t eaten. This shift in priorities is a natural consequence of the intense emotional experience of falling in love.

Having a crush can really throw your eating habits off, but you do not have to worry because it is normal. While it is something that many people don’t talk about, it is an experience that most have gone through. Think of it as part of the excitement of getting to know someone who you wish would stay in your life for a long time. The intense focus and the weird changes in your appetite will eventually even out as things progress. So, try not to worry too much if you're not as hungry as usual. Just enjoy the rollercoaster of emotions and know that your appetite will come back to normal levels eventually.

The UK government is taking firm action against unsafe and unregulated cosmetic procedures by introducing new legislation aimed at cleaning up what has been described as a “wild west” industry. Health Secretary Wes Streeting has announced that only qualified professionals will be allowed to carry out high-risk aesthetic treatments, including liquid Brazilian butt lifts (BBLs), under new rules expected next year.

Tighter Rules to Protect Patients

At present, no license is required to perform procedures like Botox injections or dermal fillers in England. This lack of oversight has led to a rise in botched treatments, some of which have caused permanent scarring, serious health complications, and even death. The government now plans to limit high-risk treatments to qualified healthcare professionals and require providers to be regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Lower-risk cosmetic treatments, such as standard Botox and fillers, will also be subject to new licensing rules. Clinics offering these services must register with their local authority, ensuring they meet minimum safety and hygiene standards.

Why Liquid BBLs Are a Concern

Liquid Brazilian butt lifts involve injecting filler into the buttocks to enhance their shape and size. While marketed as a less invasive alternative to surgical BBLs, the procedure comes with serious risks. These include the possibility of blood clots, infections like sepsis, and in rare cases, death.

In one tragic incident, a 33-year-old woman named Alice Webb died in Gloucestershire last year due to complications linked to a suspected liquid BBL procedure. Cases like hers have raised urgent questions about who is allowed to perform such high-risk treatments.

Crackdown on Unqualified Providers

Health officials are also investigating reports that treatments including BBLs, fat injections, and Botox are being offered by unqualified individuals in unregulated settings such as public toilets. The Chartered Trading Standards Institute recently issued a warning about these unsafe practices. Several people reported adverse reactions to Botox-like injections earlier this year, prompting further investigations.

To tackle this, the government is encouraging the public to verify providers’ qualifications and insurance, and to avoid unusually cheap offers that could signal unsafe practices.

Planned Legislative Changes

The proposed changes will be introduced through amendments to the CQC’s regulations and secondary legislation. In addition to restricting who can offer these treatments, the government also plans to limit access to high-risk cosmetic procedures for under-18s unless they are approved by a qualified healthcare provider. England already made it illegal in 2021 for minors to receive Botox or dermal fillers.

Scotland has also announced similar regulatory plans, while Wales and Northern Ireland have yet to make any moves.

Support From Experts and Industry Leaders

Tim Mitchell, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, welcomed the move but called for stronger safeguards. He believes procedures like buttock or breast augmentation should only be carried out by board-recognised cosmetic surgeons. This, he said, would improve standards of care and reduce preventable harm.

Sue Davies of the consumer group Which? warned that these new rules would not be effective unless local enforcement teams, such as trading standards, are given more resources to act against rogue providers.

Millie Kendall, chief executive of the British Beauty Council, said the changes would restore public trust and reduce the number of horror stories associated with the beauty industry.

A Step Towards Safer Practices

Health minister Karin Smyth said the government’s actions are aimed at protecting individuals from being exploited by untrained or dishonest practitioners. She emphasized that people will still be free to choose cosmetic treatments, but in a safer and more regulated environment. The goal is to provide peace of mind for consumers while easing the burden on the NHS, which often deals with the consequences of botched procedures.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) tends to be viewed as an abrupt disease—vision loss, numbness, tiredness, and other neurological interruptions. But based on a revolutionary new study at the University of British Columbia (UBC), the body could begin to send warning signals as much as 15 years before a diagnosis is officially made.

This study, which appeared in JAMA Network Open, contradicts decades of premises on when MS really gets started. It proposes that the disease can enter an extended and insidious prodromal phase, with such nonspecific symptoms as fatigue, dizziness, headache, depression, and anxiety—often ignored or misdiagnosed. These could all be early whispers of MS in the making.

Led by Dr. Marta Ruiz-Algueró, a postdoctoral fellow at UBC, the study analyzed the medical histories of 2,038 Canadians with MS and compared them to more than 10,000 people without the condition. Using detailed administrative and clinical records that spanned 25 years, researchers tracked how often patients visited healthcare providers before their first classical MS symptoms.

