'Love hormone' enhances spirituality in men, says new study

September 24, 2016

Washington, Sep 24: 'Love hormone' Oxytocin which promotes social bonding may also enhance spirituality in men, a new study has found.

boyThe research, from Duke University in the US, found that participants reported a greater sense of spirituality shortly after taking oxytocin and a week later.

They also experienced more positive emotions during meditation, said lead author Patty Van Cappellen, a social psychologist at Duke.

"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," Van Cappellen said.

"Spirituality is complex and affected by many factors. However, oxytocin does seem to affect how we perceive the world and what we believe," she added.

Study participants were all male and the findings apply only to men, researchers said.
In general, oxytocin operates somewhat differently in men and women, she said. Oxytocin's effects on women's spirituality still needs to be studied.

Oxytocin occurs naturally in the body. Produced by the hypothalamus, it acts as a hormone and as a neurotransmitter, affecting many regions of the brain.

It is stimulated during sex, childbirth and breastfeeding. Recent research has highlighted oxytocin's role in promoting empathy, trust, social bonding and altruism.

To test how oxytocin might influence spirituality, researchers administered the hormone to one group and a placebo to another.

Those who received oxytocin were more likely to say afterwards that spirituality was important in their lives and that life has meaning and purpose.

This was true after taking into account whether the participant reported belonging to an organised religion or not.

Participants who received oxytocin were also more inclined to view themselves as interconnected with other people and living things, giving higher ratings to statements such as "All life is interconnected" and "There is a higher plane of consciousness or spirituality that binds all people."

Study subjects also participated in a guided meditation. Those who received oxytocin reported experiencing more positive emotions during meditation, including awe, gratitude, hope, inspiration, interest, love and serenity.

Oxytocin did not affect all participants equally, though. Its effect on spirituality was stronger among people with a particular variant of the CD38 gene, a gene that regulates the release of oxytocin from hypothalamic neurons in the brain.

Van Cappellen cautioned that the findings should not be over-generalised as there are many definitions of spirituality.

The study appears in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.

Comments

Narenkotian
 - 
Saturday, 24 Sep 2016

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News Network
January 12,2020

Mangalore, Jan 12: Thieves reportedly stole around 70,000 cash from a MESCOM ATP machine located at Chembugudde in Thokkottu, Police said here on Sunday.

Police said that the theft took place in the MESCOM sub-division office at Chembugudde. It was said that the thieves broke open the room where the MESCOM customers bill payment machine was located and stole 70,000 rupees cash from the ATP machine.

This machine had nine lakh rupees cash. The amount was reported to have been transferred at around 1500 hrs on Saturday.

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coastaldigest.com news network
June 13,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 12: Karnataka on Saturday reported 209 discharges, as the state confirmed 308 new cases of COVID-19 and three related fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 6,824 and the death toll to 81.

With the 14 new cases, the total number of covid cases in Udupi district alone today reached 1005. Dakshina Kannada today reported 30 cases and the tally mounted to 263. 

Today highest cases were reported from Kalaburgi (67), followed by Yadgir (52), Bidar (42) and Bengaluru Urban (31). More details to follow.

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IBTimes
June 3,2020

A pregnant elephant in Kerala ate a pineapple, which was filled with country-made bombs or dynamites. It led to a painful death as the elephant was pregnant and died standing in the Velliyar River in Palakkad in Kerala. People are venting out their anger and concerns all over social media about the gruesome incident.

Yesterday, it was reported that the pregnant elephant was killed after locals allegedly fed her a pineapple stuffed with crackers.

However, when International Business Times, India, reached out to Dr Ab Qayoom, who is an Indian Forest Service Officer, for his comments about what actually must have happened, we got to know that no one have fed the pineapple to the elephant.

Snares used for keeping animals away

Dr Qayoom stated that pineapples filled with firecrackers are used as a snare for catching wild boars. He said, "No one would have fed the pineapple to the elephant. The animal must have found it lying somewhere and must have consumed it herself not knowing what lies ahead for her."

He also stated a second possibility. He said, "Some people actually do such insane things as they consider wild animals as a threat to their property and life. Such incidents do happen at places where wild animals create problems for human beings."

Snares are often found around farms, coffee plantations

He added that wild boars often spoil crops and people use snares as a way to protect their farms and crops. This year, it was reported that the government would soon permit farmers with licensed firearms to shoot wild boars that wander into their lands. The problem is that people do not limit their snares to only wild boars and there have been several incidents when tigers, leopards and other animals have fallen prey to these haphazardly placed snares around farms, coffee farms and wildlife corridors.

Elephant kept standing in water before dying

The pregnant wild elephant originally belonged to Silent Valley National Park (SVNP), Palakkad. As the elephant died, she remained calm despite being in excruciating pain. The elephant kept standing and died at Velliyar River, Malappuram, with its trunk in the water.

The elephant was 15-years-old and was probably getting some relief as it stood in the water after her tongue and mouth exploded. Mohan Krishnan, Section Forest Officer, Nilambur, shared the sad incident on his Facebook page where he had acted as the Rapid Response Team official to rescue the elephant, which was in distress.

When a postmortem examination was carried out, it was learnt that the reason for the elephant's death was due to asphyxia where water had got into her lungs and trachea. Dr David Abraham, Assistant Forest Veterinary Officer, Thrissur, carried out the postmortem.

Dr David said, "I have so far done more than 250 postmortems of elephants alone in my more than two decades career. But this was the first time I was so moved as I could hold the foetus of the baby in my hands. Initially, none of us was aware that the elephant was pregnant. After seeing her heart, I spotted the amniotic fluid and realized that she was pregnant."

Claim reviewed :

Fact checking Palakkad elephant death

Claimed By :

Twitter, Facebook and Youtube posts.

Fact Check :

False

https://t.co/uR4p7rDUli

Comments

Peta
 - 
Thursday, 4 Jun 2020

Still killed by human, what this media want to justify the killing will be filing suit on this media soon...u will be in trouble soon.

MOHAMMED MOOLU…
 - 
Wednesday, 3 Jun 2020

A very cruel, henious and inhumen act. This culprit should be with murder and punished sevierly. 

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