Oxytocin brings balance and health to your physiological state.
While the closeness of a mate and a family can create the calm and
connection we need, there are many other ways you can evoke the
oxytocin response — whenever you need to. Try some of these
scientifically proven methods to activate the parasympathetic nervous
system and induce the three Rs of rest, relaxation, and repair.
Comfort food: There’s evidence that eating stimulates an
oxytocin release that closely mimics that of being fed at the breast.
Therefore, you can and should eat to comfort yourself — but in
the right way. Try a balanced meal that includes limited carbohydrate
and some fat to stimulate the release of leptin and cholecystokinin.
These digestive chemicals stimulate the brain’s reward, emotion, and
memory systems, causing the release of oxytocin, as well as exciting
dopamine and rewarding opioids.
Love yourself: The release of oxytocin at orgasm benefits you
no matter where that orgasm came from. If you don’t have a trusted and
trustworthy sex partner, consider masturbation. Like intercourse,
masturbation to orgasm produces an oxytocin release in both women and
men.
Tend and befriend: UCLA psychologist Shelley Taylor
identified a feminine alternative to the fight-or-flight response: tend
and befriend. Taylor and her colleagues realized that while fight or
flight is the primary response to stress for both sexes, in times of
danger or fear, women instinctively move to gather the family together
and protect their children. Taylor’s hypothesis is that the oxytocin
released along with the other stress chemicals interacts with estrogen
and natural opiates in the brain to drive women toward their friends in
times of need.
Sing it up: In one study of eight amateur vocalists, they
experienced an oxytocin boost after a half-hour choral lesson. The
women in the study also lowered their levels of cortisol, the
fight-or-flight chemical. We’re not all singers, but we can be
chanters, dancers, marchers, or drummers.
Get a massage: In a UCLA study, people who got a massage
experienced elevated levels of oxytocin when they interacted with
others.
Keep the home fires burning: If you’re lucky enough to have a
mate, he or she becomes one of your most reliable sources of oxytocin.
Sex and orgasm stimulate a powerful release of oxytocin that calms the
body and reinforces the bond. Sex does indeed make love.
