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The authors of one of these studies speculated that oxytocin's effects on muscle contractibility may facilitate sperm and egg transport. [77] In a study measuring oxytocin serum levels in women before and after sexual stimulation, the author suggests it serves an important role in sexual arousal. This study found genital tract stimulation ...
The function of oxytocin may lead to an increase in maternal behavior by subsequently reducing anxiety as it has been found to regulate anxiety, social recognition, and coping with stress. [28] Early studies have found that oxytocin influenced maternal behavior of mother rats depending on the environment in which they were placed. Oxytocin ...
Stress is one of the strongest risk factors in the development of depression, and as breastfeeding reduces stress it may decrease the risk of postpartum depression in mothers. [3] Improved sleep patterns, improvements in mother-child bonding and an increased sense of self-efficacy due to breastfeeding also reduces the risk of developing depression.
Lowering a stress response in women that are suffering from PPD may be beneficial to the infant-mother bond. Studies have shown that breast-feeding causes levels of plasma OT to increase in women. Experiments designed and performed in the 1980s helped researchers understand the correlation between breastfeeding prior to a stressful event and ...
Candidate gene analysis of 5-HTTLPR on depression was inconclusive on its effect, either alone or in combination with life stress. [ 15 ] [ 16 ] A 2003 study proposed that a gene-environment interaction (GxE) may explain why life stress is a predictor for depressive episodes in some individuals, but not in others, depending on an allelic ...
Synthetic oxytocin, sold under the brand name Pitocin among others, is a medication made from the peptide oxytocin. [6] [7] As a medication, it is used to cause contraction of the uterus to start labor, increase the speed of labor, and to stop bleeding following delivery. [6]
Women with fewer resources indicate a higher level of postpartum depression and stress than those women with more resources, such as financial. [65] Rates of PPD have been shown to decrease as income increases. Women with fewer resources may be more likely to have an unintended or unwanted pregnancy, increasing the risk of PPD.
They control the body's response to stress [8] and infection. [9] They regulate the body's metabolism, influencing eating and drinking behaviour, and influence how energy intake is utilised, that is, how fat is metabolised. [10] They influence and regulate mood, [11] body fluid and electrolyte homeostasis, [12] and blood pressure. [13]