Hug the Monkey

Acupuncture and Oxytocin: Not So Strong

So often, people ask me how they can get more oxytocin. Is there something they can buy? I often tell them to try acupuncture, asking for the "points forbidden in pregnancy."

The idea is, they don't want acupuncturists to go there for pregnant women because those points may stimulate the release of oxytocin, thereby causing contractions of the uterus that would expel the fetus before its time. On the other hand, if the woman is feeling that it's time enough already, needling those same points could jumpstart labor.

A new study found that acupuncture doesn't do a great job of inducing labor, reports Reuters. 

"Researchers found that among 125 pregnant women who were past their due dates, those who were randomly assigned to undergo two acupuncture sessions were no more likely to go into labor over the next 24 hours."

I would like to note that according to the article about the study, post-term pregnancy is defined as one that lasts longer than 41 weeks. My understanding is that the due date is a guesstimate -- although 41 weeks allows for a full month beyond when a couple thought they got pregnant.

Still, there is something to be said for letting the baby and the mother's body determine what's the right time. Still to be determined: Whether stimulating these points may cause a release of oxytocin that's enough to tune up the parasympathetic nervous system, whether or not it's enough to push a baby out before it's ready.

More Info on Ecstasy and PTSD

A small, phase 2 pilot study found that MDMA, also known as Ecstasy, might help treating people with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Michael Mithoefer, MD, a psychiatrist in private practice in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, was the lead author on the study, 20 people received MDMA or placebo along with two days  of "experimental" therapy. The idea was to use the drug to reduce subjects' fear and reactivity to traumatic events.

Mithoefer told Medscape, 

"We didn't want to just test the drug," explained Dr. Mithoefer. "We wanted to test the drug's ability to catalyze psychotherapy. It's important that people realize that MDMA should be used in the right way, and that it's not a stand-alone solution for PTSD."

He found that subjects didn't need to take the drug every time they had therapy, nor for a long period of time. It was able to get them over the therapeutic hump enough to make progress; they could then continue to progress on their own.

Keith Young, MD, vice chair of research in the Department of Psychiatry at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, who was interviewed for the article, noted that the effects shown might be due to the release of oxytocin that MDMA causes, and that it might be better to simply dose PTSD patients with oxytocin.

The study was paid for by Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS).

See two earlier posts on the use of Ecstasy to treat PTSD:

Ecstasy Helps PTSD Treatment

Ecstasy Could Be PTSD Breakthrough

Family Connection Boosts School Performance

We're beginning to understand more and more about how important early nurturing is for brain development. A secure home environment does more than build a baby's attachment system. It also can set the tone for how a child manages in the school environment.

According to Science Daily, University of Notre Dame professor of psychology Mark Cummings found that a family's relational style affected school behavior. The three styles he describes map to the attachment styles identified by John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. They called them secure, anxious and dismissive; Cummings describes families as either cohesive, enmeshed or detached.

According to the article:

"Coming from a cohesive family, in which members tend to be warm and responsive to one another, where problems are resolved, and members cope well, increases the likelihood of children doing well in school," according to Cummings.

Are You a Man or a Monkey?

My (monogamous) mate brought home a copy of Sex at Dawn, by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha. The book has generated a lot of excitement, probably (I haven't read it yet) because it argues that humans, like other monkeys, are not monogamous. 

This is an ongoing argument, with many people pointing out that bonobos, the monkeys that are genetically closest to us, are enthusiastically polysexual. 

So I'll take this time to point out, once again, two things:

First: monkeys, schmonkeys. Throughout the animal kingdom, there are species that are similar in many ways but different in their reproductive strategies, cf. the (monogamous) prairie vole and it cousin, the (nonmonogamous) montane vole. This crucial difference seems to lie in the distribution of oxytocin and dopamine receptors in the part of the brain that handles social relationships. When both these receptors are present, it seems to reinforce the preference for sex with a particular individual.

Second: Even monogamous species are not completely sexually monogamous. Even the adorable little prairie vole is not averse to a bit of copulation outside the pair-bond. So, probably humans are designed to have one primary mate, whether or not that includes lifelong sexual exclusivity.

Why I bring this up (again) today: A study by Charles Snowdon of the University of Wisconsin found that mated cotton-topped tamarins with mutual high levels of oxytocin were more romantic.

Okay, that's gratuitous anthromorphosizing. What he found, according to the university's press office, was that males in a high-oxytocin pair got more sex, while the females got more cuddling, making them both happier:

In the current study, the partners seem to know what the other partner needed. "Males in a high-oxytocin relationship were more likely to initiate cuddling, and females were more likely to initiate sex," Snowdon says. "These males were initiating the behavior that the female needed for high oxytocin, and the females with high oxytocin were initiating the behavior that male partner needed for high oxytocin."

Snowdon says. "Here we have a nonhuman primate model that has to solve the same problems that we do: to stay together and maintain a monogamous relationship, to rear children, and oxytocin may be a mechanism they use to maintain the relationship. Therapeutically, I'd suggest this would have relevance to human couples."

Theoretically, at least ...

