
By Indra
Contributing Writer for Wake Up World
Known as the “bonding hormone”, Oxytocin plays an important role in the neuroanatomy of wellbeing and intimacy. It is associated with various behaviors, including social recognition, pair bonding, orgasm, anxiety, and parental behaviors. The gland known as the hypothalamus creates oxytocin, and it is stored in the pituitary gland, which then releases it to the rest of the body.
The endocrine system produces and regulates our body’s hormonal activity, and like all systems, it works in complex feedback loop; One hormonal function in one gland then triggers the function of other glands in the system. So for example, when we activate the hypothalamus it then activates the pituitary gland, which then sends signals to other glands within the body – the adrenals, the thyroid, and the gonads – which in turn, are also connected via feedback loops.