There are
some factors that might determine our character or behavior, from the outside
(environment, social etc) or from the inside of us (genes, hormones etc). One factor
that caught my attention was “Oxytocin”.
It’s a hormone released by the
pituitary gland that affects both the body and the brain. For years, it has
been known as the hormone of love, but it has a lot of other properties
according to this website
- Easy to
get: The simple act of bodily contact (hug or kiss) will cause your brain to release low
levels of oxytocin.
- Love
potion: It helps couples to establish a greater sense of intimacy and
attachment.
-What makes
us human: Plays a crucial role in forging our ability to maintain
relationships, to empathize, trust, and even love one another.
This
hormone is a clear example, at least for me, why the natural world is perfect,
every little thing has a meaning and a purpose in our development. Can you
imagine how would be life without it? I know there are people who can’t produce
this hormone, so they have to use special medicine that replace it. But if this
weren’t an option, these people would be forced to live like an outsider? Did
you know oxytocin was that important?
I did not know that Oxytocin had so many functions. In this sense, I think that maybe hormones in general and brain capacities give us our essence; the characteristics that make the difference between us and non-human creatures, animal or machines. If we did not have them, we would be like robots.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting topic! I didn’t know anything about the existence and function of this hormone. From my experience, I’ve felt different kinds of emotions–very intense emotions by the way—towards other people, but I think I’ve been really in love only once in my life.
ReplyDeleteCould it be possible that all the feelings and sensations we experiment when we are falling in love are because of the properties of the oxytocin? I looked for information to know about it and I found that according to scientists there are three different stages that constitute this process: The interest (we let the other person know that we are falling in love and as a reaction we liberate pheromones), attraction (our body produces monoamines and we experiment the loss of appetite), and the attachment (where the oxytocin is produced).
Your entry makes me think about the complex mechanism by which the mind works and in how even knowing the functioning of hormones excreted by the brain, the mind-body connection continues to amaze us. I found it really interesting that you mentioned this topic, since oxytocin is one of the hormones most studied in the recent years, due to the crucial role that plays in the social life of humans, not only in helping us forge close our relations, but as it also helps prevent psychological and physiological problems. I found that researchers from Duke University recently experimented with the effect that this substance could cause on a group of monkeys. For this they sprayed the hormone on the noses of the monkeys. They found better relationships between the partners with this hormone. This experiment suggests that oxytocin helps to break down normal social barriers. Can you imagine places that make human relationships stressful, such us our work place, aromatized with this hormone to control our relations? Or what if this is used by politicians in massive places to control our emotions and give them our votes?
ReplyDeleteI also found that now it is fashionable to have parties where people take oxytocin to experience emotional connections between each other. This really got my attention since it makes me wonder about the quality of our human relationships. We are in a globalized world, where communication is the mainly done through mass media, but humans still need to study our own behaviors in order to create even from our own body substances to help us relate to each other and to control our emotions, ignoring our spiritual life.
Here you can watch a video about Oxytocin parties http://blip.tv/intelligent-love-411-for-men-/oxytocin-party-1632965
Indeed, this hormone has a lot of properties in terms of getting better relationships, and it's kind of funny that if we aromatized a place with this hormone will cause a better environment, of course, we are animal after all. That's the funny part because we tend to think that we are rational, but when it comes to biology that's all that matter.
DeleteCertaintly, we need to focus in the study of our own body, instead of looking out there for other species -for instance- if we aren't capable of communicate with our pairs. Your reply makes me think about that point :)