Conditions

• Touch and Oxytocin –
• The Real Love Hormone!
• Oxytocin is often referred to as the love and bonding hormone. Important in birth, breastfeeding, attachment, bonding and our relationships throughout life, oxytocin also supports many aspects of our health and well-being.

• If it were possible to make a love drug, then oxytocin would undoubtedly be the main ingredient. Oxytocin is a hormone produced mainly by the hypothalamus (an almond sized region of the brain located close to the brain stem that links the nervous system to the endocrine system via the pituitary gland). Oxytocin is released either directly into the blood via the pituitary gland, or to other parts of the brain and spinal cord. Although probably best known for its role in childbirth and breast feeding, research has shown that oxytocin may have many far-reaching effects for both men and women in many areas of their lives, particularly when it comes to relationships and emotional involvement.

• After birth, oxytocin levels are often even higher. But this isn’t the end of oxytocin’s involvement with childbirth.
• Oxytocin is sometimes called the “bonding hormone”. For mammals to survive it is crucial that the mother starts to nourish and tend for her young immediately after birth and studies have revealed that oxytocin appears to be responsible for this reaction. Of course for many human babies the establishment of such a bond immediately after birth is not a question of survival, but the effects of oxytocin within the brain still plays a major role in establishing maternal behavior and the bond between mother and baby.
• Subsequent research has revealed that oxytocin has many other roles and is not just confined to childbirth and breast feeding.
• because of its role in childbirth and lactation, it was wrongly assumed at first that oxytocin was a ‘female hormone’. It is now known that not only is it present in males but that it is also important for them too. For example, new fathers also experience a rush of feelings towards their new baby and, just as with mothers, oxytocin helps to forge that all important bond and elicit that all important single minded devotion to their offspring.  Oxytocin is also the reason why we form all sorts of deep connections not only with our children, but with our partners, friends and even our pets.
• Oxytocin may also be responsible for turning potentially stressful experiences into opportunities for expressing love and joy.
• Again, look at childbirth. For many women, childbirth is an incredibly stressful experience which could easily give rise to post traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) but oxytocin appears to play a role in helping a new mother manage both her emotional and physiological responses to such a stressful experience and prevent PTSD. Instead the experience is usually one that resonates with emotions of deep and profound happiness. It’s believed that it’s oxytocin that plays a large part in helping to generate these feelings. Oxytocin also helps to repress memories of the pain of childbirth making it more likely that a woman will go through it all again and have more children.
• Sometimes called “the cuddle hormone”, oxytocin is released in response to a variety of environmental stimuli.. At normal levels oxytocin encourages a mild desire to be kissed and cuddle but being touched (anywhere on the body) leads to a rise in oxytocin levels. This causes a cascade of reactions within the body, including the release of endorphins and testosterone.
• Oxytocin can provide real health benefits. Oxytocin helps to regulate sleep patterns, calms you and contributes to a general sense of well being. It is also the reason why, for example, people with pets tend to recover more quickly from illness, why married people tend to live longer and why support groups benefit those with cancer.
• Although not yet fully understood, it is believed that key to Oxytocin’s health giving benefits lie in its ability to counteract stress and the effects of the stress hormone cortisol. Nearly every disease and condition is aggravated by stress – ease the stress and healing will inevitably be helped.

Given its ability to generate deep and profound emotional connections,

Oxytocin really is the nearest thing to a love potion.