Hug the Monkey

Touch Lubricates Sports -- and every other interaction

The New York Times reports on new research from Dacher Keltner of the University of California at Berkeley. Keltner, author of Born to Be Good, has done a lot of exciting work showing oxytocin's effects on positive social interactions that don't reach the level of bonding and love.

The latest study, by Michael W. Kraus, Cassy Huang, analyzed how much pro basketball players touched each other. They found that, mostly, the teams that touched each other the most were better teams. (As opposed to simply winning, which could account for more touching such as high-fives, the researchers used a scoring method that took into account other things in addition to scoring.)

Teams that made physical contact with each other more often tended to not only do better but to "get more out of" the game. (The article doesn't define this, and the study is still unpublished.)

According to Times writer Benedict Carey,

The touchiest player was Kevin Garnett, the Celtics’ star big man, followed by star forwards Chris Bosh of the Toronto Raptors and Carlos Boozer of the Utah Jazz. “Within 600 milliseconds of shooting a free throw, Garnett has reached out and touched four guys,” Dr. Keltner said.

Scientists and psychologists have long known that touch is important in families and between lovers or mates. This is another example of how that oxytocin boost that comes with warm and friendly touch can improve all kinds of human interactions.

Pipe Oxytocin Into the Senate Chamber?

A Washington Post reader has a great idea.

NY Mag Gives Props to Dog Love

In a New York Magazine article exploring just how goofy some of us get about our dogs (I'm guilty!), John Homan explores the basis of that love, which is, of course, oxytocin.

If you click through from Andrew Sullivan's blog on The Daily Dish, you'll get right to the oxytocin part, which has been highlighted. Slick!

I always advise people that stroking a dog -- yours or someone else's -- is a great way to get an instant oxytocin boost.

Love: The Cure for Damaged Heart?

Recent research found that injecting oxytocin under the skin helped rats with damaged hearts repair cells and improve function, thanks to oxytocin's anti-inflammatory properties.

Dr. Mercola (who doesn't seem to use a first name) riffs on this, reminding us that we don't need to huff or inject the good stuff to get the benefits. I don't think we're so different than rats, so it probably does work for us, as well.

Hugs for Tough Guys, Too

I had to laugh when I saw Joe Navarro on the blog Spycatcher advocating hugs to boost your oxytocin.

Even Joe's photo shrieks, "Don't mess with me!" It's not surprising, since he's a former FBI counterintelligence agent and the author of http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/cgi-bin/item/parent-9780061438295/What-Every-BODY-is-Saying-eBook.htmlWhat Every Body is Saying.

But he gives good advice for hard-asses and wannabes: You need hugs too.  In his Psychology Today blog, he writes:

Even without giving a hug, people can use their arms to demonstrate warmth and, in so doing, increase their chances of being viewed favorably by others. When approaching a stranger for the first time, try demonstrating warmth by leaving your arms relaxed, preferably with the ventral side exposed and perhaps even with the palms of your hands clearly visible. This is a very powerful way of sending the message, “Hello, I mean no harm” to the other person’s limbic system.

He has other tips for people who crave warm physical contact but shrink away from promiscuous huggies.

Kitten Response Could Be Lifesaving

You know that lolcat feeling? The one you get from looking at funny pictures of animals, especially fuzzy little kittens and such?

Well, that's the oxytocin feeling. As such, it's the feeling that makes us want to take care of our children instead of eating them. And, by extension, care for other folks and creatures that need our help.

Neurocritic discusses research showing that this same aww-cute impulse can improve surgeons' performance in the operating room by making them more careful.  Read it here: Kittens in the Operating Room

Survival of the Kindest?

with Jasvir Singh

Sympathy may be our strongest instinct, according to UC Berkeley researchers. Dacher Keltner, a UC Berkeley psychologist and author of Born to be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life, believes that humans are successful as a species primarily because of our “nurturing, altruistic and compassionate traits.”

 It seems that humans are genetically predisposed to be empathetic.  In one study, Laura Saslow, of Oregon State University, and Sarina Rodrigues, of UCB,  found that people with a particular variation of the oxytocin gene receptor are better able to read the emotional state of others and get less stressed out under difficult circumstances.

 Oxytocin (informally known as the “cuddle hormone”) is secreted into the bloodstream and the brain, where it promotes social interaction, nurturing, romantic love, and more. "The tendency to be more empathetic may be influenced by a single gene," Rodrigues said.

 The beliefs of these researchers seem to contrast with Charles Darwin’s survival of the fittest evolutionary theories. Therefore, these researchers go on to examine how these traits ensure our survival and raise our status among our peers. UC Berkeley social psychologist and sociologist Robb Willer answers this question by claiming that the more generous we are, the more respect and influence we wield.

 Through their investigation, Keitner and his team have found that oxytocin plays a key role in communicating and calming. In one UC Berkeley study, two people were separated by a barrier and allowed to communicate through touching each other through a hole in the barrier. Researchers were able to see from activity in the threat response region of the brain that many female participants grew anxious. However, as soon as they felt a sympathetic touch, oxytocin was released, calming them immediately.

According to Science Daily,

"This new science of altruism and the physiological underpinnings of compassion is finally catching up with Darwin's observations nearly 130 years ago, that sympathy is our strongest instinct," Keltner said. Perhaps Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” theory would be better posited as “survival of the kindest.”

 

 

 

Oxytocin Processing Linked to Depression

A new study has found that women who were depressed had irregularities in their release of oxytocin.

The study led by Jill Cyranowski of the University of Pittsburgh compared the levels of oxytocin in the blood of women as they did two activities: a guided imagery exercise that focused on love, and a stress test.

The tasks didn't produce any changes in oxytocin levels among depressed women or the control group. However, the depressed women showed more irregular pulses of oxytocin than the controls did.

