Cohousing-L Mailing List: The Love Hormone

[Mac Thomson (mac]

I just heard something facinating this evening which may provide a piece to
the "what's so important about us all getting together for dinner" puzzle. 
My wife and I went to a talk given by Michel Odent, a French baby doctor /
midwife.  He said that just after birth the mother and baby have extremely
high levels of oxytocin, the hormone of love.  The presence of oxytocin
greatly increases the mother / baby bonding and is an important reason why
mothers and babies shouldn't be seperated after birth.

He went on to say that high levels of oxytocin are also present during love
making and (here's the kicker) the hormone is also produced when groups of
people share meals together.   Wow!

Rob mentioned a week or so ago that he knew that meals together were
important, but he didn't really know why.  Maybe that darn oxytocin has
something to do with it . . . . . Hmmmm?


    Mac Thomson                         San Juan Cohousing
    Mac [at] HappyValley.com           Durango, Colorado

  "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."
                      - Soren Kierkegaard

- sent via an evaluation copy of BulkRate (unregistered).


--Sent from HappyValley FirstClass BBS 904.246.9255