Pound Pup Legacy

oxytocin, which aids in forming and maintaining relationships.  Humans with higher oxytocin levels are more likely to trust other people.... I figure if we can hang Oxytocin Meters around people's necks, we can tell who is involved in healthy relationships and who isn't."
The flip side of such questions is "what is the mechanism by which love and affection positively affect health?" The answer to this question is oxytocin. Oxytocin is a hormone and neurotransmitter. Once believed to confine its effects to inducing labor and milk ejection, oxytocin actually has far-reaching effects on both sexes. You could not fall in love without it. These days it goes by nicknames such as "the bonding hormone," "the cuddle hormone," and even "the love hormone."
The primary conscious behavior or thought process that increases oxytocin is caring for another. Appreciation, generous touch, gratitude, and emotional connections with others also raise oxytocin levels. In addition, oxytocin appears to be behind many of the health benefits from meditation, massage and acupuncture. We see one of oxytocin's most powerful effects at birth - when the mother and father bond with their child. At that moment, oxytocin surges causing a rewiring of both parents' brains so that they will do anything for their little screaming creature. Under ordinary circumstances they remain permanently in love.
Thu, 2006-01-26 01:41 — Marnia Although scientists aren’t yet testing the benefits of intercourse without orgasm, here’s a report on a study demonstrating that the benefits of sex come from intercourse, not orgasm…and that oxytocin may explain those gain

HAVING sex before a stressful event such as public speaking could help relax you for up to a week. One international tennis star apparently liked to do it minutes before strolling on to court while a couple of Olympians both reportedly swore off the deed the night before competitions.

But British psychologists now say penetrative sex with a partner before a nerve-racking event could help keep stress at bay.

In a study published in New Scientist magazine, University of Paisley researchers compared the impact of different sexual activities on blood pressure when people later experienced acute stress.

Those who had penetrative sex were less stressed and their blood pressure returned to normal faster than those who had non-coital sex.

Those who abstained from sex had the highest blood-pressure response to stress.

For a fortnight, 24 women and 22 men kept diaries of how often they had intercourse, masturbated or had sexual activity excluding intercourse.

Afterwards, they underwent stress tests involving public speaking and verbal arithmetic.

Taking into account volunteers' individual neuroticism, anxiety, work stress and relationship satisfaction, they found differences in sexual behaviour best explained the range of stress responses.

Lead researcher Stuart Brody said the effects were not attributable simply to short-term relief through orgasm but lasted for at least a week.

The release of the hormone oxytocin between partners could be responsible for the calming effect, he suggested.

Professor Simon Crowe, head of neuropsychology at La Trobe University, said the findings were very exciting and important.

"The physiology of sex is very complicated and one we know surprisingly little about given how much it affects our behaviour," Prof Crowe said.

"But the different stress responses between penetrative sex and masturbation suggests the biology of one person affects another.

"It follows that the relationship between people should also make a difference and casual sex wouldn't have the same calming effect."

"I can be changed by what happens to me, I refuse to be reduced by it." M.A.
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