In recent years, a lot of attention has been given to mood-enhancing brain neurochemicals like dopamine and serotonin. However, they are not the only neurotransmitters that can influence your happiness.
Oxytocin—sometimes called the “cuddle hormone” or the “chemical of love”—is a hormone and brain neurotransmitter that enhances bonding and trust in relationships, which plays a critical role in your overall well-being.
This love neurochemical earns its reputation by getting released through social bonding, such as when you feel close to another human being and physically touch as you do when you hug, snuggle, or experience sexual arousal and intimacy.
Oxytocin levels rise, too, when you bond socially with your friends, and much, much more. Here’s what you need to know about oxytocin and how to optimize your oxytocin levels to feel your best!
Oxytocin enhances a sense of calm and contentment while lowering anxious feelings when you are with your significant other—key elements in happy romantic partnerships.
Oxytocin is a hormone and neurotransmitter made by your brain’s hypothalamus. Your pituitary gland stores and releases it into your bloodstream or to other parts of the brain and spinal cord, where it binds to oxytocin receptors and influences behavior and physiology. Healthy oxytocin levels are imperative for good mental health.
Oxytocin function plays a critical role in facilitating childbirth and milk production for breastfeeding, as well as in promoting the bond between parent and infant. In positive relationships, oxytocin helps facilitate greater trust, pair bonding, expressions of generosity, maternal behaviors, and social interactions, as well as reduced stress levels.
Releasing oxytocin enhances a sense of calm, contentment, and overall well-being while lowering anxious feelings when you are with your significant other—key elements in happy romantic partnerships.
The hormone oxytocin is also associated with protective behaviors in a social group setting. Remarkably, with social bonding, oxytocin has been shown to lessen pain levels and promote wound healing—as close relationships help to improve physical health. It appears we truly are better together!
As with other hormones, imbalances in oxytocin production can cause problems. Low oxytocin levels have been associated with low mood and feeling your survival is at risk. There’s also a link to autism.
Healthy oxytocin levels can decrease stress and cortisol and calm the nervous system, which may help romantic partners to be monogamous. However, if your hormone balance is off and there’s too much or too little oxytocin, it can have a downside.
When there is an excessive amount of oxytocin produced, it can lead to partners becoming overly attached to each other and too trusting. This can cause partners and friends to overlook alarming behaviors such as abuse.
Too much oxytocin increases the possibility of negative traits such as envy, gloating, and being overly protective. It can lead to groupthink, distrust of outsiders, and prejudice.
High testosterone, separation from a loved one, social isolation, bereavement, and acute stress are examples of things that can decrease the release of oxytocin.
Thus, keeping oxytocin balanced can be achieved by engaging in activities that tend to promote healthy levels of this vital neurochemical that is so important for your mental health.
If you are wondering how to increase oxytocin, here are 13 science-backed ways to boost your body’s levels of this brain chemical that enhances your overall well-being.
We are social creatures, and our neurochemicals appear to support us in engaging socially with positive relationships. Simply spending time with your friends or social group helps to increase oxytocin, which lowers stress levels and boosts well-being, research says.
We are touchy people! That’s because physical touch is indeed powerfully healing—simply holding hands, giving a hug, or snuggling up calms our nervous system and can boost oxytocin, research has found. Hence, the cuddle hormone oxytocin plays an essential role in our physical and mental health!
Get some skin-to-skin contact. The nurturing and therapeutic act of giving or receiving a massage appears to release oxytocin, research suggests.
There are a host of benefits from massage that include reducing anxiety and pain, facilitating stress relief, and a greater perception of well-being.
There’s a reason gift-giving is fun for the giver! It turns out that simply giving gifts (any kind of gift, it need not be extravagant) encourages the release of oxytocin. A little note, healthy sweet treat, or flower is enough to make you and the receiver feel good.
