The Oxytocin Factor Tapping The Hormone Of Calm, Love, And Healing

by Moberg, Kerstin Uvnas; Francis, Roberta

• ISBN13: 9780738207483
• ISBN10: 0738207489
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-09-18
• Publisher: Da Capo Press

Summary

In recent years there have been exciting scientific discoveries about a powerful hormone whose role in the human body has long been neglected. Oxytocin is the hormone involved in bonding, sex, childbirth, and breast-feeding, as well as in relaxation and feelings of calm. It is the mirror image of the stress hormone (adrenaline), which triggers the "fight or flight" systems in the body. Much has been written about the latter but the many-sided importance of oxytocin is currently known only to specialists in obstetrics, physiology, and psychiatry.The Oxytocin Factor, by Dr. Kerstin Uvnas-Moberg, is the first book on the subject for a general audience. The new research findings, as well as the potentially beneficial applications of this hormone in reducing anxiety states, stress, addictions, and problems of childbirth, are not only fascinating but of great significance to all our lives.

Author Biography

Kerstin Uvnäs-Moberg, M.D., Ph.D., is an internationally known scientist at the prestigious Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. She lectures frequently in the United States and all over the world.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	v
Introduction: A Neglected Side of Life	ix
Part One: The Calm and Connection System	1	(26)
1. Oxytocin	3	(8)
2. The Environmental Context	11	(8)
3. An Essential Balance	19	(8)
Part Two: Oxytocins Role in the Drain and Nervous System	27	(36)
4. The Body's Control Centers	29	(24)
5. How Oxytocin Works	53	(10)
Part Three: Oxytocin's Effects	63	(42)
6. Effects of Oxytocin Injections	65	(16)
7. The Oxytocin Tree	81	(12)
8. Nursing: Oxytocin's Starring Role	93	(12)
Part Four: Connections	105	(28)
9. Oxytocin and Touch	107	(6)
10. Oxytocin and Other Senses	113	(4)
11. Oxytocin and Sexuality	117	(4)
12. Oxytocin and Relationships	121	(12)
Part Five: The Ways We Seek Calm and Connection	133	(48)
13. Massage	135	(8)
14. Eating: An Internal Massage	143	(8)
15. Cigarettes, Alcohol, and Other Drugs	151	(6)
16. Medication-Induced Calm and Connection	157	(8)
17. Motion and Stillness	165	(10)
18. Our Inner Ecology	175	(6)
References	181	(16)
Index	197	(8)
About the Author, Translator and Illustrator	205