Effect on women yet to be ascertained.
Having sex can stimulate spiritual feelings, claim scientists from Duke University.
A new study conducted by the scientists of the university has found that oxytocin, a hormone released during sex, can stimulate spirituality in men.
According to the study, men who took oxytocin have reported a greater sense of spirituality and their feeling sustained more than one week.
“Spirituality and meditation have each been linked to health and well-being in previous research. We were interested in understanding biological factors that may enhance those spiritual experiences. oxytocin appears to be part of the way our bodies support spiritual beliefs,” Patty Van Cappallen, a social psychologist and the lead author of the study told the university’s newspaper Duke Today.
The participants who took oxytocin also reported more positive emotions during meditation.
Produced by the hypothalamus, oxytocin promotes empathy, trust, social bonding and altruism. It is released during sex, childbirth, and breastfeeding.
To analyze the effect of oxytocin, two groups of men were selected and the hormone was administered to one group and a placebo to another. Those who took the hormone responded afterward that spirituality was important in their life.
Interestingly, some of them were not associated with any religious group or organization earlier. Another response from the group was their wish to get interconnected with people. They experienced more positive emotions like awe, gratitude, hope, inspiration, interest, love, and serenity during meditation.
The impact of oxytocin is different among people. This was evident from the survey as it had more effect among people with a particular variant of the CD38 gene, a gene that regulates the release of oxytocin from hypothalamic neurons in the brain.
The study was conducted only on men and the effects of the hormone on women are yet to be studied. “Oxytocin’s effects on women’s spirituality still needs to be investigated,” said Prof Cappellen.
However, she warned that the findings should not be generalized as there are different definitions of spirituality.
“Spirituality is complex and affected by many factors. However, oxytocin does seem to affect how we perceive the world and what we believe,” said Cappellen.
The study was published online in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.