Hug the Monkey

Dogs in Dorms an Antidote to Stress?

Research shows that dogs make us healthier and happier. Should college dorms allow them?Rebecca McGoldrick @BrownUniversity thinks universities should create policies that allow for dogs in dorms.

http://www.browndailyherald.com/rebecca-mcgoldrick-12-the-student-dog-relationship-1.2689736#.TyBKnGUsFzY

McGoldrick writes,

... a casual conversation with my peers leads me to believe that many of us lack our greatest companion for years while earning a college degree. And science is showing that this interspecies relationship has more health implications than we might imagine.

She suggests policies could allow students to bring dogs from home, or they could participate in a fostering program with the local shelter or animal rescue organization.

As someone who sneaked a puppy into her dorm spring semester of her sophomore year -- and switched schools rather than give up the dog -- I'm all for it.

 

 

 

Huggies Promotes Oxytocin

This is brilliant marketing that also serves the social good. Think about it: Diapers, babies, hugs and mommies. It's a natural fit.

Oh! In fact, that's the name of the product. Huggies Natural Fit is working with parenting expert Dr. Carol Cooper to to help parents further understand the importance of cuddling and the actual cuddle hormone, oxytocin.

Huggies released a survey which found that two thirds of new mothers were unaware of the importance of oxytocin in bonding with their babies. The good news is that more than half strongly believe that cuddling is important for creating a stronger bond.

Oh, wait a minute. That figure is 55 percent. Only 55 percent of mothers know it's important to cuddle their babies? Eek! I hope Huggies can help.

Support for Grieving Pet Owners

What animal lovers know: Losing a pet can be like losing a member of the family.

For example, a cat that comes into a young family may still be there when the kids go off to college.

In addition, "It could be that animals bring out untapped resources in ourselves that we don't use as much as when we are spending time solely with most humans. These are resources are essential to our overall well-being and bring us to our core," writes Lorrie Shaw of AnnArbor.com in this thoughtful article that discusses the oxytocin bond we share with pets, as well as the trend of pet loss support groups.

For people who don't have family or others they're close to, a pet may be the primary social relationship. Yet, when your cat or dog dies, many people can't understand why you're so broken up.

It's good to have groups of people who understand how deep this bond can go.

 

New Cuddle Drug: Meth

In Time, Maya Salavitz reports on a new study indicating that:

... at least in low, oral doses — the effects of methamphetamine may be much more like those of ecstasy than previously believed, increasing sociability and playfulness, and belying its bad name. What's more, the study finds that the empathetic behavior exhibited by ecstasy users may result from a reduced ability to read certain social cues, rather than any enhancement in sharing other people's feelings.

Okay, the MDMA part makes sense to me. Oxytocin (released by MDMA) calms my amygdala, making me less vigilant. So, I can relax. In fact, this seems to be what happened, according to the article:

"We found that the drug actually decreased the capacity to read negative emotion, specifically fear," says Bedi. Reducing the detection of fearful faces might increase "empathetic" behavior — even while reducing the ability to accurately read feelings — by making people more likely to get closer to strangers, rather than maintaining distance because of fear.

BTW: The researchers cautioned that dosage and safety were critical elements of this study. If you're huffing on the meth at home, you might not feel as huggy.

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2010/12/20/drug-surprise-meth-makes-you-almost-as-cuddly-as-ecstasy/#ixzz18mUs9wFV

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2010/12/20/drug-surprise-meth-makes-you-almost-as-cuddly-as-ecstasy/#ixzz18mU0BMh6

How to Get Oxytocin Right NOW

The Mike & Juliet Show was mostly an attack on Liquid Trust. The manufacturer refuses to say how much oxytocin is in the product, but it won't get into your body - or anyone else's -- if you spray it on your clothes or even skin.

There are plenty of ways to experience a natural oxytocin release without buying anything. In my book (The Chemistry of Connection, April 2009) I explain the oxytocin response, why we don't all have a healthy one, and talk about ways of building it up.

But all of us do have a hypothalamus and all of us do release oxytocin; without it, we'd die. To get the social benefits, try one or more of the following. If you can, set aside at least 15 minutes to do this and nothing else:

• Cuddle
• Sing in a choir
• Hold a baby
• Stroke a dog or cat
• Perform a generous act
• Pray
• Make love
• Have an orgasm (alone or with someone else)

Baby Love Training

This is one of the more unusual programs I've ever seen.  Aschool in Seattle is teaching kids empathy by bringing up baby into the classroom.  it's an anti-bullying program. The theory is even being around the baby, whether or not it's your own or you even know, it stimulates the release of oxytocin.  And oxytocin increases empathy, as many studies have now shown. So, if kids have more empathy, they'll be less likely to bully, the theory goes.

So, the idea is, these kids are exposed regularly to baby they release oxytocin feel kinder to each other and over time, this becomes a natural and automatic state of being.

Follow the links in this blog post to find out more about the program.

Maybe I'm a little over sensitive to the germ issue right now, thanks to everybody I know having been sick this winter, but I'm a little surprised they can find someone willing to bring a baby into their classroom.

