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Sheree: [00:00:00] There's even research to support that you can end up craving more sugary foods, not getting enough of this oxytocin. So you've also mentioned the sleep inefficiency. So there's a lot of things that this beautiful hormone actually. Supports, I remember reading one study once that showed that you to get your daily oxytocin levels So if we're not talking about getting a nasal spray, you actually have to have eight hugs every single day to meet that requirement Right.
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Sheree: Welcome back to another episode of the Wild and Wild Collective. Today we're talking about probably one of my favorite hormones, neurotransmitters, whatever you want to call it, oxytocin. Now this is commonly known [00:01:00] or referred to as It's the love hormone, it gives you that beautiful, joyous feeling where you kind of lit up all inside.
It's something that we refer to often as the cuddle hormone after sex or intimacy. And it's also the one that's highly released when we are breastfeeding as women. So interestingly enough, that's kind of our. Our perspective on what this beautiful hormone can do. However, Chris has been doing a bit of research and there's some amazing other benefits to this beautiful hormone.
So Krista, do you want to lead us in and tell us a little bit more about what you've found out?
Christa: Yeah. So interestingly, some research is showing that it can actually help with. So we know that oxytocin can help with pain so, it, like you said, it's kind of a cuddle hormone, it helps us feel bonded but it can also help relieve pain, so it encourages overall being satiated overall feeling good in your body but there has been some research that's been shown showing that [00:02:00] it can help with muscle soreness, And so in turn, like when we look at this research, it's really showing us that there could be a connection between muscle health and oxytocin, which is pretty cool.
The key about this is that oxytocin declines as we age naturally. So is it beneficial beyond our mood? To then be replacing oxytocin with age, especially if your workouts, sometimes people work out and they're so sore for three days, they don't get regular exercise because their body recovery is just long, that recovery time is long and so it kind of deters them from working out, could this be evidence some of the things that we do in our daily lives towards maybe we do replacement of oxytocin to help us recover quicker and to actually help with that healing and then regenerating and generating new healthy muscle.
Sheree: So interesting, right? Like when we think about oxytocin, it's normally, like I talked about that connection, that cuddle, and we can get that from a variety of things, right? It's the hugging, [00:03:00] it's the physical intimacy. We don't have the option to just tap into breastfeeding when we want to, but there's a lot of ways we can get it through that physical touch.
And what I'm hearing is that something you really, really important that you mentioned is that it naturally declines with age. Something that I think we, we often forget about. And that's why we can start to notice increased feelings of loneliness, reduce, even a reduction of wanting to have that physical intimacy.
So. What I'm hearing is there's actually a few different ways that we could be boosting this up. Can you talk to us a little bit about what you've seen could really work or what the research is showing aside from just those generic things that we've kind of heard?
Christa: Yeah, I mean, so there's ways to take it.
A common way is a nasal spray to enhance that. And what people find when you replace or when you supplement with oxytocin is that they sleep better. So oxytocin promote, again, that rest and digest calm, so you sleep better, which is going to improve overall health if you're getting a better night's [00:04:00] sleep.
It also can enhance your ability to tolerate pain. So as oxytocin declines, that there's an increased sensitivity to pain. So that means, if you've got chronic pain in your body, it's going to be more apparent to you, and it can keep you up at night, or it can just be really lower overall mood.
I mean, if you're in chronic pain that can have mental health effects as well. But if you are really, if you're more sensitive to pain and we know that that can be true as we age, then the pain of working out, so pain discomfort, right? So exercise shouldn't be painful, but a lot of times it's uncomfortable.
And so if those levels are low, chronically, you might be more intolerant of harder workouts, might be more intolerant of heavier lifting, right? And certainly more intolerant to the soreness that precedes it. So something like a nasal spray can really help to get better quality sleep. And then to help some of that inflammation post workout, that's going to be really helpful to your recovery and to be more, [00:05:00] apt to work out harder.
Sheree: That's so interesting. I think when we think about training, we can think about, growth hormone, we think about testosterone and testosterone being the driver for motivation, but this idea that the toxin being depleted could actually be a driver for us, maybe avoiding workouts, there's other things that when we look at the research.
