Many problems that seem unsolvable could be resolved if we managed to raise our baseline oxytocin level.
We like simple stories about how easy it is to get what we want and become a little happier. Stories like these are the foundation of marketing and advertising. “Play brain games and get smarter.” “Meditate 10 minutes a day and watch the tension melt out of your body.”
The same story can be told about oxytocin, which is often called the love hormone. “Hug more often and be happy,” we are often told. But this story is not nearly so simple.
What is oxytocin?
Oxytocin is a hormone produced in the hypothalamus. It acts as a chemical messenger, controls the working of the reproductive system, and also influences our behaviour. According to scientists it is a kind of “social glue” that binds families and communities together and helps a feeling of trust arise between strangers.
How does oxytocin affect people?
A team of scientists from the Center for Neuroeconomics at Claremont University in California ran an experiment: strangers were required to give each other money without knowing whether they would get it back. The participants were split into two groups. One was given oxytocin vapour to inhale from a spray, the other simply a placebo.
Those given the hormone proved more generous, as they trusted strangers more readily. In the end the researchers called oxytocin “the trust molecule”. They also found that this molecule is the key to the whole of human morality. It lets you see the “gap” between your own behaviour and how other people behave — and, most importantly, draw the right conclusions.
How stress undermines trust
This raises a question: if we are all wired for trust, and oxytocin really is a powerful thing, why is virtue far from universal? How, then, do chaos and disorder arise?
The point is that under stress, when a person feels they are on the edge of survival, a different hormone is produced — testosterone, along with its biologically active metabolite.
Researchers at Claremont University found that stress hormones prevent oxytocin from binding to receptors in the brain. The balance is disturbed — and suddenly we are unable to trust anyone. In the end, prosocial behaviour becomes antisocial.
Why there is not enough oxytocin to go round
In the course of his experiments, Paul Zak, who leads the Claremont University group, also found that oxytocin is not produced in everyone. In 5% of participants, for instance, the hormone was not produced at all. These people, in his words, “have some traits of psychopaths”. There is also evidence that oxytocin receptors in the forebrain of rats tend to atrophy when maternal care is “insufficient”. He also found that the bodies of women who were abused in childhood are fundamentally unable to produce oxytocin.
The scientists concluded: many social and political problems that seem unsolvable could be resolved if we managed to raise our baseline oxytocin level. People are catastrophically short of it now, which is directly connected with parent-child relationships and with the education process.
Simple ways to start trusting the world
Is there a way to raise your oxytocin levels and start trusting again? Definitely — yes! Researchers recommend the following:
- Hug at least 8 times a day
- Have a 15-minute massage
- Check in on social media from time to time
During practice, and even more so during meditation, the brain receives powerful signals of love, kindness, acceptance and unity. This happens through the release of serotonin and oxytocin. Serotonin, incidentally, is responsible for keeping mood in balance and is used in many widely available antidepressants. But the body is able to produce these hormones on its own — precisely during meditation.
- Choose a time when no one will disturb you
- Light your favourite incense and candles
- Sit with a straight back and your legs crossed, open your palms and rest them on your knees
- Make yourself comfortable; if you need to, put cushions behind your back
- Close your eyes and move your attention to the space between your eyebrows
- Breathe deeply and slowly, listening to your breath. The sound will probably remind you of the sea: on the inhale the wave comes in, and on the exhale it draws back
- Repeat the affirmation to yourself: “Infinity and I are one”
- Feel that all the time in the world belongs to you right now and there is nowhere to hurry
- At the end of the meditation place your palms over your heart
- Give thanks to yourself, to your family, and to people you know and do not know. In your mind, embrace the whole Earth with love
