Scientists have discovered mammals continue cuddling even when they’ve removed their ability to transmit oxytocin. Cuddling is so important our bodies seem to find other ways to reward it even when oxytocin is removed. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2023/01/oxytocin-hormone-study-prairie-vole-receptor-research/672860/
Nice.
Although, I must say, I find it extraordinary that anybody thought that cuddling was only oxytocin. I don't see how you could possibly believe that - it's patently absurd - unless you had never cuddled. There are numerous other biochemical benefits. I thought oxytocin was just the biggest single one in many cases.
If drug dealers knew how much we were spending getting high on cuddling, they'd change business models! /s
Not as strong as OxyContin though
They likely cuddle up for warmth and protection, not because they get anything from it .
I love oxytocin from my cuddling partner.
Yes cuddling with the right person can give you the most amazing high.
It’s reassuring that the bonding instinct persists despite a lack of oxytocin. Society can’t depend on one single hormone.
However, many studies have described the beneficial effects of oxytocin. And yet it doesn’t seem to have gained significant acceptance for prescription by doctors. (Perhaps because there’s no giant pharmaceutical company pushing it.) I wonder if people could be tested for oxytocin deficiency. When people cuddle, oxytocin seems to act as a reward promoting human connection. But maybe it could be prescribed to people who have difficulty establishing connections in the first place. It may not be a wonder drug, but perhaps it could help some people crawl out of the void of isolation.
Another hormone seems to have gained universal acceptance: melatonin. Readily available in gummy form.
I don’t pretend to know anything or be licensed in anything. I am an authority on nothing.
@cualtzin : somebody did bottle it. I believe as a nasal spray. If I remember correctly it didn't be placebo. I also don't know if melatonin has gained acceptance. I don't even know what you mean by acceptance. You mean for sleep? I'm guessing if it gained acceptance for sleep they would not have to put on the bottle that no claims you made that this will work.
As far as depression, I am relatively sure dopamine is a bigger deal. Then probably serotonin. Oxytocin is probably much lower on the scale.
@tacpmurg : I know you were joking but what business model would they change? the one where there's the demand for drugs and then people pay what you asked in a relatively efficient market.
Thinking of human or animal behavior in reductive, behaviorist terms is a meme that just won't quit.
People think they must be feeling oxytocin when cuddling is pleasurable, but how do you know? What if your body finally relaxed enough to release some serotonin? Just because oxytocin is an effect of cuddling and seems to modify behavior doesn't mean it's a cause of cuddling, or feels any particular way. We have natural drives to do all sorts of things, like eat, sleep, play, work, and connect, pleasure or pain aside.
I prefer to speak of “endorphins, feel-good chemicals in your brain” rather than just oxytocin. I try to avoid putting too much emphasis on a single molecule that hasn’t exactly been proven.