Don't panic if the passion is gone. New research says it's hugs not hanky-panky that keeps couples together
25 July, 2011 Recently, I met a few close female friends for dinner. As is the way on these occasions, the talk swiftly turned to relationships. Tellingly, the topic of marital sex — or more accurately, the lack of it — was a big issue among this group of fortysomething women, many of whom have either young children, husbands with demanding jobs or high levels of financial stress. ‘We hardly ever have sex these days,’ admitted my friend and lecturer Jo, 37.
New research suggests the 'love hormone' oxytocin may determine how sociable we are
Oxytocin junkies: The hormone that helps us bond with partners may also make social occasions enjoyable.
Can a single chemical be responsible for all the intimate connections we feel with other people? Oxytocin isn't called the "love hormone" for nothing. It has plenty of other functions, of course, among them triggering milk secretion during breastfeeding, and helping the cervix to dilate during labour. But it's oxytocin's role in bonding that is most intriguing.
Experts are beginning to measure the physiological hangovers of "love," so the time may be nearing that we can look at the physiological hangover buried in the passion cycle after orgasm.
One Clinic Zeroes In on How Modern Medicine Can Help Heal Heartbreak
Medical specialists from across the globe teamed up in Amsterdam this weekend to launch a first-of-its-kind clinic for the brokenhearted.
(Jack Aarts)
AS I wash dishes at the kitchen sink, my husband paces behind me, irritated. "Have you seen my keys?" he snarls, then huffs out a loud sigh and stomps from the room with our dog, Dixie, at his heels, anxious over her favorite human's upset.
Notice how neurochemicals affect our perception. It is not far-fetched to suggest that they may be playing a major role in habituation or harmony between mates.
Love Hormone Boosts Strangers' Sex Appeal
Oxytocin Could Play a Key Role in Choosing Mates
A chemical best known for cementing the bond between a mother and her newborn child could also play a part in picking mister (or miss) right.
The post about using a drug to change the sexual orientation of fruit flies — and some day, perhaps, of humans — generated lots of indignant reactions and questions about the research. I asked David Featherstone, one of the authors of the paper in Nature Neuroscience, to respond to Lab readers. Here’s what Dr. Featherstone, a neuroscientist at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has to say:
What if you could take a drug that would quickly alter your sexual orientation from straight to gay, or vice versa?
To their surprise, neurobiologists have discovered that homosexuality can be turned on or off in fruit flies. They’d known that sexual orientation can be genetically programmed, but they didn’t realize it could also be altered by giving a drug that changes the way the flies’ sensory circuits react to pheromones.
25 July, 2011 Recently, I met a few close female friends for dinner. As is the way on these occasions, the talk swiftly turned to relationships. Tellingly, the topic of marital sex — or more accurately, the lack of it — was a big issue among this group of fortysomething women, many of whom have either young children, husbands with demanding jobs or high levels of financial stress. ‘We hardly ever have sex these days,’ admitted my friend and lecturer Jo, 37.
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Put away your vacuum pump, heavy-duty auto booster cables and edible latex Brad Pitt face mask-and-abs combo.
Experts are beginning to measure the physiological hangovers of "love," so the time may be nearing that we can look at the physiological hangover buried in the passion cycle after orgasm.
by Amy Sutherland
Notice how neurochemicals affect our perception. It is not far-fetched to suggest that they may be playing a major role in habituation or harmony between mates.