Credits: Social Media
Scientists are hoping to replicate the ‘cuddle hormone’ for healthy, long-term pain relief
Researchers at the University of Florida are attempting to tackle Americas growing opioid crisis with a much healthier alternative to existing long-term pain management methods. How? By harnessing the power of the affectionately dubbed cuddle hormone.
Our bodies produce oxytocin naturally, but we get a bumper load of it when we kiss someone for six seconds or more, or when we have a really good hug. Kissing is also a way of communicating nonverbally, and it doesnt cost a penny. No, the UoF researchers arent getting study participants to kiss in a clinical setting, although that would be sort of lovely. Instead, theyre investigating a synthetic version of oxytocin for its use in pain and addiction relief.
Harnessing the cuddle hormone to fight a public health emergency
The US Department of Health and Human Services declared the opioid crisis a national public health emergency in 2017. It renewed its determination to combat it earlier this year.
Meanwhile, in 2021, 60 million people globally used opioids, and nearly 40 million people lived with a drug use disorder, according to the WHO.
All of this makes developing innovative, non-addictive options for pain management an utmost priority for governments and healthcare researchers, since many of those turning to opioids outside medical settings are doing so to find relief from chronic pain, or following the withdrawal of professionally prescribed opioids.
The idea behind the University of Florida study is to find out whether a synthetic version of the naturally occurring hormone oxytocin can be used together with prescription drugs to help curb opioid addictions.
The study isnt due for completion until April 2025, but its aims are clear: &physicians could potentially prescribe, in combination, an opioid and oxytocin as an acute pain management option, while at the same time lessening the likelihood of developing an addiction to opioids.
Why not take advantage of your hormones in everyday settings?
Oxytocin, per the studys write up on the College of Health and Human Performance website, produces positive feelings in the body.
It also plays a fundamental role in stimulating child labor, supporting parent-child bonding, and other social-affiliative processes.
However, its potential for use as a pain reliever is less known. In clinical settings, everything is measured and controlled, but we can also take advantage of our endocrine system in everyday settings.
Oxytocin is made in the hypothalamus, deep inside the brain. The pituitary gland (highlighted in the diagram of a brain, above) stores it and releases it into the bloodstream when triggered to do so. Why not trigger its release yourself? It lowers stress and anxiety, builds trust, and helps us form social bonds.
WebMD lists the following activities that help boost oxytocin:
- Eating a home-cooked dinner with a friend
- Spending quality time with your parents or children
- A good, long hug
- Petting your dog (see also below)
- Getting a massage this could be from a professional or a friend
- Soft, gentle self-touch
It also emphasizes physical touch, whether in the form of safe and consensual sex and cuddling hence the name, the “cuddle hormone!” or platonically between friends, as a way of triggering the production and release of oxytocin.
- DOGS HELP US MAKE IT, TOO: Vet explains why we think our dogs are so amazing