This research shows two important things: First, that oxytocin problems could be connected to depression. If that's the case, oxytocin therapies could be helpful. Second, it bolsters other research that seems to tell us that it's not how much oxytocin you have coursing through your body and brain, but the change in levels.

It's simplistic but useful to talk about "boosting your oxytocin," and I do use this verbiage. But oxytocin's social signaling is much more complicated.

Evidence of Dysregulated Peripheral Oxytocin Release  

Nesting and Oxytocin: New Link

I believe that "nesting behavior" can help humans improve their oxytocin response. In examining my own journey in learning to connect with other people in positive ways, I think that buying my first home was a key step in my healing. In psychological terms, I learned to nurture myself, giving myself the experience of being cared for. Psychotherapists often tell us we need to learn to mother ourselves.

It also makes intuitive sense that making a home for yourself, caring for yourself, could release oxytocin. And a study found that people who cared for a sick spouse were healthier, likely because caretaking of others releases oxytocin. So, shouldn't caring for yourself do the same?

An interesting experiment with rats provides a piece of evidence that this might be the case.

A team of scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital found that offering stressed-out rats nesting material helped them to heal from wounds just as much as administering oxytocin did. 

Some background: Oxytocin does many wonderful things, including relieving stress and promoting healing. When you isolate an animal, it causes it to become very stressed. One of the results of this stress is that its general health declines, including the ability to heal. Administering oxytocin reduces the level of stress and speeds up healing. Giving rats oxytocin also increases all sorts of bonding behaviors.

So, if letting these poor isolated rats build nests had the same effect as giving them oxytocin did, it seems likely -- although this experiment does not show this -- that it's because nest-building causes a release of oxytocin.

Because so far most of the effects of oxytocin in rodents do map to human studies, I think we could extrapolate from this one by saying that, if you want to boost your oxytocin, spend some time each day in making your home environment more nurturing, even if -- or maybe especially if -- it's just for you.

Vitalo A, Fricchione J, Casali M, Berdichevsky Y, Hoge EA, et al. (2009) Nest Making and Oxytocin Comparably Promote Wound Healing in Isolation Reared Rats. PLoS ONE 4(5): e5523. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0005523

You, Your Diary and Oxytocin

In 2008, researchers found that people who had spent time writing about their core values were less defensive and more open to hearing information about health -- maybe because the activity releases oxytocin. And James Pennebaker of the University of Texas found that journaling improves the immune system. Because oxytocin promotes healing and balance, this is another clue that writing in a journal may boost your oxytocin.

Mari L. McCarthy is a writing therapist. She helps people develop their personal journaling practice in order to improve their spiritual, psychological and physical health. (You can find out more about this multitalented woman at CreateWriteNow.) We chatted on the phone about how keeping a journal can help you transform your health and your outlook. I think that there's strong evidence that keeping a diary or journal can also boost your everyday oxytocin levels.

HUG: So studies showed that journaling can increase people's positive behaviors and maybe their oxytocin levels. I guess that's not news to you?

MARI: I find it's making me more and more positive. The more journaling you do, the more negative you get out of it, and you get to the good stuff. You find we're basically good, happy people at the core.

HUG: Are you surprised science is affirming this?

MARI: No. Science is now looking at the whole person, the mind in context of the body. I'm excited that, in bits and pieces, they're starting to see there's some truth to that.

HUG: I'm fine with intuitive and pragmatic, but I love that we now have ammunition for the people who are so into scientific proof. Tell me what you mean by journaling.

MARI: I call it journaling for the health of it: getting yourself into a routine or practice of having a journal and preferably daily jotting down your thoughts, feelings or whatever. The key is to do it on a routine basis, so there's some structure to it. You don't have to do x number of pages; it's whatever you feel like doing.

HUG: Is the importance of doing it regularly that you form a habit, or does it somehow deepen the process every time you go back to it?

MARI: Yes, and yes. It becomes a habit and you reinforce your commitment to yourself. It also gets you further and further and further into yourself. It's fascinating how much there is to us. It's amazing to realize there's a whole universe inside ourselves.

HUG: One aspect is writing, getting stuff out. And another part is reflecting on what you've written?

MARI: Definitely. By getting all the stuff out and on the page, it opens up other pathways or channels, so it helps you in your daily life.

HUG: Do you recommend people start writing whatever comes out, or should we have a goal or topic?

MARI: My suggestion is to do free writing. No thinking, just put the pen on the page and write about wherever you're at. Don't pay attention to topic sentences or whatever, just get it all out. As you get into the process, a word might stick in your head, or a situation that upset or angered you. You might ask the page a question or start out, "I'm so aggravated with my boss because …" If you don't feel like writing, put that down.

HUG: you've given us some hints about how to get started. Do you have any tips for those of us who just stare at the blank page?

MARI: Have a discussion with your journal. Pretend you're talking to your therapist and have a conversation on paper. Realize that when you're staring at the blank page, we have inner critics and old baggage that makes us very comfortable with not doing something for ourselves. There may be old messages we've ingested that it's selfish, or we don't have any feelings. We need to realize that we created those things to protect ourselves, but the wires got crossed. We've moved forward through our lives with those old thought patterns. There are all sorts of things in our subconscious we're not privy to yet, until we get into the journaling process. So it's not unusual at all for our inner critics to have a real hold on us and prevent us from getting to the page.

In the journaling process you'll experience physical and emotional pains. We're not a mind and a body, we're all together. So when we have disease or physical manifestations, it has a great deal to do with our thought processes. Journaling helps us get through it and understand the stress we've been carrying around.

If you're feeling blocked, Mari has more tips for you on her blog. You might want to start with her article, 6 Therapeutic Journaling Tricks and Treats.