Hug Police

Alan kindly sent me a link to another story about banning hugs in school.

According to the Associated Press story, a 13-year-old girl got two days' detention for hugging one of her friends at school. Her middle school, in Mascoutah, Ill. has banned public displays of affection.

Yes, that means all displays and all kinds of affection.

This ban may be state-wide, because this incident follows another one in Oak Park, Ill.

Reading the comments to the news story bring out all the points of view and nuances of this issue. In a society which seems to have lost a common understanding of what's appropriate and what's not, we tend to default to forbidding wide swaths of behavior.

In this case, the ban on PDAs probably was  a response to kids engaging in serious make-out sessions (or whatever the kids call them these days). Leaving it to teachers' discretion on what goes too far would open the school to complaints about discrimination -- and possibly open the kids to discrimination from the teachers.

It's a sad state, but I don't blame this all on the school district.

Protect Me from Hugs

  Monkey Hug 
  Originally uploaded by jamesfarnham.

Alan kindly sent me a link to this article: Oak Park School Bans Hugs.

Hugs are natural and good; they remind our bodies that we have connections we can rely on. Hugging probably releases oxytocin. Come on, it's got to -- but scientists can't get grants to study hugs, it seems.

According to the article, administrators at the school banned hugging because "students [were] forming 'hug lines' that made them late for classes and crowded the hallways."

Evidently "hug lines" are not simple hugs between two people but rather a sort of conga line that can involve ten or more people at once, and this is what was clogging the hallways, according to another news report.

At first, I thought banning hugs was really sad. Okay, I still do. I can see banning hug lines inside the building -- wouldn't that have been enough? It's sad that our culture is becoming more and more touch-phobic.

If you read the comments on the first article, you get a fairly nuanced and broad range of perspectives on this ban, and, by extension, on touching, period. Some people think it's not really hugging, it's groping (touch-negative but probably somewhat accurate). Some people want their kids to focus on schoolwork and getting to class on time (goal-oriented but unrealistic -- school is as much about socialization as it is about learning). And some  bemoan the loss of our ability to reach out to others (I agree, but we're maybe a tad idealistic.)

At bottom, I think we have lost the ability to fine-tune human relationships; we're so all-or-nothing. Sexual abuse of children and unwanted touching by schoolmates is certainly a problem, so let's ban ALL touching, because no one can differentiate.

We NEED touch; we may need touch more than we need to be saved from it.

More Cuddles for Better Babies

Bounty, maker of paper products for babies and grown-ups, ran a story today saying that cuddling your baby longer can reduce her crying.

No references are given, but a study supposedly found that babies who are cuddled, cooed over and generally offered bonding activities cry 50 percent less. But to make them this much happier, you have to coddle them for five hours a day. How many babies in the developed world get that, unless they co-sleep?

Some Drugs Boost Oxytocin

A lot of us are looking for ways to get more oxytocin in our lives; specifically, we want to be able to connect to people better. A new study found that the generic version of [a drug used by men] increases the amount of oxytocin released in the brain.

According to a story in WisBusiness, Meyer Jackson, a physiology professor at the the University of Wisconsin's Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, found that treating the pituitary glands of rats with [this drug used to treat a specific malfunction in specialized tissue] increased the amount of oxytocin they released -- but only in response to stimulation. The story says,

Oxytocin release is regulated by an enzyme that acts like a braking system, limiting hormone release by dampening neural excitation of the cells.  This same enzyme, phosphodiesterase type 5, also limits blood flow by contracting the muscles around blood vessels.

In both places, this drug works by blocking this enzyme, essentially releasing the brakes, explains Jackson.  In blood vessels, relaxing smooth muscle increases blood flow, which corrects [***] dysfunction, and in the posterior pituitary, the cells become more responsive.  "The same stimulation will produce more [oxytocin] release."

It's very important to note that oxytocin release wasn't increased across the board. {The drug] doesn't immediately cause an erection; it only increases the amount and duration of distension when there's sexual stimulation. Similarly, this effect in the brain only took place when the researchers tickled the neurons there with electricity.

The interesting question is, would [this drug]increase the bonding effect that takes place after sex?

Oxytocin plays a dual role in the body, traveling through the blood stream and acting on tissues as a hormone, while it's also released into the brain, where it seems to create social memory: the recognition of others as lovers and friends.

It's released into the brain after orgasm, and it's likely that this release is what causes sex and orgasm to bond us together. This would have been an adaptive advantage, because the bond would keep the man around to help protect and care for the baby that might result.

This research focused on the pituitary gland, which stores oxytocin. My understanding is that the pituitary releases oxytocin into the bloodstream, while the hypothalamus, the organ that produces oxytocin, is the one responsible for releasing it into the brain.  So it would be the hypothalamic release that might increase bonding.

At the same time, oxytocin circulating throughout the body promotes rest, relaxation and healing. So, Viagra could increase the health benefits of oxytocin -- and of a great sexual romp.