Oxytocin goes by many names and “The Love Hormone” is just one of them. The bonding hormone, the nursing hormone, the relaxing hormone, the trusting hormone, the SEXY HORMONE, all names that lend to the idea of how this powerful hormone can help you.
Oxytocin is produced in high amounts during pregnancy, facilitates contractions during delivery, and is responsible for breast milk production. It even helps combat postpartum depression. But newer research is finding that the benefits and clinical uses of Oxytocin go well beyond these traditionally understood affects.
How Oxytocin Helps You
New research has demonstrated that Oxytocin enhances brain centers that are responsible for social cognition and processing. We now understand how Oxytocin is affecting the way we see the world and how we interact with others. The following list helps you to understand how powerful and important this hormone can be.
Natural Ways to Increase Oxytocin
Simply allowing yourself to be more social is extremely important to naturally raise your Oxytocin levels. Human contact is even easier. Simply shaking someones hand or giving someone a hug have shown to increase Oxytocin levels. A favorite food can do it also.
Eye Gazing
One of the most powerful ways to increase Oxytocin in couples is to Eye Gaze. Simply take three to five minutes to gaze into the eyes of your partner, particularly before sex. You can also practice eye gazing with yourself in the mirror or even a pet. Eye gazing is a very powerful meditative tool.
How Do You Know You Are Oxytocin Deficient?
Sometimes patients will simply resign to life and not care about things that they used to love. One key sign is a lack of emotion and abject fear of social situations, combined with a sense of apathy and withdrawal. Those people who have considerable difficulty in social situations are usually Oxytocin deficient and benefit from replacement therapy. Additional symptoms include having an easier pain perception, lowered intensity or loss of orgasm or needs greater than 20 minutes to achieve an orgasm, massively withdrawn from people, even a spouse or partner. The characteristics of someone with Oxytocin deficiency are introverted, having few friends, intellectual without emotion, and detached from others emotionally. The physical appearance shows a pale face with no flushing, joyless and without expression or smiling.
Patients who have the following life circumstances are most at risk:
Quick Assessment Tool: The mini-SPIN (Social Phobia Inventory)
Simply rate the following scenarios as 0 = not at all, 1 = a little bit, 2 = somewhat, 3 = very much, 4 = extremely.
1. Fear of embarrassment causes me to avoid doing things or speaking to people.
2. I avoid activities in which I am the center of attention.
3. Being embarrassed or looking stupid are among my worst fears.
A score of 6 or more is highly suggestive of having Social Phobia with a 90% accuracy. Oxytocin could be helpful in your case.
Oxytocin Hormone Replacement Therapy
To administer Oxytocin, I recommend either a simply intramuscular injection or a sublingual pill. The injection tends to be more effective for sexual encounters and the sublingual pill is good for overall social anxiety, but the injections work well for that also.
For social anxiety, the typical dose is about 10 to 20 IU (International Units) daily.
For sexual enhancement, 10 to 20 IU is used two full hours before intercourse.
If you think that you may be at risk of an Oxytocin deficiency, contact the office...
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