Introduction to Slow Sex

As I've mentioned, I'm in training to become a Slow Sex Coach and Orgasmic Meditation Instructor, two programs run by OneTaste. The work is intriguing, exciting and -- often -- difficult. I love experiencing it, and I love writing about it.

At the same time, I find myself less enthusiastic about writing so much about oxytocin. When I first began this blog, most people had not heard of oxytocin, or thought it was just to do with labor and prairie voles. Back then, it was exciting to track mentions of the Wonder Hormone in newspapers and to watch the first glimmerings of scientific understanding of how important oxytocin is for physical and emotional health.

Now, scarcely a day goes by without an article or blog post touting oxytocin, and it's a lot of people's favorite drug. I'm really happy about this, because our society still struggles for connection and meaning. At the same time, I don't feel driven to note all of these mentions on my blog.

I want to extend Hug the Monkey to speak more about my own journey to greater intimacy and connection through the orgasmic meditation practice. I've renamed the Sex category to Slow Sex, and you'll be seeing more posts in this category -- and more regular ones.

I recognize that this blog is an archive of information on oxytocin's role in human attachments of all kinds, and I'll continue to further that role by reporting on research that furthers this understanding. I hope you'll continue with me on this journey.

Skin Contact Reduces Risk of Postpartum Depression

We all need skin-to-skin contact with other humans. Period.

This contact is vital for newborns. Placing the newborn on her mother's chest as soon as possible after birth seems to trigger the reflex of crawling up to the breast and nursing.

A new study shows that ongoing skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby can increase attachment and reduce the risk of postpartum depression. According to the National Post:

The study also looked at how skin-to-skin contact affects babies’ cognitive functions and their relationships with their mothers.

And infant is also more aware when awake and sleeps more deeply while lying skin-to-skin on the mother’s chest, Dr. Bigelow says.

Read more: http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/07/09/canadian-study-skin-to-skin-cuddles-beneficial-for-new-moms/#ixzz0tJ2Pa3d4

Docs Starting to Rethink Pitocin

There's a fair amount of scientific evidence -- along with tons of anecdotal evidence -- that the routine use of Pitocin to speed or manage labor is a bad idea.

Pitocin is a synthetic form of oxytocin, commonly administered in a steady drip to "keep labor on track," that is, deliver the baby within a timeframe determined by the hospital or doctor, not by the woman's body. In an unmedicated birth, the woman's hypothalamus and pituitary gland deliver spurts of oxytocin to the brain and bloodstream, causing the uterus to contract, pushing the baby down the birth canal. These pulses also give the woman's body time to rest between contractions, while reducing her anxiety.  The pauses also relieve pressure on the baby, allowing blood to flow through the brain.

In the hospital, Pitocin can make these contractions too strong and too close together. Too-strong contractions can compress the baby's head, causing brain damage.

Some natural birth experts believe that an overload of Pitocin can flood the oxytocin in the baby's brain, causing them to be less sensitive throughout life and contributing to autism spectrum disorder.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, doctors in the seven-state Trinity Health System are now using a standard protocol to limit the amount of Pitocin given. According to the article:

Pitocin should be used only to stimulate the uterus to behave as it would during a delivery progressing normally, not to make contractions stronger and faster, [Dr. Augustus Parker, an obstetrician who works on improving quality at Mount Carmel East] said. Before this, dosing was left to individual obstetricians.

In addition to striving to keep Pitocin-use at a safe level, the hospital system is working to make sure doctors who are inducing labor have good reason to do so, he said.

I hope the tide is beginning to turn, and we're moving toward an era when we don't automatically think we know more than Mother Nature.

Use Your Phone to Give that Oxytocin Impression

I just watched a very funny and very smart video on AskMen.com: How to Use Your Cellphone as a Wingman. It gives tips for men on presenting themselves to a woman as warm, thoughtful and caring. They would actually work.

This video may actually be an ad; that would only make it more brilliant.

Viagra and Oxytocin A Hot Topic at Edguider Forum

Here’s a post from Paul, a moderator for the Edguider.com forum. He monitors the forum and has been seeing an increasing interest for oxytocin among men with erectile dysfunction:

A discussion in the Edguider Forum on how oxytocin helps men decrease their sexual performance anxiety and erectile dysfunction has become one of the most popular topics.

Meyer Jackson of the University of Wisconsin's Madison School of Medicine and Public Health found that sildenafil, AKA Viagra, increased the amount of oxytocin released by the pituitary glands of rats. It's very likely that it does the same thing for men.

Sildenafil is the active ingredient in Viagra. It was always thought to be a physical reactive drug by helping increase the blood flow in and around the penis arteries allowing the penis to become hard for sexual intercourse.

Enzymes in the body can act like a braking system for hormones like oxytocin, controlling the release and also dampening the excitation of cells. One enzyme, PDE5 (phosphodiesterase type 5), can also contract blood vessels limiting the amount of blood flow.

According to the Daily Mail,

Viagra overcomes impotence by blocking phosphodiesterase type 5, a chemical that limits blood flow. Scientists have now discovered that this chemical also regulates the release of 'love hormones' in the brain.

