Forget Viagra — more and more couples are turning to a hormone called oxytocin to save their sex lives.
A chemical that is released in the brain during moments of human bonding and is available in synthetic form over the counter, oxytocin is enjoying booming sales amid growing evidence that it facilitates a more stimulating, satisfying sex life.
“When you can be with your mate for 30 or 40 minutes, and then go at it again after that, it’s really something,” Danny Saul, a 48-year-old jewelry retailer in Claremore, Okla., who started taking an off-label oxytocin supplement a year ago, told The Daily. “And the orgasms are much more intense.”
Researchers have known for decades that oxytocin, a neurotransmitter produced by the brain’s pituitary gland, was intimately linked to sexual intercourse, as well as to childbirth, nursing and socializing. Several studies indicate that natural oxytocin levels increase during periods of sexual stimulation and after orgasm. The chemical nicknamed the “cuddle hormone” also ameliorates levels of trust and contentment, and reduces anxiety — fostering superior conditions for love-making.
Indeed, studies have indicated that oxytocin can help men recover from impotence, and that women with higher levels of natural oxytocin tend to have longer, healthier romantic relationships.
Prior to taking the supplements, Saul was having trouble in the bedroom — and his confidence in romantic relationships was faltering. After enduring three divorces, Saul was single for eight years because he feared making another personal connection.
“At my age, you don’t want to lose confidence.”
It was only when he started using Oxytocin Factor, at first as a nasal spray and then via twice-a-day drops under his tongue, that Saul said his attitude shifted and he fell in love with his new girlfriend of a year, Jennifer.
Now that she’s using oxytocin too, they claim their relationship has climaxed — quite often.
“Absolutely, it’s worth a try,” Eric Braverman, a New York physician who recommends an oxytocin supplement to patients struggling in relationships, told The Daily. “And we know that people produce less oxytocin as they get older, so for them to stay intimate, a supplement can be a godsend.”
But Braverman isn’t convinced that oxytocin’s orgasmic oomph is caused directly by an enhanced sex drive. Rather, he suspects the hormone improves intimacy by relaxing patients, thereby helping them cultivate the interpersonal skills necessary to sustain it.
“A lot of guys have an orgasm and want to turn over in bed and go to sleep; they don’t realize how hurtful that is,” he said. “With oxytocin, I think men are better able to find that empathy, to connect, to be close.”
Some women with sky-high stress levels also credit oxytocin supplements with improved relationships, both emotional and physical.
“I’m not going to tell you our sex life was good; in bed and both on laptops, tying up loose ends, was our version of sex,” Lisa Lynn, a personal trainer and mother of two in Norwalk, Conn., told The Daily about harried day-to-day life with her husband, Jeff. “I’ve seen a transformation.”
Lynn, who started taking oxytocin to cope with excessive stress after her father fell ill, was so impressed with the supplement that she now sells it to clients and doles it out to the entire family — including their chihuahua, Koko.
“Everybody is stressed; high-strung is the norm,” she said. “This is far from just being about sex — everybody needs a bottle.”
Indeed, bottles of oxytocin supplements are selling swiftly. Industry-wide figures are not available. But Bryan Post, CEO of Oxytocin Factor, which sells bottles of supplements for $60, told The Daily that, with 60,000 sales since launching in March, demand has exceeded even the company’s most optimistic expectations.
Only 10 percent of the company’s sales are specifically for sexual enhancement, Post said, especially as a growing body of research points to the potential of oxytocin has a treatment for autism, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia and depression. But he sees it as a strong secondary driver.
“We’re getting a huge response from people looking for help with their health,” he said. “And I think, very often, a better sex life is a surprising side benefit or an added perk.”
But while some couples swear by the supplement, experts caution that there’s not enough evidence to show that synthetic oxytocin — the kind sold over-the-counter, as opposed to that produced by the human body or used by hospitals to induce labor — can actually impact the brain.
“Oxytocin receptors can be found all over the body,” said Nicole Cameron, an expert in behavioral neuroscience at Binghamton University, told The Daily. “But so far, no one has shown that oxytocin produced in the body, or ingested or snorted as a supplement, reaches the brain.”
That dearth of evidence makes Cameron skeptical that supplemental oxytocin can directly impact emotions or cognition — but she acknowledged that it might very well add extra stimulation to sex and thereby improve mood and curb stress.
“Exposure to oxytocin changes your blood pressure and your heart rate, it can help with erections in men and pelvic contractions in women,” she said. “People may then associate those peripheral changes with a state of mind.”
For Danny Saul, however, proving how oxytocin works doesn’t matter — he’s content with a healthy relationship and a hearty sex life.
“Research doesn’t much faze me,” he said. “I don’t need to ask medical experts why I have a three-hour erection, as long as I do.”