15 years before diagnosis, people who later developed MS were already visiting general practitioners more frequently. Their complaints often centered on fatigue, pain, dizziness, headaches, and mental health concerns like anxiety and depression.

12 years before: Psychiatrist visits began to rise.

8 to 9 years before: Visits to neurologists and ophthalmologists increased, often due to vision issues or unexplained nerve-related symptoms.

3 to 5 years before: More visits to emergency medicine and radiology departments.

1 year before diagnosis: Healthcare use spiked across multiple specialties, especially neurology and emergency medicine.

“These patterns suggest that MS has a long and complex prodromal phase where something is happening beneath the surface but hasn’t yet declared itself as MS,” said Dr. Ruiz-Algueró.

Is Mental Health One of the First Clues?

One of the most striking revelations was the presence of mental health conditions, particularly anxiety and depression, in the earliest stages of the disease's progression. These symptoms were found to be significantly more common in people who eventually developed MS—often more than a decade before diagnosis.

“We’re only now starting to understand what these early warning signs are, with mental health-related issues appearing to be among the earliest indicators,” added Ruiz-Algueró.

However, the researchers are clear: not everyone with depression or fatigue has MS, and most people with such symptoms will never develop the condition. But in combination with other red flags and patterns, these findings could help doctors detect MS earlier.

Why These Findings Could Change How MS is Diagnosed?

Traditionally, MS diagnosis hinges on a demyelinating event, such as vision loss or difficulty walking. But this study shifts the focus further upstream, suggesting that the disease process starts silently, even while symptoms seem unrelated or mild.

Dr. Helen Tremlett, senior author of the study, emphasized that early detection is key:

“By identifying these earlier red flags, we may eventually be able to intervene sooner—whether that’s through monitoring, support, or preventive strategies.”

The implication is profound: if clinicians know what to look for, they could start identifying people at risk much earlier and possibly even slow the progression before major damage occurs.

How MS Works?

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune condition where the immune system mistakenly attacks the protective covering of nerves—the myelin sheath. Over time, this leads to inflammation, scarring, and disruption in the brain’s ability to communicate with the rest of the body. Common symptoms include:

• Chronic fatigue
• Numbness or tingling
• Loss of coordination or balance
• Vision problems
• Muscle weakness
• Memory and cognitive changes

Despite decades of research, the exact cause of MS remains unknown. Genetics, viral infections, environmental factors, and immune system dysfunction are all believed to play roles. Previous studies have also identified MS-specific antibodies in blood up to five years before symptoms, suggesting the immune system may go rogue much earlier than expected.

This extended prodromal phase isn't unique to MS. Parkinson’s disease, for instance, has long been known to begin with subtle mood changes, constipation, and sleep disturbances years before motor symptoms appear.

Tremlett and her team say MS is now showing similar patterns, and it’s time to recognize that the disease doesn’t start with the first lesion—it starts long before that.

“This is the most comprehensive picture to date of how patients engage with a range of healthcare providers in the years leading up to a diagnosis,” said Tremlett. “Our findings dramatically shift the timeline for when these early warning signs are thought to begin.”

While there's still no cure for MS, early detection could pave the way for better disease management, fewer relapses, and slower progression.

If you're experiencing chronic fatigue, unexplained pain, dizziness, or persistent mental health concerns—and you’re not getting answers—it’s worth advocating for yourself. While these symptoms are common and non-specific, studies like this show they may sometimes be the earliest signs of something more serious, like MS.

Dementia doesn’t happen overnight. It’s the result of a long chain of biological and lifestyle factors that quietly stack up over decades. A major new study from Oxford University now sheds light on just how early some of these risks can start—and it’s sooner than you might think.

According to the research published in Brain Communications, developing certain health conditions in your 40s and 50s—decades before memory loss begins—can sharply raise your chances of developing dementia later in life. Specifically, heart disease, atrial fibrillation, diabetes, anxiety, depression, and stroke were all linked to a significantly increased risk. And it’s not just having one condition that matters—multiple illnesses over time (a phenomenon called multimorbidity) appears to compound the risk dramatically.

Researchers at the University of Oxford analyzed data from more than 280,000 participants in the UK Biobank, focusing on the timing and combination of 46 chronic illnesses. They found that up to 80% of dementia patients had two or more health conditions leading up to their diagnosis. But more critically, the age at which these conditions first appeared had a major influence on dementia risk.

Before age 55: Heart disease, atrial fibrillation, and diabetes had the strongest connection to later dementia.

Between ages 55 and 70: Stroke, anxiety, and depression doubled the risk.

