Word: oxytocin
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...introverted 19-year-old cook. He lives inside a fantasy in which he has been endowed with the ability to see through walls, intercept thoughts, and even read bodily functions - powers he knows will be needed to save Mary from danger. "Mary impregnates the air with oxytocin, a hormone conducive to trust and uterine contraction," he observes as she chats with Katya, a sinister colleague. "The 2 parts per 17 million diffusion of this chemosensory signal causes Katya, whose biology serves purely Machiavellian ends, to wrinkle her nose." Sayonara Bar's wealth of convincing detail - hostess lounge...
...strongest case that can be made for the benefits of sex come from studies of aerobic fitness. The act of intercourse burns about 200 calories, the equivalent of running vigorously for 30 minutes. During orgasm, both heart rate and blood pressure typically double, all under the influence of oxytocin. It would be logical to conclude that sex, like other aerobic workouts, can protect against heart disease, but studies in support of this link have yet to be done. "Can we make the claim that having sex is equal to walking a mile or bicycling? We don't know," says Robert...
...1970s Dr. Beverly Whipple of Rutgers University identified the female G spot, the vaginal on-switch for female arousal, and stumbled upon one of oxytocin's more potent effects: its ability to dull pain. Whipple showed that gentle pressure on the G spot raised pain thresholds by 40% and that during orgasm women could tolerate up to 110% more pain. But she could not explain the link until the advent of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Using fMRI to view the brains of easily orgasmic women as they climaxed, either with visual stimuli or by self-stimulation, Whipple found that...
Researchers in Sweden are meanwhile exploring how sex affects another immunological function: the healing of wounds. Here again, oxytocin may lead the way. Using injections of oxytocin as a surrogate for arousal, Swedish investigators have found that sores on the backs of lab rats heal twice as fast under the influence of the hormone as without...
...each spouse's arm is blistered and then covered with a serum-collecting device. Over a 24-hour observation period, the couples discuss positive aspects of their marriage and mates as well as points of contention, such as finances or in-laws. The Glasers will analyze how levels of oxytocin change during these discussions, along with rates of healing...