A reporter interviewed me this morning for the Christmas edition of First For Women. Brenda Kearns’ story is about tricks to help women rasie their oxytocin level in order to lower their cortisol level. Great story and much needed to help us through the craziness of the holiday season.

This was my contribution to her article.

It’s time to hang the mistletoe.
Kissing releases oxytocin—men have it too—helping couples feel closer and more intimate.

One couple I know has a “10 second” kiss rule. That is when things are getting hectic with kids, career, life, one will say, “ten second kiss”. They both drop everything and kiss each other for, well, ten seconds. It was their way of not only finding a bit of couple time in their very hectic schedule, it also shifts their perspective from, possibly being snappy with each other, to seeing each other in a loving, fun way. Simply brilliant.

When couples can consciously kiss each other every day with no sex-strings attached, it will raise each other’s oxytocin level. It’s a win/ win.

The added bonus: Women’s response to kissing is amplified due to her estrogen and are more responsive to the intimate touch.

And if we’re talking about ways to make the holiday season sweeter, we have to talk about the health benefits of eating chocolate. Yum, chocolate.
The University of California discovered cocoa has the same disease-fighting anti-oxidants found in vegetables.

Harvard researchers recently found that people who eat dark chocolate–70% or higher in cocoa–live on average one year longer. Chocolate contains psychoactive chemicals that make you feel good. Plus, chocolate may guard against lipid peroxidation that can warp and destroy the fatty membranes of brain cells and turn blood fats toxic.

Moderation is the key and, unfortunately, M & M’s aren’t included as the type of chocolate that offers health benefits.