Knowledge Shot: Oxytocin: the Love Hormone.

Valentine’s day is here and love is in the air! Well, actually, a more accurate thing to say is: our brains are hopped up on Oxytocin.

So what is Oxytocin, and why is it considered the ‘love hormone’? Well, oxytocin is a neuropeptide which means that it’s a short-chain polypeptide that’s used as a neurotransmitter - relaying a signal from one neuron to another.

Oxytocin is released by the pituitary gland and binds to oxytocin receptors which can be found on cells in the brain as well as the rest of the body.

Oxytocin is crucial during the delivery of a baby - it helps with cervical dilation and contractions. Then, during breastfeeding, oxytocin gets released in response to a baby’s suckling or even a baby’s cry as part of the reflex that allows milk to be let down from the nipples.

But oxytocin affects everyone, not just mothers. It promotes generosity and trust, decreases fear, and even helps people recover from negative social interactions.

Oxytocin is also incredibly important for pair bonding, like in romantic relationships, increasing mood and feelings of attachment, and it’s thought to help with sexual arousal and orgasms.

But it also plays a role in platonic relationships, for example, oxytocin levels rise in humans and dogs after they’ve spent time petting or playing together.

For all of its rosy effects, however, oxytocin does have some thorns. Oxytocin facilitates bonding among people with shared characteristics.

Meaning that it makes us favor people that are like us in some way, and have a bias against people that are not like us.

All this is to say, that oxytocin plays a complex and nuanced role in the body.