1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:12,880 Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum. Here in our wide world of problems, you 3 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:15,520 Speaker 1: can bet that someone out there is willing to sell 4 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:19,360 Speaker 1: you a solution. For example, if you want to go 5 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:22,360 Speaker 1: on more dates, there are supplement brands that will sell 6 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 1: you nasal sprays containing oxytocin and naturally occurring hormone produced 7 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:31,000 Speaker 1: in the human brain. Since these sprays aren't approved by 8 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:33,800 Speaker 1: the US Food and Drug Administration, they can't be sold 9 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:38,080 Speaker 1: as a cure or treatment for anything, in particular in 10 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:42,040 Speaker 1: our bodies. The hormone is chiefly responsible for triggering contractions 11 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:45,479 Speaker 1: in pregnant women and letting down milk during lactation, and 12 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:50,000 Speaker 1: is sometimes prescribed for those purposes. But if you've followed 13 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,920 Speaker 1: pop health headlines over the last decade, you know that 14 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:56,320 Speaker 1: oxytocin has also been shown to enhance feelings of social 15 00:00:56,360 --> 00:01:02,160 Speaker 1: bonding and improve sociability in people with autism. Oxytocin levels 16 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:05,320 Speaker 1: have also been shown to spike during orgasm and positive 17 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:09,240 Speaker 1: touch experiences, and people dosed with extra oxytocin have been 18 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:13,080 Speaker 1: shown to have warmer, fuzzier feelings towards their spouses and partners. 19 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:17,240 Speaker 1: New lovers have been found to have higher natural oxytocin 20 00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 1: levels than their single peers, all of which has earned 21 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:26,480 Speaker 1: oxytocin the catchy nickname the love hormone. But while decades 22 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:29,679 Speaker 1: of research have proven that oxytocin clearly has a role 23 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:33,040 Speaker 1: in bonding us to our social and sexual partners, it's 24 00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:36,760 Speaker 1: not a magic bullet or magic nasal sprits to achieve 25 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:40,560 Speaker 1: romantic bliss. Experts warn that there is still plenty to 26 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:44,600 Speaker 1: learn about this popular neuropeptide, and the oxytocin is likely 27 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:48,280 Speaker 1: not the only ingredient in the complex biochemical soup that 28 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 1: we call love. For the article this episode is based 29 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:56,160 Speaker 1: on How Stuff Works, spoke with doctor Bradley Anawalt, who's 30 00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 1: the chief of Medicine at the University of Washington Medical 31 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:03,120 Speaker 1: Center and board certified and endocrinology, so he's a hormone specialist. 32 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 1: He's had a front row seat as scientists have uncovered 33 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:12,799 Speaker 1: oxytocin's curious effects on brain chemistry and human behavior. He 34 00:02:12,919 --> 00:02:17,120 Speaker 1: spoke about studies showing that doses of intranasal oxytocin light 35 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:19,680 Speaker 1: up the same reward centers in the brain as do 36 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:24,720 Speaker 1: sexual arousal chocolate cake and drugs like cocaine, and that 37 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:28,040 Speaker 1: people treated with oxytocin are more attracted to images of 38 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:32,639 Speaker 1: faces that resemble their spouse, and that men in relationships 39 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:35,880 Speaker 1: will stand farther back from an attractive stranger while under 40 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: the influence of extra oxytocin. But Anawalt says it's important 41 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:44,320 Speaker 1: to distinguish that in most of these studies, the administration 42 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:47,520 Speaker 1: of oxytocin nasal spray doesn't make the recipient fall in 43 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:50,560 Speaker 1: love with anyone. It's more accurate to say that the 44 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:54,480 Speaker 1: extra dose of the hormone enhances our emotional reaction to 45 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:58,000 Speaker 1: people with whom we are already romantically or socially bonded. 46 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:02,560 Speaker 1: A Walt pointed specifically to the study in which men 47 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:05,920 Speaker 1: in committed relationships who were treated with oxytocin preferred to 48 00:03:05,919 --> 00:03:09,120 Speaker 1: stand farther away from an attractive research assistant compared to 49 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:14,000 Speaker 1: those treated with placebo. The study authors concluded that oxytocin 50 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:18,440 Speaker 1: might play a role in promoting monogamy in men. For animal, 51 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: the question is whether the oxytocin influences monogamy by enhancing 52 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:29,520 Speaker 1: sexual attraction or by reinforcing social expectations. Annawalt said If 53 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:32,280 Speaker 1: I'm bonded to a female partner, that means I love 54 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:35,120 Speaker 1: the person or I'm strongly attracted to her and my 55 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:38,560 Speaker 1: feelings for that person are accentuated by the oxytocin, and 56 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:42,120 Speaker 1: therefore I respond differently to her than to other women. 