OXYTOCIN

Men's bodies need the time to sit and do nothing. If you knew why men need time to relax, then will it save your relationship? I think it just may. Equally important, women need time to nurture themselves and connect with other women. Read on for the science behind the phenomenon. The stress-reducing hormone responsible for lowering your stress level is different depending on your gender. For men--the stress-reducing hormone is: TESTOSTERONE. For women--the stress-reducing hormone is: OXYTOCIN. The way we reduce our stress actually increases stress in the opposite sex.

Everyone knows that divorce is rampant in America; what they don’t know is that many of those divorces could be avoided. Here are seven steps you can take to divorce proof your marriage. Talk more often, more openly and more honestly. Be courageous about this. It takes a willingness to be vulnerable with your partner to speak openly and honestly about your needs, but the rewards are great. You can’t expect to have your needs met by your partner if they don’t understand what you need.

At Mars Venus Coaching we talk a lot about oxytocin and its many benefits. There’s nothing like the rush of oxytocin to fuel your day. As a mom, as a daughter, as a friend, as a business woman—it doesn’t matter what title is attached to your name as a female, what matters is knowing how to produce oxytocin for yourself.

Oxytocin is a stress reducing hormone released in women. When a woman does somthing that produces Oxytocin, her Cortisol (stress hormone) levels begin to drop and she starts to feel less stressed and more relaxed. Below is a list of 10 sure fire ways a women can produce Oxytocin for herself this Valentine's Day. Some of them might just surprise you.   1. Get a massage 2. Get your hair done 3. Get a manicure or pedicure 4. Take yourself on a shopping spree 5. Volunteer or give to a charity

Eat your broccoli. It’s good for you. Take your cod liver oil. It’s good for you. Exercise daily. It’s good for you. Have sex. It’s good for you. Huh? Broccoli, cod liver oil, exercise and sex are all in the same do-it-cuz-it’s-good-for-you category. Don’t you think that argument (and we’ve heard a lot of it lately) makes having sex sound like something you do while holding your nose? Something you have to do because it’s good for you?

A recent study out of Israel suggests a man's oxytocin levels may actually be on par with their wives/girlfriends during the child rearing process. Researchers drew blood from 80 couples who were raising a six-week old baby and found identical amounts in their blood stream. As the child matured to six months, the scientists once again analyzed the levels and found the same result. It seems that a mother and father's oxytocin levels rise together while they watch their wee one grow.

What happens in our bodies when we touch each other sexually? Why is touch so powerful? The unromantic answer is that when we touch, our brains are affronted with a deluge of chemicals that change both us and how we relate to our partner.

Men. They can be just as confounding as women when it comes to emotions—especially if it has to do with expressing them. But a recent study conducted by Dr. Rene Hurlemann of Bonn University's Clinic for Psychiatry and Dr. Keith Kendrick of the Cambridge Babraham Institute is finally offering some insight into why men are lacking in the empathy department. Hint: Blame it on Mother Nature. In the experiment, Hurlemann and Kendrick recruited 48 men, half of whom were spritzed with "empathy" spray—a.k.a. the hormone oxytocin—before being shown emotionally charged photos, like a kid crying or a man mourning. The results: Men in the oxytocin group registered higher empathy levels than those in the placebo pool. Intrigued, we mined professor Kendrick for more about how the male emotional mind really works.

Wondering where the spark went in your relationship? Find it in the bedroom. When you're a couple, sex can be a great way to make your relationship stronger. Here, five ways sex is good for your relationship.

While the crazy stat that says men think about sex every 7 seconds has been debunked, the feeling behind the statistic remains true: some men can't get sex out of their minds. Another thing that's hard to get out of your mind? Your ex. Coupled together, sex and the ex are a hard combination to resist. But according to most experts, ex sex is a bad idea. Here are 6 reasons men (and women!) love ex sex, and why you should avoid it.

Dr. John Gray gives advice to a woman who is trying to balance the stress of work with her relationship. The secret? Dr. John Gray reveals two ways you can reduce stress when you get home from work.

Is it true that women reach their sexual peak in their 30s?

I've learned a few things about love in my time here on Earth, and one of them is that relationships built on sex usually don't last. First, no matter how cool she is, no matter how good-looking she is and no matter how much you dig her, there is someone out there who is sick of her. Second, there is a very good chance that when a guy begins drifting away from a lady, he's just sick of boning her.

We hear about relationships torn apart by internet porn addiction, but where are the support groups for smut-lovers like me, who suddenly and inexplicably get turned off by porn when they fall in love? Before I met my boyfriend, I was visiting youporn.com about a half an hour a day, hunting through dozens of clips to find the one most perfectly calibrated to turn me on. After I met my boyfriend, my visits to the site dropped off in equal proportion to how much I was getting off with a flesh-and-blood human being.

ScienceDaily reports the natural hormone oxytocin, often referred to as the "love hormone," may actually help couples communicate. Oxytocin is naturally present during orgasm and when women breastfeed; the synthetic version, Pitocin, is used to help induce labor. Time recently reported that a synthetic oxytocin nasal spray has been seen to reduce anxiety and shyness, and to increase generosity.

Oxytocin is quite a busy hormone. When released in the brain, it facilitates sex, orgasm, birth and breastfeeding, as well as feelings of bonding, connection and trust. In her forthcoming book The Chemistry of Connecton: How the Oxytocin Response Can Help You Find Trust, Intimacy and Love, author and journalist Susan Kuchinskas describes the important role oxytocin plays in our love lives and how we can train our brain to better respond to love. In other words, we weren't born knowing how to love—we learn it.