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THE OXYTOCIN DIARIES: Our reporter spends a week on the friskiness hormone to see how it affects her
A chemical that is released in the brain during moments of human bonding and is available in synthetic form over the counter, oxytocin is enjoying booming sales amid growing evidence that it facilitates a more stimulating, satisfying sex life.
“When you can be with your mate for 30 or 40 minutes, and then go at it again after that, it’s really something,” Danny Saul, a 48-year-old jewelry retailer in Claremore, Okla., who started taking an off-label oxytocin supplement a year ago, told The Daily. “And the orgasms are much more intense.”
Researchers have known for decades that oxytocin, a neurotransmitter produced by the brain’s pituitary gland, was intimately linked to sexual intercourse, as well as to childbirth, nursing and socializing. Several studies indicate that natural oxytocin levels increase during periods of sexual stimulation and after orgasm. The chemical nicknamed the “cuddle hormone” also ameliorates levels of trust and contentment, and reduces anxiety — fostering superior conditions for love-making.
Indeed, studies have indicated that oxytocin can help men recover from impotence, and that women with higher levels of natural oxytocin tend to have longer, healthier romantic relationships.
Prior to taking the supplements, Saul was having trouble in the bedroom — and his confidence in romantic relationships was faltering. After enduring three divorces, Saul was single for eight years because he feared making another personal connection.
“At my age, you don’t want to lose confidence.”
It was only when he started using Oxytocin Factor, at first as a nasal spray and then via twice-a-day drops under his tongue, that Saul said his attitude shifted and he fell in love with his new girlfriend of a year, Jennifer.
Now that she’s using oxytocin too, they claim their relationship has climaxed — quite often.
“Absolutely, it’s worth a try,” Eric Braverman, a New York physician who recommends an oxytocin supplement to patients struggling in relationships, told The Daily. “And we know that people produce less oxytocin as they get older, so for them to stay intimate, a supplement can be a godsend.”
But Braverman isn’t convinced that oxytocin’s orgasmic oomph is caused directly by an enhanced sex drive. Rather, he suspects the hormone improves intimacy by relaxing patients, thereby helping them cultivate the interpersonal skills necessary to sustain it.
“A lot of guys have an orgasm and want to turn over in bed and go to sleep; they don’t realize how hurtful that is,” he said. “With oxytocin, I think men are better able to find that empathy, to connect, to be close.”
Some women with sky-high stress levels also credit oxytocin supplements with improved relationships, both emotional and physical.
“I’m not going to tell you our sex life was good; in bed and both on laptops, tying up loose ends, was our version of sex,” Lisa Lynn, a personal trainer and mother of two in Norwalk, Conn., told The Daily about harried day-to-day life with her husband, Jeff. “I’ve seen a transformation.”
Lynn, who started taking oxytocin to cope with excessive stress after her father fell ill, was so impressed with the supplement that she now sells it to clients and doles it out to the entire family — including their chihuahua, Koko.
“Everybody is stressed; high-strung is the norm,” she said. “This is far from just being about sex — everybody needs a bottle.”
Indeed, bottles of oxytocin supplements are selling swiftly. Industry-wide figures are not available. But Bryan Post, CEO of Oxytocin Factor, which sells bottles of supplements for $60, told The Daily that, with 60,000 sales since launching in March, demand has exceeded even the company’s most optimistic expectations.
Only 10 percent of the company’s sales are specifically for sexual enhancement, Post said, especially as a growing body of research points to the potential of oxytocin has a treatment for autism, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia and depression. But he sees it as a strong secondary driver.
“We’re getting a huge response from people looking for help with their health,” he said. “And I think, very often, a better sex life is a surprising side benefit or an added perk.”
But while some couples swear by the supplement, experts caution that there’s not enough evidence to show that synthetic oxytocin — the kind sold over-the-counter, as opposed to that produced by the human body or used by hospitals to induce labor — can actually impact the brain.
“Oxytocin receptors can be found all over the body,” said Nicole Cameron, an expert in behavioral neuroscience at Binghamton University, told The Daily. “But so far, no one has shown that oxytocin produced in the body, or ingested or snorted as a supplement, reaches the brain.”
That dearth of evidence makes Cameron skeptical that supplemental oxytocin can directly impact emotions or cognition — but she acknowledged that it might very well add extra stimulation to sex and thereby improve mood and curb stress.
“Exposure to oxytocin changes your blood pressure and your heart rate, it can help with erections in men and pelvic contractions in women,” she said. “People may then associate those peripheral changes with a state of mind.”
For Danny Saul, however, proving how oxytocin works doesn’t matter — he’s content with a healthy relationship and a hearty sex life.
“Research doesn’t much faze me,” he said. “I don’t need to ask medical experts why I have a three-hour erection, as long as I do.”
RELATED ARTICLE
THE OXYTOCIN DIARIES: Our reporter spends a week on the friskiness hormone to see how it affects her
