How to improve happiness? The key is "oxytocin": enhancing empathy and improving life satisfaction
Are you satisfied with life? Do you often feel a sense of happiness? In fact, this is closely related to oxytocin, known as the “love hormone”. Oxytocin has been confirmed to be related to the desire for intimate behavior and the development of social skills; recent research in “Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience” further pointed out that the secretion of oxytocin helps improve life satisfaction and empathy, making individuals willing to take more actions good measures to form a “positive cycle”.
Elderly people have higher life satisfaction, American research shows that it is related to oxytocin secretion
Claremont Research University in the United States recruited 103 subjects between the ages of 18-99 and divided them into three groups: young group (18-35 years old), middle-aged group (36-65 years old) and elderly group ( 65-99 years old). They were asked to watch a short, emotionally rich video and record their feelings in detail for the research team to refer to.
The research team collected blood samples from the subjects before and after they watched the video to measure their oxytocin levels. Through blood samples and questionnaire surveys, it was found that the oxytocin levels in the elderly group were higher than those in other groups. Notably, the researchers offered a bonus at the end of the experiment, with the option to donate part of it to charity. People with higher oxytocin levels are more likely to donate more money and engage in volunteer work more frequently than others.
Study author Paul J. Zak said that through experimental results, it is known that the release of oxytocin is closely related to “prosocial behavior”, and the two tend to influence each other. For example, taking voluntary work to help others can promote the release of oxytocin and produce a sense of happiness. This sense of happiness can drive individuals to do more good deeds. However, it is not yet certain why the elderly are more likely to release oxytocin and show empathy. Zak believes that it may be related to religious beliefs, life experiences and other factors.
The effects of abusing oxytocin may be “counterproductive” study: subjects became “glassy” and emotionally excited
Zak said that relevant psychological medicine institutions are currently using “intranasal sprays” containing oxytocin to improve the mood and cognitive functions of patients with mental illness. Zak also emphasized that the effects of oxytocin vary with the environment and individual physical conditions, and it cannot be generalized whether it can have an effect on anyone.
In addition, the impact of oxytocin on the human body is not entirely positive. A study published in the “Emotion Journal” mentioned that 82 healthy adults took a dose of 24 IU of intranasal oxytocin and a placebo respectively, and asked the participants to perform an emotion recognition accuracy test. Research results have found that patients who take oxytocin are “overly sensitive” to their personal emotions and are prone to make exaggerated actions based on the words and deeds of others. The subjects even exhibited behaviors such as talkativeness and excitement, and many subjects reported that their “negative memories” were awakened.
Christopher Cardoso, author of the study and a psychologist at Concordia University in Canada, said that oxytocin does have a certain degree of healing effect on people suffering from severe mental illness. However, if the treatment is misused (such as intranasal oxytocin), the effect may be counterproductive.
source:
Oxytocin Release Increases With Age and Is Associated With Life Satisfaction and Prosocial Behaviors
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