Make giving small gifts and extending kindnesses an everyday habit to get a regular boost of the feel-good neurochemical, experts at Cedars-Sinai suggest.
If you gaze into the eyes of someone you love for a minute, it can quickly create a calm and connected state that helps boost oxytocin. Research suggests this even extends to pets and strangers.
One study that conducted this experiment amongst strangers found increased affection between participants.
There’s a neurochemical reason that listening to music makes us feel good as research has shown that it boosts oxytocin levels. But it’s not just listening.
Research shows that choral singing increases oxytocin levels too. It’s thought that the enhanced social connectedness in choir singing and listening to music together is what gives oxytocin a boost.
It is well-established that yoga helps to decrease anxious feelings, stress, and low mood while at the same time supporting restful sleep, and general well-being.
It’s not a surprise then that more recent research indicates it may also increase oxytocin levels.
Studies suggest that oxytocin is released when you practice loving kindness meditation. This is when you channel thoughts of love, empathy, and well wishes to yourself, those you love, and even those with whom you have conflict.
Investing in your relationships in ways that make the bonds stronger increases oxytocin levels, according to research. Thus, confiding your feelings in a dear friend or saying “I love you” to someone can trigger oxytocin synthesis.
These meaningful social interactions increase emotional intimacy and well-being.
We are rewarded with feel-good hormones like oxytocin when we do kind acts for others, a 2022 study suggests. What’s more, this neural chemistry gets stronger as we grow older.
Being of service to others is termed a “prosocial” behavior and is associated with greater life satisfaction. It’s also a wonderful way to boost or maintain healthy oxytocin levels.
Volunteer at an animal shelter or a retirement home, or perhaps mentor a young person. Not only do these activities increase opportunities for social interactions, but they also facilitate increased production of the feel-good hormones!
Humans and pets have had close relationships for millennia. It appears that we heal each other. Making physical contact by petting your dog helps reduce stress and elevate levels of oxytocin, our neurochemical of trust, research shows. (Physical touch increases your animal’s oxytocin levels too!)
Studies show that this also goes for cats and their owners. Perhaps that’s why pet therapy and emotional support animals have become so popular in recent years.
In our fast-paced, digital world, too often we eat alone, on the go, or in front of a television screen. Take time out to enjoy a meal with someone you love. Sharing food and conversation are bonding activities that stimulate oxytocin production, research shows.
Oxytocin is known as the love chemical for a reason. Physical intimacy and sexual activity are wonderful way to show affection to your partner and enhance your bond.
Neurochemically, sexual arousal and orgasm are reliably associated with higher levels of oxytocin in studies. Even physical touch such as caressing, hugging, and holding hands can trigger oxytocin release—more examples of why the love hormone is also known as the cuddle hormone!
One study involving women found more hugs with their romantic partner was associated with higher oxytocin levels.
Now that you know how to increase oxytocin, it’s time to put it into action. Choose one of more of these natural ways to pump up your oxytocin production. Simply find the strategies that feel the best for you and make them part of your routine.
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Have you experienced unresolved psychological traumas or emotional shocks in your life? Are you coping with chronic stress and feeling perpetually overwhelmed? If so, you may be dealing with the consequences of an emotional concussion—or several of them.
Just as a physical concussion can disrupt brain function, emotional concussions can alter the way your brain works and lead to long-term negative effects. While traumas and chronic stress may seem like events and circumstances you can simply push past, they shouldn’t be ignored.
This blog will explore the symptoms of emotional concussions, their numerous potential effects on both physical and mental health, and the most effective brain-based strategies to help them heal.
Just as a physical concussion can disrupt brain function, emotional concussions can alter the way your brain works and lead to long-term negative effects.
Most people are familiar with physical concussions, which are a type of traumatic brain injury (TBI) caused by damaging events like hits or bumps to the head. In these instances, the injury can be obvious.
But brain injuries from emotional stress are also possible. When it comes to the brain, emotional trauma vs. physical trauma may seem completely different, but they do share some commonalities.