Edguider.com is an online forum for men to discuss all related news and information regarding erectile dysfunction, Viagra and other therapies. Here is an example of what the members of the forum are saying about oxytocin:

 “The drug was wonderful: oxytocin has anti anxiety effects, and stimulates various types of positive social interaction. I've never felt so calm, confident and relaxed. This may be a God's send if you suffer from sexual performance anxiety, like me. The effect lasted the whole evening.”

Read more: I tried oxytocin and Levitra yesterday

What Is Orgasmic Meditation?

As I wrote last week, I'm training to be an Orgasmic Meditation instructor at OneTaste. This practice is deep and mysterious, and I have not gotten to the bottom of its relation to oxytocin and connection. But I have not found the practice to be at odds with sex's power to connect.

I spoke with Alisa Price, who is on the core faculty at OneTaste, about the practice and what it's meant to her. Go to the One Taste website for more info about their programs.

First of all, what is OneTaste?
OneTaste is an organization that offers classes and coaching for people who are interested in expanding their ability to be intimate and conscious, in weaving their sexuality more consciously and wholly into their lives, and in incorporating mindfulness practices into the arena of sexuality specifically.

Our points of focus reach from gender dynamics to working more consciously with our desires, to our sexuality directly to how we communicate and show up in every part of our lives.

The OneTaste practice of mindful sexuality is orgasmic mediation. We seek to bring practice and mindfulness into the sexual arena directly, to create a discipline that people can use and connect with and be held in that will allow them to increase their conscious connection to sexuality in a slow, sustainable way.

What exactly does that mean, to bring mindfulness into sexuality?

It means experiencing my desire for sex, my desire for connection, my desire for intimacy, not only with another human being, but within the bigger, broader sense of living an intimate life, living a life that feels connected, that feels impassioned, that feels alive and electric.

When I speak about orgasmic meditation, I typically start by saying people hear the word “orgasm,” and they don’t hear the second word that comes after that, which is meditation. Because people are like, “Wow, orgasm!” And they either light up about it, or they’re like, “Ooh, I might want some of that.” Or there’s a fear, or a “What?!"

And so, the meditation part is not always caught in the first communication. And it truly is a meditation. It is meant to be an intentional, mindful meditation where I, as a human being, can drop into a more connected, conscious state while in connection to my orgasm

Can you describe the practice for us?

It is a physical practice. Two people get together. The woman lies down and butterflies her legs open, and the man strokes her genitals in a very intentional and conscious way. It’s done in a very particular manner, from how it’s timed, how the position goes, the intention and the technique around the stroking of the genitals and also the focus, because it is a meditation.

So, for both people, whether they’re the person being stroked or the person doing the stroking, there is a very conscious, intentional focus that you’re focusing on the orgasm and on your body at the level of sensation. So this is a bridge that many people can understand if they’ve had any experience with any kind of sitting meditation, where you sit and you notice thoughts that arise. You notice feelings that arise. You notice emotions and associations. You notice them, and you simply let them go. And you come back over and over again to focusing on the sensations of the body and the awareness of the body, either in a particular spot or the body as a whole.

The mindfulness practice, the orgasmic meditation practice specifically, experiencing orgasm together, that is a true meditation. In other styles of meditation, there is an intentional focus on experiencing the body at the level of sensation. We are applying that to the orgasm specifically. Investigating, what are the sensations in my body right now? Noticing and acknowledging emotions that arise, noticing the tendency to cling to them or force them out. Letting it go and coming back to the sensations.

My blog is about oxytocin, the chemical that causes us to feel connected to each other, producing those feelings of trust and love. And a ton of oxytocin is released during orgasm. Is this something you think about and work with?

We do. We've looked into the scientific, biochemical side of orgasm, absolutely. On that same page, one of the things we're saying is that orgasm, pleasure and sexual connection are part of the full spectrum of healthy human experience. The science behind this, in my opinion, the release of oxytocin is a signifier that points to the fact that our sex is important, and that we do well to be properly nourished in that area of our lives, as well.

On an essential level, people do want physical and sensual connection. They want to be in resonance with other human beings. When you start incorporating aspects of practice and mindfulness into relationships, sex and gender, you start to have a better structure to explore those things sustainably.

Can I find emotional connection at OneTaste?

Yes. It's part of the philosophy of people who come to OneTaste to connect. It's very full-spectrum, full-bodied that way. As a faculty member, I have a rich emotional connection with many people.

Any other thoughts about how orgasmic meditation relates to connection?

I can see from my personal experience, having done the practice for five years, I've experienced an expansion in my ability to feel other human beings. The orgasmic meditation practice is interesting specifically because it is a partner practice. You cannot do it in isolation. Every time I lay down to have my genitals stroked in an orgasmic mediation session, I am asked to be open  Enough to not only feel my own body but be able to feel the body of another human being on some level and to allow my orgasm to arise. From being in physical contact with someone else all the way out to my ability to connect in life, I've experienced a tremendous amount of expansion. I'm more available and more open. I just feel more.