Have you spoken to your mom today to get your dose of Oxy?

Yeah. I bet that has to do with the relationship one has with their mother. My mother’s voice used to cause me irritation.

@Zen_Again, you think of me as your mom? Oh, no. I don’t believe I’ll ever recover.

My mom’s voice makes me cringe, that doesn’t work for everyone.

That’s interesting. Isn’t oxytocin the chemical that causes uterine contractions during childbirth?

And I call my mom every week to talk to her and it always makes me feel great. :)

my mum just told me that on the phone about 10 minutes ago!

been having a real bad day, been ill, got turned down for a miminum wage job which lies under my degree subject after being interviewed, and havent got very much revision done for my finals due to a massive lack in concentration. mum made me feel so much better, made me miss home loads tho.

@Jeruba * sigh * Of course not… can’t you see that it chopped off the end of the topics?

Simply put, I think of you more as a slightly younger than me, intelligent and beautiful goddess.

;-)

Here’s the info:

The soothing effect of Mom’s voice – Time
© Charles Gullung/Corbis
Just hearing Mom’s voice over the phone may have the same soothing effect as getting a hug in person, according to new research to be published tomorrow in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. To understand how interaction with mothers can influence levels of what is often referred to as the “cuddle chemical,” oxytocin, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Child Emotion Lab recruited a group of 7— to 12-year-old girls, and then placed them in a stressful situation. Afterwards, one group watched a simple, emotion-neutral film, one was allowed to interact directly with their moms, and the third got to talk to mom over the phone. Researchers found that, whether over the phone or in person, moms’ ability to soothe was just as powerful.
To begin with, researchers asked the young study participants to deliver an unanticipated speech in front of a group of strangers and then drilled them with difficult math questions (all in the name of science, of course). The girls’ heart rates rose and stress levels, indicated by a surge in the hormone cortisol, surged. At this point, researchers divided them into the three different groups. They found that oxytocin levels jumped in both girls who were comforted in person, and those who’d been soothed long distance — and that the magnitude of the increase was nearly the same. The findings indicate that, contrary to previous belief, oxytocin levels can be influenced even without physical contact.
The researchers speculate that women’s ability to govern stress hormones and bump up oxytocin levels using verbal communication may have some basis in evolution. Leslie Seltzer, the biological anthropologist who led the research, suggests that, while men might have been driven into “fight or flight” mode by a surge in cortisol, women, who were more likely to have children in tow, couldn’t necessarily choose between running or fighting without also endangering their little ones. As a result, Seltzer speculates, women may have developed a way to utilize social bonds to diminish stress—and boost oxytocin levels, either by touch or voice.
The study adds to a growing body of research on the impact of oxytocin, the hormone probably best known for facilitating labor and nursing, as well as early bonding between a mother and baby. A study published this past January suggested that oxytocin may actually help people with autism overcome some symptoms of the disorder, better enabling them to react to social cues or facial expressions, for example. More recent research found that men who were given a boost of the hormone exhibited a greater capacity for empathy.

Not my mother, pal.

I just visited my mother today in rehab. (I go every other day.) Her voice did not soothe me. The psychiatrist’s voice in my head did.

Where ya been, @dpworkin? I missed ya.

By the way, it’s a hormone thing – as you know. It doesn’t matter what the relationship is – or what kind of voice she has – orhow you feel when you talk to her. It’s the sound of her voice.

Had you heard this?

Yeah. The sound of her voice irritated me, which seems antithetical to this study. Why would oxytocin make me feel irritated?

My mother stopped talking about two months ago so I guess I’ll have to get it somewhere else.

If she were only around.What a beautiful person she was! She knew just what to say to make anyone feel better :)

It is more of the soothing effect of my mothers sauce and meatballs.

Had my mom on the phone just yesterday. Despite her raspy voice from an awful cold…yes it did make me feel good to hear her voice!

@ChazMaz – In our case, it’s reversed. She comes for my cooking!

I’m going to call her after school. I try to call once a week, just to vent.

I miss my dad, a lot. His was the soothing voice in my infancy.

I haven’t spoken to my mom for years, I don’t even know where she is, but anyways we never got along. I have pillows and a PlayStation though, so I’m not depressed.

No thank you

@DominicX Pitocin.

@susanc

According to Wikipedia, those are the same thing! Pitocin is like a brand name of oxytocin.

Pitocin is synthetic oxytocin, used rather improperly, in my opinion, to quicken labor, resulting in an unfortunate medication cycle.

Talking to my mother does not make me feel better. What’s plan B?

Oxytocin is released after orgasm, and during breastfeeding. Maybe you should breastfeed your mom during lovemaking.

This is too funny.

I thought your abbreviation meant Oxycodone and I couldn’t figure out why one had to resort to grubbing Mom’s pills instead of going to the Dr. to get your own.

This question should be yanked immediately for having a confusing title ! I’m gonna flag it. So there !

:) jk

@Buttonstc Lol me too!

My mother is abusive and her Mommy Dearest child-rearing caused me to develop severe PTSD, suicidal depression, and several mental breakdowns resulting in hospitalization (I’m much better now). So abso-fucking-lutely not.

I for one love talking to my mother.

Just the mere thought of the sound of my mother’s voice is soothing. In fact, I often think of her voice when I’m feeling down and she is not around. I imagine the kind of things that she might say.

Once, my brother recorded her voice and put it on our computer, so instead of a beep for an error, we would hear my mum saying “now then, chickens”.

I only wish my voice would soothe my son when he’s jumping on the bed at 5 am screaming ”oatmeal! oatmeal! MUMMY OATMEAL!!

@jeanmay Loved that.

Talking to my mother usually ends up making me feel worse.

@Zen_Again I am glad. :)

@jeanmay: After I visit my mum at the rehab center (every other day for the next four weeks), I may need to call you, if you don’t mind.

When my son was about your son’s age and could scramble out of his crib, occasionally as a desperate measure, I used to leave a small paper cup filled with cheerios on the kitchen table. It bought us another 15 minutes.

Luckily this is Social, so I can make an off-topic comment: “Oatmeal!” is a great example of why (in my opinion, at least) the most powerful imperative verbs are actually nouns.

@Jeruba When my oldest was little, I thought the most powerful imperative verb was “APPLEJUICE!!!”

There’s also: Again! or as we were taught to say Noch A Mol – not to be confused with Whack-A-Mole.

That’s a ;-) to the Yiddishists here.

Zet zhe, kinderlekh, gedenkt zhe, tayere,
Vos ir lernt do,
Zogt zhe nokh a mol un take nokh a mol:
Komets-alef: o!

Komets bais bo!

@dpworkin I was actually singing along with it while reading it. I even remember the next verse.

:-)

= noch einmal, ja?

I was hoping you would enjoy it – that’s why I put it there.

@Jeruba We are not likely to find Deutsch very sympatico.

Well, @Jeruba is correct in that it came from German. It means exactly what she wrote.

She so smart.

I understand, but it’s hard to deny the influence of Deutsch on Yiddish, true? I can almost translate the verse just from my seit 40 Jahre gelernt Deutsch.

Yes, there are plenty of cognates, bu I don’t care to think of them when I am singing a lullabye that my dead cousins buried in a pit in the forest near Zlotypol knew by heart, too.