Why do we like talking to people?
Of course, not everybody DOES.
But most of us enjoy interacting with other human beings at least occasionally.
It just...feels good.
But WHY?
Why does it feel good?
Well, according to research published this week, it’s because of a compound that’s
released in a part of your brain that controls motivation and reward, in response to social
interaction.
Biologists often call this compound “the bliss molecule,” but it’s actually a lot
like … pot.
It all begins with a hormone and neurotransmitter, that we’ve told you about before: Oxytocin.
It’s been found to promote trust, relaxation, psychological stability, and romantic attachment;
as well as help women give birth.
It even plays a role in that bond you feel between you and your dog.
But it’s most famous for its role in making you care about other people.
High oxytocin levels are most often observed in women during breastfeeding, between couples
in the first six months of a relationship, as well as during and after sex.
Previous studies have shown that people who have been given extra doses of oxytocin are
better at detecting emotional cues in facial expressions.
They also express greater concern for, and sexual attraction to, their partners, and
show fewer signs of attraction to anybody else.
How oxytocin does all this stuff, however, was something of a mystery.
But we now know that a key player is anandamide.
Anandamide is an endocannabinoid.
That means it activates the cannabinoid receptors in your brain.
And if you think that sounds like ‘cannabis,’ there’s a reason for that.
The active ingredient in marijuana is tetrahydrocannabinol, which attaches to the same receptors in your
brain, and, socially, it has pretty similar effects.
It makes you feel less hostile, and also makes you really want to talk to people...like,
about anything.
Maybe about that cool dream you had, or about how clouds are, like, totally incredible.
An international group of neuroscientists found that social contact made the brains
of mice produce more anandamide.
Meaning, being around other mice was rewarding them by making them feel calm and fulfilled,
as well as making them want to be around other mice even more.
They did this by isolating the mice first for 24 hours.
Then, half the mice were reunited with all of their mouse-friends, and the other half
stayed in isolation.
The mouse brains were then removed and flash-frozen, so that they could be tested for anandamide.
They also looked at mice that were missing a gene that codes for the enzyme that breaks
down anandamide.
When given a choice between two kinds of bedding, those mice tended to prefer the type they’d
had in a cage with other mice, even though they’d spent the same amount of time with
the other type, in a cage by themselves.
Mice who had the usual set of genes -- and therefore could break down anandamide -- didn’t
choose the social bedding as often.
So oxytocin triggers the production of anandamide, which stimulates the cannabinoid receptors,
which makes you feel chill and good about being around other people.
The researchers hope that this discovery can be used to help treat certain kinds of social
anxiety, or even the social effects of some autism disorders.
So that’s what makes you happy.
Here’s something that’ll probably make you sad.
We’re all tired of hearing how bad it is to eat sugar.
I mean...it’s delicious!
And if you cut back on calories elsewhere, you can afford to have that candy bar, right…?
I mean...calories are calories!
Turns out, no, they’re not.
In a paper published this week in the journal Obesity, researchers at UC San Francisco showed
that sugar isn’t necessarily bad for you because it has so many calories; it’s just
bad for you because it’s sugar.
They studied 43 young people between the ages of 9 and 18, all of whom were medically obese
and suffering from some kind of metabolic disorder, like hypertension, or high triglyceride
levels, which are a sign of fatty liver.
For nine days, the subjects were given food with the same number of calories that they
were used to eating, but with almost no sugar.
And they were not feeding the kids healthy food; this was starchy, fatty food like pizza
and potato chips.
The goal was NOT to make them lose weight: in fact if the subjects started losing weight,
the researchers fed them more.
Because their goal was to keep their weight stable, so researchers could see how their
bodies responded to no longer needing to metabolize sugar.
And in just nine days - again, eating the SAME number of calories as they always ate,
and staying at the same weight - the subjects’ health improved across the board.
Their blood pressure decreased, their cholesterol levels went down, their blood sugar and insulin
levels dropped dramatically, and their liver function got better.
Because, It turns out, your body doesn’t metabolize all calories in the same way.
Sugar turns to fat in your liver, where too much of that fat can lead to inflammation
and scarring.
So, I know you’ve heard it a thousand times, but...maybe stay away from the candy bars.
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