WHAT IS OXYTOCIN?

Oxytocin is a hormone and neurotransmitter made by your brain’s hypothalamus. Your pituitary gland stores and releases it into your bloodstream or to other parts of the brain and spinal cord, where it binds to oxytocin receptors and influences behavior and physiology. Healthy oxytocin levels are imperative for good mental health.

Oxytocin function plays a critical role in facilitating childbirth and milk production for breastfeeding, as well as in promoting the bond between parent and infant. In positive relationships, oxytocin helps facilitate greater trust, pair bonding, expressions of generosity, maternal behaviors, and social interactions, as well as reduced stress levels.

Releasing oxytocin enhances a sense of calm, contentment, and overall well-being while lowering anxious feelings when you are with your significant other—key elements in happy romantic partnerships.

The hormone oxytocin is also associated with protective behaviors in a social group setting. Remarkably, with social bonding, oxytocin has been shown to lessen pain levels and promote wound healing—as close relationships help to improve physical health. It appears we truly are better together!

WHAT HAPPENS WITH TOO MUCH OR TOO LITTLE OXYTOCIN?

As with other hormones, imbalances in oxytocin production can cause problems. Low oxytocin levels have been associated with low mood and feeling your survival is at risk. There’s also a link to autism.

Healthy oxytocin levels can decrease stress and cortisol and calm the nervous system, which may help romantic partners to be monogamous. However, if your hormone balance is off and there’s too much or too little oxytocin, it can have a downside.

When there is an excessive amount of oxytocin produced, it can lead to partners becoming overly attached to each other and too trusting. This can cause partners and friends to overlook alarming behaviors such as abuse.

Too much oxytocin increases the possibility of negative traits such as envy, gloating, and being overly protective. It can lead to groupthink, distrust of outsiders, and prejudice.

High testosterone, separation from a loved one, social isolation, bereavement, and acute stress are examples of things that can decrease the release of oxytocin.

Thus, keeping oxytocin balanced can be achieved by engaging in activities that tend to promote healthy levels of this vital neurochemical that is so important for your mental health.

If you are wondering how to increase oxytocin, here are 13 science-backed ways to boost your body’s levels of this brain chemical that enhances your overall well-being.

HOW TO INCREASE OXYTOCIN NATURALLY

1. Enjoy social time with friends.

We are social creatures, and our neurochemicals appear to support us in engaging socially with positive relationships. Simply spending time with your friends or social group helps to increase oxytocin, which lowers stress levels and boosts well-being, research says.

2. Touch

We are touchy people! That’s because physical touch is indeed powerfully healing—simply holding hands, giving a hug, or snuggling up calms our nervous system and can boost oxytocin, research has found. Hence, the cuddle hormone oxytocin plays an essential role in our physical and mental health!

3. Give or receive a massage.

Get some skin-to-skin contact. The nurturing and therapeutic act of giving or receiving a massage appears to release oxytocin, research suggests.

There are a host of benefits from massage that include reducing anxiety and pain, facilitating stress relief, and a greater perception of well-being.

4. Give a gift.

There’s a reason gift-giving is fun for the giver! It turns out that simply giving gifts (any kind of gift, it need not be extravagant) encourages the release of oxytocin. A little note, healthy sweet treat, or flower is enough to make you and the receiver feel good.

Make giving small gifts and extending kindnesses an everyday habit to get a regular boost of the feel-good neurochemical, experts at Cedars-Sinai suggest.

5. Share an eye gaze.

If you gaze into the eyes of someone you love for a minute, it can quickly create a calm and connected state that helps boost oxytocin. Research suggests this even extends to pets and strangers.

One study that conducted this experiment amongst strangers found increased affection between participants.

6. Enjoy listening to music you love.

There’s a neurochemical reason that listening to music makes us feel good as research has shown that it boosts oxytocin levels. But it’s not just listening.

Research shows that choral singing increases oxytocin levels too. It’s thought that the enhanced social connectedness in choir singing and listening to music together is what gives oxytocin a boost.

7. Attend a yoga class.

It is well-established that yoga helps to decrease anxious feelings, stress, and low mood while at the same time supporting restful sleep, and general well-being.

It’s not a surprise then that more recent research indicates it may also increase oxytocin levels.

8. Meditate.

Studies suggest that oxytocin is released when you practice loving kindness meditation. This is when you channel thoughts of love, empathy, and well wishes to yourself, those you love, and even those with whom you have conflict.

9. Engage in meaningful social interactions.

Investing in your relationships in ways that make the bonds stronger increases oxytocin levels, according to research. Thus, confiding your feelings in a dear friend or saying “I love you” to someone can trigger oxytocin synthesis.

These meaningful social interactions increase emotional intimacy and well-being.

10. Be of service.

We are rewarded with feel-good hormones like oxytocin when we do kind acts for others, a 2022 study suggests. What’s more, this neural chemistry gets stronger as we grow older.

Being of service to others is termed a “prosocial” behavior and is associated with greater life satisfaction. It’s also a wonderful way to boost or maintain healthy oxytocin levels.

Volunteer at an animal shelter or a retirement home, or perhaps mentor a young person. Not only do these activities increase opportunities for social interactions, but they also facilitate increased production of the feel-good hormones!

11. Pet your animals.

Humans and pets have had close relationships for millennia. It appears that we heal each other. Making physical contact by petting your dog helps reduce stress and elevate levels of oxytocin, our neurochemical of trust, research shows. (Physical touch increases your animal’s oxytocin levels too!)

Studies show that this also goes for cats and their owners. Perhaps that’s why pet therapy and emotional support animals have become so popular in recent years.

12. Break bread with a loved one.

In our fast-paced, digital world, too often we eat alone, on the go, or in front of a television screen. Take time out to enjoy a meal with someone you love. Sharing food and conversation are bonding activities that stimulate oxytocin production, research shows.

13. Make love.

Oxytocin is known as the love chemical for a reason. Physical intimacy and sexual activity are wonderful way to show affection to your partner and enhance your bond.

Neurochemically, sexual arousal and orgasm are reliably associated with higher levels of oxytocin in studies. Even physical touch such as caressing, hugging, and holding hands can trigger oxytocin release—more examples of why the love hormone is also known as the cuddle hormone!

One study involving women found more hugs with their romantic partner was associated with higher oxytocin levels.

BOOST OXYTOCIN TODAY

Now that you know how to increase oxytocin, it’s time to put it into action. Choose one of more of these natural ways to pump up your oxytocin production. Simply find the strategies that feel the best for you and make them part of your routine.