Your pet has magical powers, but it’s just science
A scientist, a fairy cat, and Oxytocin.
A scientist spends his time in the lab in solitude trying to make a miracle drug. The scientist mixes a bunch of colorful chemicals together in a beaker, smells it, then drinks it.
“Nothing works!” the scientist screams,
“I demand euphoria” another scream as the scientist threw the beaker to the ground. After a long day of work, the scientist shuffled back home, onto the couch, to unwind for the evening.
“I’ve tried everything! Yet nothing worked!” the scientist said out loud. The tired scientist sat on the couch, eating chips, with sorrow, as the experiments to achieve happiness failed. The scientist was so exhausted that he had forgotten to close the front door, when suddenly, a cat came in. This cat smelled the scientists chips and climbed up on the couch, sitting on the scientists lap.
“Meow” said the cat as it ate the chips.
At first the scientist was startled, but the cute cat just sat on the scientists lap, purring, then suddenly…
“IT WORKED!” screamed the scientist,
“I felt happy! How? Is this a magic cat? Does this cat have some type of fairy powers? I’m a scientist! Why didn’t anything work before!” The scientist started rambling on while hugging the cat.
The next day, while hugging the cat, the scientist concluded that it wasn’t magic after all. It was Oxytocin. Oxytocin, a hormone released from the brain, is activated into the blood stream and creates a feeling of love and happiness.
The scientist also understood that when hugging the cat, the sense of touch and warmth sends a signal to the brain where the hypothalamus instructs posterior pituitary gland to release oxytocin into the bloodstream, activating the feeling of love and affection that oxytocin provides.
Fun Fact : All mammals release oxytocin (so that means that the cat also felt happy as well as the scientist)
There are also other ways for Oxytocin to be released, some are like listening to music, spending time with friends, cooking something you like, eating certain food, doing something nice for someone, even sharing chocolate can increase oxytocin. Yet the most effective way for oxytocin release is with physical touch. *cat meowing in the back*
Food with vitamin D, vitamin C, magnesium, and dietary fats also contain oxytocin. So some good food to eat is fish, mushroom, peppers, tomatoes, spinach, dark chocolate, and avocados.
Spending time with friends also boosts oxytocin levels, and studies show that sharing dark chocolate with a loved one causes excess oxytocin levels to be released as a feeling of trust and affection is shared with the help of dopamine released via the chocolate (the scientist is taking notes).
To conclude, cats are great. So is oxytocin, and to achieve it you need hugs. So when spending time with friends (bonus : with chocolate), listening to your favorite songs, doing what you love, and when petting your pet your brain releases oxytocin to the bloodstream making the feeling of love, warmth, and affection.
By Kinnari Setty
Sources :
- https://atlasbiomed.com/blog/serotonin-and-other-happy-molecules-made-by-gut-bacteria/#list-of-happy-hormones
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=oxytocin
- https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-moral-molecule/201311/the-top-10-ways-boost-good-feelings
- https://bebrainfit.com/increase-oxytocin/
- https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-increase-oxytocin#friends
*meow*
