How the birth control pill affects Oxytocin (the "love" hormone)

Do you remember the article I wrote a while back about how the contraceptive pill (birth control pill) changes the type of man a woman is attracted to? (link to that article below).

Well a new study was just published examining the effect of the birth control pill on Oxytocin (the "love hormone") and "satisfaction with life".

When the researchers compared women on the pill vs. women not on the pill, the noticed the following key differences (among others):

- Women on the pill had a higher level of Oxytocin (not a good thing)

- Women on the pill had lower levels of Testosterone

- Women on the pill had a higher "satisfaction with life" score

Let's start with Oxytocin:

Oxytocin is secreted by the brain and is often called the "love" or "cuddle" hormone.

It gets secreted for example after sex, which triggers that feeling of closeness and satisfaction.

It also gets secreted when you hug someone.

Oxytocin works on a cycle: it gets secreted, you feel good, and then drops. That "up down" cycle is what creates those positive feelings of well-being.

Women on the pill had a "sustained" high level of Oxytocin: the level doesn't change, it remains constantly high, which "de-sensitizes" you to the positive effects of the hormone.

Now let's talk about Testosterone:

Women have Testosterone - much less than men, but they do.

The level of Testosterone in women is linked to the level of physical satisfaction from sexual activity: the lower the level of Testosterone, the lower the satisfaction.

Finally let's talk about the "higher satisfaction with life" experienced by women on the pill.

This looks tempting at first, but when we dig a little deeper, we realize that there are what we call in research "confounding variables":

If a women is young, happy, healthy, fit, satisfied with life, she's more likely to engage in sexual activity, and as a result, more likely to use a birth control pill.

So it is the pill that's making her more satisfied in life? Or is she using the pill "because she's satisfied with life and wants to have more sex"?

Bottom line:

While the birth control pill is marketed as "safe": it does work by changing the levels of hormones in your body, and as a result is likely to change a number of physical and emotional factors:

- It changes the type of man you're attracted to

- It changes the level of Oxytocin (your "love" hormone)

- It changes the level of Testosterone