Some signs that you may be deficient in that oxytocin is just increased irritability. Like when we think about this, this is that love hormone that makes you feel really good. And so it can actually be, if you're someone that's going, am I maybe oxytocin deficient? If you've got increased anxiety, maybe you're struggling to achieve orgasm, which I know a lot of.
be experiencing a lot more as we start to get older. There's even research to support that you can end up craving more sugary foods, not getting enough of this oxytocin. So you've also mentioned the sleep inefficiency. So there's a lot of things that this beautiful hormone actually. Supports, I remember reading one study once that showed that you to get your daily oxytocin [00:06:00] levels So if we're not talking about getting a nasal spray, you actually have to have eight hugs every single day to meet that requirement Right.
Yeah. Now that's actually not an option for someone all the time. I tried tried it on as an I'm in my single era and I don't have access to someone that I can just come home and be like, give me my eight cuddles, please. It's very interesting you're not people all the time, like I work from home a lot of the day.
And so. Looking at it as, as how can I give myself this extra boost of oxytocin? Yes, I can set myself on a mission to do those eight hugs, but also having this option available where, you don't, you may not realize that that might be why your mood's low. That might be why your workouts are more painful.
You might be why you're more inflamed is actually this deficiency or this depleted oxytocin level.
Christa: Yeah. And higher anxiety too. So just overall. If you're depleted of the natural ways that we. Boost our own endogenous oxytocin or midlife and beyond, we just, our brain tends to put up less and less of it.
And [00:07:00] so that can play a role. Obviously this is multifactorial, but it can't, oxytocin itself can play a role in higher anxiety, in some insomnia. As well as like longer recovery times and circling back to muscle. It's interesting that there are actual receptor sites in our muscle for oxytocin.
Anytime we see a receptor for something in our body. We know that it serves a purpose there, right? There's a reason why there's a lock and key there. So we know that it's important. And I think more research has to be done from what I've read. But it's just interesting to see this correlation and how the more we're learning about muscle health and how important it is for maintaining health span.
And then longevity in turn. It's, it's important to look at all of these aspects and then say, okay, cool. If we have receptors there, if we know that this is an important hormone for our mental health for our sleep, it's a [00:08:00] pretty important hormone. And if we have means and ways to boost it as we're aging, then by all means we want to look into that.
So, like I said before, it's pretty easy to replace with a nasal spray. It's pretty simple to, to take and I recommend to my patients taking it before bed just because it does help with kind of that rest, getting ready for bed, deeper sleep so that can be , if you're kind of checking all those boxes as we're going through, Oh, I'm irritable.
Oh, I'm not sleeping well. Oh, I'm craving more sugar. Oh, orgasm is good. Et cetera, then looking into that, I think could be helpful to, to boost all around health and wellness in general.
Sheree: Beautiful. Well, I love that we're having this conversation and hopefully our listeners are having little wheels spinning in their head and maybe they're going out and taking that little mission of either getting eight hugs or going and trying on the nasal spray.
Christa: Yeah. There's also ways I, I do prescribe it. [00:09:00] Connected with other peptides, it can even be connected with Cialis. There's compound pharmacies that will compound it in. So you can have a dissolvable tablet with it as well, which that can help kind of get you in the mood and feel more relaxed.
Cause a lot of times, I know we've talked about it in previous episodes before, but when you, any age really, but I like to say midlife and beyond. where libido is a bit lower. Sometimes that's because we're in that stress state chronically. And so a little touch of, Tadalafil, Cialis for women can be helpful for blood flow, but also adding that oxytocin compounded in that dissolvable tablet can just be helpful to help you relax and help you be more in the present moment.
So there's multiple uses for it and there's multiple ways to take it. You just need to talk to your provider about. when and how to use it. But overall, it looks like what research is showing is that this hormone can be, can play multiple roles in our overall
Sheree: health. Amazing. Well, hopefully you guys got something out of that and you're going to start exploring [00:10:00] your relationship with oxytocin far deeper than just the cattle hormone.
Thank you so much, Krista
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