Affectionate touch and diurnal oxytocin levels: An ecological momentary assessment study.

Background: Affectionate touch, which is vital for mental and physical health, was restricted during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study investigated the association between momentary affectionate touch and subjective well-being, as well as salivary oxytocin and cortisol in everyday life during the pandemic.

Methods: In the first step, we measured anxiety and depression symptoms, loneliness and attitudes toward social touch in a large cross-sectional online survey (N = 1050).

Stress during the COVID-19 Pandemic Moderates Pain Perception and Momentary Oxytocin Levels.

Self-reported pain levels have been associated with increased stress levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. Less is known about the long-term effects of stress on individuals' physical and emotional pain levels and their associations with the neuropeptide hormone oxytocin. We aimed to predict momentary pain through individual stress levels and momentary oxytocin levels at genuinely high-stress phases, namely during COVID-related lockdowns.

Loneliness and diurnal cortisol levels during COVID-19 lockdown: the roles of living situation, relationship status and relationship quality.

Loneliness and social isolation have become increasing concerns during COVID-19 lockdown through neuroendocrine stress-reactions, physical and mental health problems. We investigated living situation, relationship status and quality as potential moderators for trait and state loneliness and salivary cortisol levels (hormonal stress-responses) in healthy adults during the first lockdown in Germany. N = 1242 participants (mean age = 36.

Effects of intranasal oxytocin and positive couple interaction on immune factors in skin wounds.

Background: Intimate social relationships improve individual health and longevity, an effect which is supposed to be mediated through stress-sensitive endocrine and immune mechanisms in response to positive interaction behavior. On a neuroendocrine level, oxytocin (OT) buffers stress responses, modulates social attachment behavior and has been associated with cytokine expression. Consequently, the aim of the present study was to investigate instructed positive couple interaction, observed behavior, and OT in their effect on immune function.

Oxytocin and positive couple interaction affect the perception of wound pain in everyday life.

A large body of animal and human laboratory research has linked social interaction and support to pain perception, with a possible role for the neuropeptide oxytocin as a neuroendocrine mediator. However so far, it has been unclear whether these effects translate to ecologically valid everyday life behavior and pain perception. In a randomized placebo-controlled study, a standard suction blister skin wound was induced to N = 80 romantic couples (N = 160 individuals).

Menstrual Cycle Changes in Vagally-Mediated Heart Rate Variability are Associated with Progesterone: Evidence from Two Within-Person Studies.

A recent meta-analysis revealed that cardiac vagal activity (mostly indicated by vagally-mediated heart rate variability; HRV) decreases significantly from the follicular to luteal menstrual cycle phase in naturally-cycling participants. However, the question remains as to whether cyclical changes in estradiol (E2), progesterone (P4), or both are responsible for HRV fluctuations. We present the first studies to use repeated measures of E2, P4, and HRV across the cycle to model both the unique and interactive effects of person-centered E2 and P4 on HRV in multilevel models.

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Within-Person Changes in Cardiac Vagal Activity across the Menstrual Cycle: Implications for Female Health and Future Studies.

Interest in cardiac vagal activity (CVA; e.g., parasympathetically-mediated heart rate variability) as a biomarker of physical and mental health has increased exponentially in recent years.