These findings don’t just point to correlation—they suggest there are “critical time windows” when certain illnesses may do the most damage to long-term cognitive health.

Dr. Sana Suri, associate professor and senior fellow at Oxford Brain Sciences, emphasized the importance of identifying not just which conditions matter, but when they matter most: “This study has identified how specific illnesses tend to co-exist with each other, and also the critical time windows in which they could pose the greatest risk.”

Conditions That Could Set the Stage for Dementia

1. Heart Disease

Cardiovascular issues—especially those that start before age 55—appear to set the stage for dementia decades later. Poor heart health means reduced blood flow to the brain, which can lead to structural changes, shrinkage, and even microinfarcts (tiny strokes). Over time, this damages the brain's ability to process and retain information.

Studies have long linked hypertension and atherosclerosis to cognitive decline. But this study reinforces the idea that early-onset heart disease isn't just a heart issue—it's a brain issue too.

2. Atrial Fibrillation (AFib)

AFib, a common heart rhythm disorder, was strongly associated with increased dementia risk—particularly when diagnosed early in life. It may contribute to the formation of blood clots, which can travel to the brain and cause strokes, even small ones that go undetected.

AFib also leads to inefficient blood circulation, which deprives brain cells of oxygen over time, potentially accelerating cognitive decline.

3. Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes damages blood vessels throughout the body—including the brain. It also increases inflammation and oxidative stress, both of which are implicated in dementia. Chronically high blood sugar levels can impair memory, learning, and executive function over the years.

The Oxford study suggests that diabetes diagnosed before midlife (age 55) is especially dangerous for long-term brain health. Managing blood sugar early could be a powerful intervention strategy.

4. Anxiety

Anxiety isn’t just an emotional state—it also has biological consequences. Chronic anxiety floods the body with stress hormones like cortisol, which, over time, can damage the hippocampus (the area of the brain responsible for memory formation).

The study showed that anxiety diagnosed between ages 55 and 70 had a strong link to future dementia, potentially due to cumulative stress or co-existing health problems like insomnia or cardiovascular disease.

5. Depression

Like anxiety, depression can cause neurobiological changes in the brain, including reduced brain volume in key areas like the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. It also disrupts sleep, appetite, and motivation—factors that are all linked to cognitive decline when persistent.

Importantly, depression may not just be an early symptom of dementia, as once believed—it may actually play a causal role in increasing risk, particularly if it arises in midlife.

6. Stroke

Stroke was one of the most powerful predictors of dementia risk identified in the study. Whether large or small, strokes damage brain tissue, disrupt communication between brain regions, and increase the likelihood of future vascular events.

When strokes occur between ages 55 and 70, the risk of dementia appears to double. Preventing stroke through better blood pressure control, physical activity, and managing cholesterol could play a major role in reducing dementia burden globally.

How Lifestyle Habits Increase Risk Of Dementia?

While these conditions pose serious risks, they’re often tied to modifiable behaviors. That’s why lifestyle matters just as much as biology when it comes to preventing dementia.

• Poor sleep, especially in midlife, is now linked to structural brain changes.
• Chronic stress and high cortisol levels are known to impair memory and shrink the brain.
• Excess alcohol, particularly over many years, can lead to alcohol-related brain damage (ARBD).
• Ultra-processed foods, low in fiber and high in sugar, are associated with increased inflammation and dementia risk.
• Lack of physical activity contributes to vascular damage, insulin resistance, and reduced brain resilience.
• Social isolation has been shown to speed cognitive decline—engagement and social interaction are critical to brain longevity.

Is Dementia Prevention Possible?

This study changes the way we think about dementia prevention. It’s not something to start worrying about at 70. It’s something to pay attention to in your 40s, 50s, and 60s—especially if you’re already living with chronic health issues.

Dr. Suri stresses that prevention needs to be dynamic and age-sensitive: “Future studies could examine whether efforts to manage or prevent cardiovascular problems in early-to-midlife, followed by mental health and neurological disorders when people are in their 50s and 60s, might reduce the risk of dementia.”

In other words- the earlier, the better. But it’s never too late to change course. Dementia isn’t inevitable. While you can’t change your genes or erase your age, you can manage the conditions that may tip the scales toward cognitive decline. This study is a wake-up call to healthcare providers and patients alike—start the conversation early, monitor chronic illnesses proactively, and don’t underestimate the power of midlife choices.

If heart disease, diabetes, stroke, anxiety, or depression are part of your story, now’s the time to treat not just the symptoms—but the long-term risk that may be quietly building.