Author: Paul Ratner / Source: Big Think
- Leisure activities can help release more oxytocin, say researchers.
- Oxytocin is a hormone linked to social and sexual interaction.
- Couples who took art classes and played board games together released oxytocin.
With Valentine’s Day upon us, are you looking for a way to bring more love into your relationship?
Take an art class or pick up a new board game to play together. This advice comes courtesy of a new study from Baylor University, which found that the bodies of couples engaged in such activities released oxytocin — “the hugging hormone.” What’s especially surprising? Men who took up art released twice as much oxytocin as the women or couples who played games.The study, which was published in the Journal of Marriage and Family on February 12, was the first to look at how different kinds of leisure are related to the release of oxytocin — a hormone linked to social interaction, sexual behavior and family unity.
The study’s author Karen Melton, assistant professor of child and family studies at Baylor University, said the researchers were expecting an opposite result — they thought that couples engaged in board game play would have more interaction and release more oxytocin, because of having to communicate about strategy or due to competition.
The researchers made other interesting findings. It turned out that couples in an art class paid more attention to each other than to the instructor. There was also more…
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