Research & Benefits

This is just a taste. Please explore and send more if you'd like to add to this.

🧠 Cool Facts:

Oxytocin isn’t about romance—it’s about regulation. It helps calm the nervous system, lower stress hormones, and create a sense of safety and trust.
Gentle, non-sexual touch can release oxytocin just as effectively as hugging or orgasm—sometimes even more, when paired with emotional presence.
Oxytocin is one of the few hormones that works both in the body and the brain, helping link physical sensation with emotional experience.
In hospital settings, holding a patient’s hand has been shown to reduce pain and anxiety—even when the person isn’t conscious of it.
Humans have special nerve fibers (C-tactile afferents) that are designed specifically to respond to gentle, slow touch. They literally exist for affection.

Terms & Conditions - the basics

🌿 A Brief History of Touch & Oxytocin Research

(A blend of science, story, and cool facts you can sprinkle into your site)

🕊️ Ancient Roots

Long before science caught up, many ancient traditions—from Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine to Indigenous healing rituals—used intentional touch as a core part of care.
Practices like laying on of hands, mother-infant skin-to-skin contact, and communal bathing all tap into our biological need for touch.

🧠 Oxytocin Discovered: 1906–1950s

Oxytocin was first identified in 1906 by Sir Henry Dale (who later won the Nobel Prize), and named after its role in “quick birth” (Greek: oxy = swift, tokos = birth).
For decades, it was studied primarily for its role in childbirth and lactation—not emotional bonding.

💞 The Bonding Hormone: 1980s–2000s

In the 1980s, groundbreaking research with prairie voles (by Dr. Sue Carter and others) showed that oxytocin played a key role in pair bonding and social monogamy.
From there, studies in humans began linking oxytocin to trust, eye contact, empathy, and stress reduction—and the nickname “the love hormone” took off.

🧬 Human Touch & Oxytocin: 2000s–Today

In the early 2000s, researchers like Kerstin Uvnäs-Moberg (a pioneer in oxytocin studies) began to publish on non-sexual touch and its healing effects on the nervous system.
Studies showed that warm, caring touch could lower cortisol, reduce pain, enhance immune function, and promote emotional safety—especially in children, patients, and trauma survivors.
Interest in cuddling, skin-to-skin care, and therapeutic touch grew in medicine, psychology, and public health.
During the pandemic, the term “touch starvation” became widespread, highlighting how essential physical connection is—even outside of romantic or family bonds.

What to include in the T&C document

Generally speaking, T&C often address these types of issues: Who is allowed to use the website; the possible payment methods; a declaration that the website owner may change his or her offering in the future; the types of warranties the website owner gives his or her customers; a reference to issues of intellectual property or copyrights, where relevant; the website owner’s right to suspend or cancel a member’s account; and much, much more.

To learn more about this, check out our article “Creating a Terms and Conditions Policy”.