For example, both types often go unreported, undiagnosed, and untreated. Just as many people erroneously believe they need to lose consciousness to sustain a concussion, they might think their psychological trauma isn’t serious enough to cause an emotional concussion.
Both types of concussions can also lead to cognitive, behavioral, or mental health issues. That’s because a blow to the head, as well as emotional trauma, impacts healthy brain function.
When emotional traumas pile up—as with soldiers in war, first responders, or chronically traumatized children—these effects are compounded. And some individuals, such as those who lack social support, are more susceptible to lasting effects from trauma.
Such factors can increase the risk of developing mental health symptoms and conditions. This helps explain how emotional trauma affects mental health.
Furthermore, emotional concussions may remain undiagnosed—or misdiagnosed—because the symptoms overlap with those of other conditions. Emotional concussion symptoms include:
Emotional trauma and chronic stress can be silent destroyers, but they actually create changes in the brain. For example, prolonged or frequent stress rewires the brain’s emotional centers because it continually sets off the fight-or-flight response. Over time, the individual can experience reduced brain reserve and diminished cognitive focus.
Several brain regions are impacted by chronic stress and trauma:
When emotional concussions remain untreated, they can create serious negative impacts on various areas of an individual’s life. For example, those with unhealed emotional trauma may experience an increased risk of mental health issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety.
Thanks to heightened emotional reactivity and difficulty regulating emotions, relationship problems can also occur after emotional concussions. Because building healthy relationships is crucial for overall health and longevity, challenges in this domain can have a devastating domino effect.
Finally, the National Center for PTSD reports that substantial research has linked psychological trauma and physical health, starting with neurochemical changes in the brain. The organization notes that PTSD, for example, has been associated with:
Therefore, physical symptoms like headaches, gut issues, chronic pain, and fatigue may occur as a side effect of untreated emotional concussions.
With several regions of the brain potentially affected by emotional trauma and chronic stress, functional brain imaging is essential for revealing a full picture of the impact. When emotional trauma and stress accumulate, brain SPECT scans often reveal a diamond pattern in the brain, reflecting increased activity in the basal ganglia, ACG, and parts of the deep limbic system.
Fortunately, thanks to the remarkable ability of neuroplasticity, rewiring the brain for increased stress resilience is possible.
Certain psychotherapy modalities can be helpful for tackling emotional trauma. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) assists in questioning and reframing automatic negative thoughts. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) addresses and reduces the severity of emotional trauma symptoms.
Adopting positive lifestyle habits further works to reduce stress and anxiety. Ensure high-quality sleep, exercise regularly to boost blood flow to the brain, and eat a well-balanced diet with anti-anxiety foods. Introduce calming practices like journaling, mindfulness/meditation, deep breathing, and prayer.
Finally, embrace natural strategies to calm an overactive or overwhelmed brain. Try relaxation-inducing supplements like GABA, magnesium, and lemon balm. Brain-based therapies such as neurofeedback can help retrain your brain and create more balance, reducing mental health symptoms. And hypnosis can change negative thought patterns and habits while soothing anxiety.
While emotional scars can run deep, they are not beyond help and healing. Treating an emotional concussion is possible with a holistic brain-body approach.
Because these invisible wounds often go undiagnosed, the first step toward healing is awareness. If the symptoms of an emotional concussion are interfering with your life and well-being, seek help from a mental health professional to start on the road to recovery.
National Library of Medicine. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=brain+%2B+spect
Amen DG, Jourdain M, Taylor DV, Pigott HE, Willeumier K. Multi-site six month outcome study of complex psychiatric patients evaluated with addition of brain SPECT imaging. Adv Mind Body Med. 2013 Spring;27(2):6-16. PMID: 23709407.
Yandrapalli S, Puckett Y. SPECT Imaging. [Updated 2022 Oct 3]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK564426/
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