It also acts on your body, and one of its main roles in your body is to protect your cardiovascular system from the effects of stress.
It's a natural anti-inflammatory.
It also helps your blood vessels stay relaxed during stress.
But my favorite effect on the body is actually on the heart.
Your heart has receptors for this hormone, and oxytocin helps heart cells regenerate and heal from any stress-induced damage.
This stress hormone strengthens your heart.
And the cool thing is that all of these physical benefits of oxytocin are enhanced by social contact and social support.
So when you reach out to others under stress, either to seek support or to help someone else, you release more of this hormone, your stress response becomes healthier, and you actually recover faster from stress.
I find this amazing, that your stress response has a built-in mechanism for stress resilience, and that mechanism is human connection.
I want to finish by telling you about one more study. And listen up, because this study could also save a life.