Should you marry your first love?

Your heart is pounding. You can't think straight.

The only thing on your mind is the wonderful, amazing person you've met. You can't keep your hands off each other. You spend hours just staring into one another's eyes. The chemistry is breathtaking. You're head over heels in love.

This is the person you've been waiting for... your first love. You've found your life partner. Or have you?

First love is a tricky beast. Scientists have proved that the feelings we experience when in love are generated by hormones and chemicals.

When we're young and in love for the first time, whether we're conscious of it or not, our bodies are hell bent on procreation. You might think you've fallen in love with a person. But you've actually fallen in love with the way they smell!

Humans are attracted to people whose immune systems are very different from their own. This ensures our offspring are genetically strong. And, on a subconscious level, we can smell the difference.

From then on our body chemistry relentlessly keeps up the pressure. And it works. Most people who marry their first love obediently have children as soon as they can possibly manage it!

But once that magical 'pure love' phase has passed, as it always does, what are you left with? No longer blinded by all-encompassing lust, do you have anything in common?

In many relationships, this is where the problems start.

If you're currently in a deep state of love and lust, experiencing the first flush of your first love, good for you. Have a lovely, lovely time. But think twice before making your first love your life partner.

A few fortunate people stay with their first love for the rest of their lives. But most of us find that once the glow wears off, there just isn't enough left to sustain a marriage.

Later loves and second marriages seem to have a better chance of survival. You're older and hopefully wiser. You've probably fulfilled the overwhelming physical need to have children (if you ever had it!). You realise there's much more to love than lust; things like friendship, shared values, intelligence, humour... all the day to day stuff.

Perhaps not as exciting as the rollercoaster ride of your first love, but much more enduring.