The Facts About Oxytocin

Oxytocin is a hormone that affects your thinking and emotions, as well as some bodily processes, which we'll get to below. You may have heard of oxytocin boosts coming after a cuddle session or as a form of post-sex bliss. While this can happen, there's more to the story: Oxytocin is correlated with negative emotions as well. Here's all you need to know.

Oxytocin helps us connect with loved ones. Its main job is to help with childbirth by causing the uterus to contract. Additionally, it moves milk to the nipple to assist with nursing.

But even if you haven't given birth, you've probably felt a rush of oxytocin after other experiences. You may have heard this hormone referred to as the "cuddle hormone" because it's released after physical interactions—cuddling, hugging, sex—or even when you feel emotionally bonded.

If you're asexual, don't like being touched or single and in need of some oxytocin from other sources, don't worry: You can get a boost from petting animals, volunteering, group exercise and more.

Oxytocin is made in the hypothalamus, the part of the brain dealing with blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature and digestion. However, it's stored and released into your bloodstream by your posterior pituitary gland.

A 2011 study in the Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism affirmed that oxytocin can contribute to feelings of happiness, love, emotional and sexual attraction, and even hatred after stressful situations. However, it can also contribute to feelings of jealousy and similar emotions, which we'll explain further.

Oxytocin assists in childbirth and nursing, yes, but the benefits for parents don't end there.

According to a 2017 study in Current Opinion in Psychology, oxytocin is essential for parents. The study suggests oxytocin is associated with increased parent-child synchrony, sensitive parenting and parental contact.

A 2019 systematic review in the International Journal of Nursing Sciences suggested something similar: Oxytocin plays a significant role in building an attachment between infants and parents as they interact with each other.

Oxytocin essentially can help parents be more empathetic and connected, especially when they spend time with their little ones.

Women may have more plasma oxytocin, according to a 2019 study in Clinical Practice & Epidemiology in Mental Health.

However, people of all sexes produce oxytocin, though they may react to it differently. A 2016 study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) suggested oxytocin makes positive attributes more prominent for women, and negative ones more prominent for men. Researchers hypothesize the purpose is reproduction and safety: to encourage mothers to promote prosocial environments and fathers to protect against antisocial influences.

While oxytocin is naturally produced, doctors can administer it. For example, they may give an infusion of oxytocin to start or continue labor, control bleeding after giving birth or kick-start lactation.

According to a 2015 review in Frontiers in Endocrinology, oxytocin can affect your metabolism and bones as well, so it's used to help patients with diabetes and osteoporosis. Long story short, it helps by adjusting your insulin sensitivity, making regenerative changes in diabetic pancreatic islet cells and promoting bone formation.

Unfortunately, oxytocin isn't all snuggles and babies. Researchers Andrew Kemp, of the University of Sydney, and his colleague Adam Guastella believe it can play a role in envy, gloating and anger. In a 2011 study, they explained oxytocin deals with "approach-related emotions," or emotions pertaining to wanting something, which isn't always positive.

So we might not want to call oxytocin the "love hormone" too quickly.

"It's tuning us into social information and allowing us to analyze it at a higher resolution," said Larry Young, Ph.D., of the Center for Translational Social Neuroscience at Emory University, in an article published by the American Psychological Association. "Oxytocin is not the love hormone."

Even scarier, oxytocin may increase inclinations toward physical violence in people who are already aggressive, according to a 2014 study in Social Psychological and Personality Science.

Oxytocin's "dark side" comes into play further with relationship problems. According to a 2011 study in Psychoneuroendocrinology, high levels of the hormone are associated with more anxiety after conflicts and difficulty with forgiving.

Lastly, while oxytocin can make us more altruistic and giving, it can also lead to self-serving behaviors, again, tied to desire-related emotions, according to a 2019 study in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology.

While oxytocin is, in some ways, a love-related hormone you feel after cuddling or while giving birth, it has negative effects, too: greed, aggression and jealousy. Present in higher levels in women, it's created in the hypothalamus and contributes to many aspects of your health and life. It can help with emotional health—trust, bonding—and physical health conditions, such as diabetes, pregnancy and nursing, and osteoporosis.