Notes on: How to raise oxytocin levels

'How to raise oxytocin levels' is taken from the course 'Managing Happiness' by Arthur Brooks on edX.org.

What Increases Levels of Oxytocin in the Body?

We are social creatures by nature, and every positive social interaction causes oxytocin levels to increase. This could be as simple as someone saying hello or opening a door for you, to watching a tv show or commercial. Anything with positive social content will cause the brain to produce more oxytocin and this happens continuously.

There are degrees of connections we feel when interacting with social content, be it live, or on a screen, and the degree of oxytocin that is released corresponds to the degree we feel the connection. Therefore, you will release more oxytocin when you see a close friend you haven't met in a while versus when you see your co-worker in the office.

This all happens unconsciously and on repeat. The half life of oxytocin in our system is very short. This is a survival characteristic, so we stay alert and do not over trust in situations that could turn dangerous at some point.

What inhibits the release of oxytocin?

High levels of stress is a major inhibitor of oxytocin. When we are stressed, we are not thinking about connecting with people, instead we are thinking of getting away from whatever is causing us stress.

Testosterone is another strong inhibitor of oxytocin. Oxytocin increases our sense of empathy in others, but if you look at male teenagers, they tend to demonstrate the least amount of empathy, and when they are in high competition situations, you see less bonding and cooperation, unless they have a reason to do that.

Certain situations are socially complex and therefore release a complex mix of emotions in us as well. Consider team sports, where players are working together, oxytocin gets released as well as testosterone and stress hormones at the same time.

Bad dude or bad mood?

High testosterone comes with a stronger desire for risk taking, which is why you see the bulk of crimes being committed by young male adults. Our testosterone levels tend to modulate at around the age of 30.

Understanding the power of the hormones in our body can help us reshape our perceptions of people and their behaviour. Humans tend to be presumptuous and will commit the fundamental attribution error, which is to label someone who is behaving badly as a bad person, when in reality, they are normally good people who are just in a bad moods.

Ironically, we tend to treat people who are in bad moods and displaying bad behaviour poorly, which perpetuates the problem and could make the bad mood worse. What people in bad moods really needs is someone to show they care and help them.

Toddlers are great examples of this. When they throw a tantrum, a common punishment would be to send them to their room, but this is the opposite of what we should be doing. We are social creatures and a toddler tantrum is the toddler learning how to develop emotionally and socially, so that last thing we should be doing is isolating them as that just puts more stress on them.

Strategies to Raise Oxytocin Levels

When we do not get enough oxytocin, we feel lonely, and loneliness is very degrading for our quality of life and physical health. We have a strong need for human connection.

Social interactions promote long-term life satisfaction and overall happiness, and when we lack it we begin to focus more on ourselves and then social interaction become more difficult.

On the other hand, people who have a lot of social interactions, and are getting constant oxytocin release, have lower levels of stress and improved immune systems, delivering not only a better quality of life, but a physically healthier one too.

Oxytocin is a gift that you give yourself by giving to others. It is very difficult to make your brain release oxytocin, with the exception of TV, commercials and movies, where you can have a social experience with the actors you are watching. Either way, this one way interaction is not as valuable as in-person interactions.

If you are feeling lonely, 3 strategies you can employ to raise oxytocin include:

1. Reach out and help others. Volunteering or doing something in service of other people almost always guarantees a "thank you" and a smile from those you are helping and others around you, both of which release oxytocin.

2. Go out in public. Go to a coffee shop or a park, anywhere other people are gathered, and strike up a conversation with someone. You do not need to try and build an everlasting connection with people, but simply interacting will release oxytocin.

3. Get a dog or take one for a walk. Cats can be super beneficial as well, but dogs have been raised by humans for years to be oxytocin producers. When going for a walk, people who have dogs have a much greater chance of someone stopping to say hello.

As we expose ourselves more to situations that raise oxytocin levels we are training our brain to make it easier for us to connect with others in the future, even strangers.

Can Social Media Raise Oxytocin Levels?

Social media is the junk food of social connection. Junk food is not nutrient rich, and does not lead to a long-term healthy lifestyle, but you can certainly survive for a bit off junk food if you had to.

Studies we have have shown that oxytocin is release around 60% of the time when using social media and 80% of the time when we are socializing in person. Our need for social connection is so strong that we get it wherever we can get it.

Social media can beneficial, but it is not as effective as real human interactions. People can become addicted to the point where they avoid opportunities to connect with real people, which leads to less oxytocin than they could get otherwise.

This does not even touch the negative side of social media, which can be very damaging to ones mental health. Healthy use of social media does release oxytocin and keeps our system active, but we do not want to overdo it.