57 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:47,360 Speaker 1: That's one plausible explanation. Another explanation is that oxytocin is 58 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 1: simply reinforcing a social relationship I have with somebody. I'm 59 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:53,240 Speaker 1: supposed to be with my female partner, and I'm not 60 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:58,680 Speaker 1: supposed to be with this other woman. Oxytocin is a 61 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:02,560 Speaker 1: neurotransmitter and hornyrmone that's produced by the hypothalamus in the brain. 62 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:07,320 Speaker 1: It's released during sex, breastfeeding, and childbirth, all activities that 63 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: have to do with bonding. It could be nature's way 64 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:14,640 Speaker 1: of promoting familial support by reinforcing positive feelings with people 65 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:20,280 Speaker 1: were already physically close to. Researchers have tested natural oxytosin 66 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:23,080 Speaker 1: levels and the blood of both men and women before, during, 67 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:26,840 Speaker 1: and after sexual activities, and oxtosin levels go up as 68 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:31,880 Speaker 1: arousal increases during female orgasm. Oxytocin likely plays a similar 69 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:34,600 Speaker 1: role to what it does in childbirth. A flood of 70 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:37,920 Speaker 1: the hormone into the bloodstream triggers smooth muscle contractions in 71 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:42,360 Speaker 1: the uterus and pelvic muscles. A body massage has also 72 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:45,520 Speaker 1: been shown to increase natural oxotosin levels in the bloodstream, 73 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:48,880 Speaker 1: another sign that physical pleasure is mediated by oxytocin in 74 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:52,440 Speaker 1: some way. But Anawalt was quick to point out that 75 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:56,480 Speaker 1: it's not all about sex. He said, the flip side 76 00:04:56,480 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 1: of this is that reading a good book also increases oxtose. 77 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:03,480 Speaker 1: It may be that a relaxed state, or a general 78 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:09,120 Speaker 1: state of pleasure, is associated with high oxytocin levels. There 79 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 1: are a number of interesting findings indicating that oxytocin alone 80 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:16,839 Speaker 1: isn't enough to produce happily bonded relationships. The effect that 81 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:21,120 Speaker 1: oxytocin has depends on the overall quality of our existing relationships. 82 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:26,560 Speaker 1: A twenty ten study, for example, administered oxytocin or placebo 83 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:28,760 Speaker 1: to a group of men and asked each of them 84 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:32,880 Speaker 1: to describe their mother's parenting style. You might expect that 85 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:36,440 Speaker 1: men who received oxytocin would have warmer recollections about their moms, 86 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:39,440 Speaker 1: but that was only true with men who also described 87 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:43,720 Speaker 1: their current relationships as healthy and happy. Men who were 88 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:47,159 Speaker 1: more anxiously attached in their current relationships described their mothers 89 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:52,839 Speaker 1: as less caring on oxytocin than just placebo. Another study 90 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:56,880 Speaker 1: showed that doses of oxytocin increase in group favoritism and 91 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:00,719 Speaker 1: the exclusion of others. The researchers concluded that the close 92 00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:04,640 Speaker 1: social bonds enhanced by oxytocin come at a cost to outsiders, 93 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:08,960 Speaker 1: who are viewed as even less trustworthy. Follow Up studies 94 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:14,680 Speaker 1: found similar associations between oxytocin and negative emotions like envy, distrust, favoritism, 95 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:20,719 Speaker 1: and schadenfreud. This reinforces the idea that oxytocin appears to 96 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 1: function as an emotional enhancer and not, as one of 97 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:32,320 Speaker 1: the study authors put it, an all purpose attachment panacea. 98 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:35,400 Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article does Oxytocin Make 99 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: Us Fall in Love? On HowStuffWorks dot Com written by 100 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 1: Dave rus. Brainstuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with 101 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:43,920 Speaker 1: how stuffworks dot Com, and it is produced by Tyler Klang. 102 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:47,560 Speaker 1: Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 103 00:06:47,680 --> 00:07:00,919 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.