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We Loved
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The Science Of Love (The Chemistry of Romance)
Chemistry of Love
Love Addiction and Monogamouse
Monogamous
Monogamouse Addicted to Love
Relax, Here's a Love Drug We Can All Use
WEEK OF LOVE / THE PHYSIOLOGY OF Love
WEEK OF LOVE / THE PHYSIOLOGY OF Love
Scientists Turn Up the Lights On Love
AUTISM & OXYTOCIN
MATING GAME
Paradox Of Our Times
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WEEK OF LOVE / THE PHYSIOLOGY OF LOVE /
OXYTOCIN / THE HORMONE THAT TRIGGERS PASSION
Jane Feinmann
Patriot Ledger Quincy, MA
Tuesday, February 9, 1999
TEXT:
Dim the lights, turn up the heating, play a little soft music and add a
trickling fountain -- it's the restaurateur's cliche of romantic ambiance. Yet
these tricks of the trade really might be stimulating that loving feeling since,
according to new research, all of them are guaranteed to flood our bodies with a
little-known chemical called oxytocin, or the "hormone of love."
Twenty years ago, oxytocin was considered a female hormone useful only as a
mechanical trigger for labor contractions. Since then researchers have found
that the hormone, which is produced in the
hypothalamus -- the brain region most intimately connected with thought and
emotion -- and released most obviously during sex and birth, is involved in the
feelings of caring and warmth sparked by
all sorts of interactions.
Oxytocin peaks are reserved for the key moments in our lives as mammals --
reaching orgasm, giving birth and breast-feeding, but it's also released at
lower levels with every loving touch or positive or
altruistic feeling for another human being, whether that's exchanging smiles
with a stranger, sharing food, hugging your kids or even your dog.
The discovery of this natural love potion and of how its levels fluctuate means
that what used to be the preserve of poets can now be studied by scientists. And
if we can't yet call it up on demand,
we're at least beginning to understand the conditions in which it -- and the
feelings it produces -- flourish. That's the view of obstetrician Michel Odent,
whose new book, "The Scientification of Love," is due to be published this
year. Oxytocin's power was first recognized in 1979 when virgin male rats whose
brains were injected with the hormone began to display maternal behavior. Since
then, several hundred research studies have been carried out, shedding light on
the hormone's role in the early stages of sexual passion and in the process of
bonding beyond birth.
Oxytocin doesn't work alone. It's released with other hormones depending on
what's happening. At birth, it's activated alongside prolactin to create bonding
between mother and child; during orgasm,
it works with the opiate-like brain chemicals, endorphins, to create sexual
pleasure -- and the addiction known as being in love. But, as is well known,
the course of true love does not always run
smooth, and some people are unable to release oxytocin as easily as others.
Doctors in New York are currently investigating a theory that abnormal social
development in conditions such as autism may occur when the capacity to release
this hormone doesn't work properly. Suicides, self-abusers, drug addicts,
perhaps even workaholics, who are unable to love themselves or those close to
them, may also suffer a similar hormonal dysfunction. Even in people with
normal oxytocin activity, the presence of stress hormones such as adrenalin
makes it temporarily impossible to release oxytocin, which may be why in times
of confrontation it's harder to make love than war. Being overly rational or
logical -- in other words letting the "educated" part of the brain, the
neo-cortex, predominate over the more primitive part of the brain where oxytocin
flourishes -- is another major inhibition. Bottling it as a love drug is still
a way off. To have an impact, oxytocin has to get into the brain. When it's
injected intravenously, as is done to trigger labor artificially, it doesn't
have any effect on the emotions.
In the meantime, however, getting into the oxytocin "habit" holds more promise.
For new research has come up with the tantalizing suggestion that once you've
experienced high levels of oxytocin, it
may get easier to repeat the experience. The research, from Sweden, found that
women who give birth vaginally and go on to breast-feed produce oxytocin in a
more rhythmic way during breast-feeding than women who have emergency caesareans
and so do not reach high levels of oxytocin. Scientists think such peak
oxytocin experiences as childbirth may "teach" the brain to let fire with
equally high levels when set off by subsequent triggers such as sexual
activity. It could also mean that men who take pleasure in family, friends,
food and relaxation are less likely to join the one in three members of their
sex currently said to be in need of Viagra, according to Odent.
A key factor in encouraging that loving feeling is creating an oxytocin-friendly
environment -- in other words, that warm, romantic ambiance. In the '70s and
'80s, Odent passionately opposed what he called "electronic" childbirth and was
influential in revolutionizing birth throughout the world through the
introduction of dim lighting, birthing pools, warmth and security into labor
wards. At the time,
he based his campaign on simple observation of what seemed to make women more
comfortable.
Now it's clear, he says, that bright lights and hi-tech machinery are as much
anathema to birth as they are to romance, because they arouse the logical
neo-cortex and stress hormones, and prevent
oxytocin from flowing. Which is why women who feel stressed are far more likely
to require obstetric intervention.
Of course adrenalin and neo-cortical activity have their place. But when you
want that loving feeling, take a tip from your local restaurant -- turn down the
lights, put on the sweet music.Oh, and remember to smile at strangers.
(Copyright 1999)
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