Sex could help wounds heal faster by reducing stress

Sexor even just intimate touch can help speed wound healing, but perhaps only in combination with an oxytocin nasal spray.

Oxytocin, often called the “love hormone” or “cuddle chemical,” stimulates uterine contractions during labor and later lactation, but is also associated with social bonding and sex. Previous research shows it also speeds up healing mouth ulcerspossibly due to its anti-inflammatory effect.

Moreover, hostility between couples has been associated with slower healing of blisters, leading to Beate Dietzen from the University of Zurich in Switzerland and her colleagues wondered whether a lack of oxytocin during these interactions might at least partially mediate this effect.

To find out more, the team conducted a study of 80 healthy heterosexual couples, with an average age of 27, who all suffered four small wounds on their forearms from a suction device.

The couples were then divided into four groups, each of which received a different intervention over the next week. The first group took an oxytocin nasal spray twice a day and completed a 10-minute partner appreciation task (PAT)—a structured discussion in which they expressed gratitude and complimented each other—up to three times a week.

The second group took oxytocin spray twice daily but did not participate in the PAT intervention, while the third group used the placebo spray and did the PAT, and the fourth used the placebo spray without the PAT intervention.

Taking oxytocin spray alone or performing PAT with placebo spray did not heal wounds faster than the rate observed in the group without spray and PAT. The combination of oxytocin and PAT helped a little – in terms of things like reducing the size and depth of wounds – but the effect was most pronounced among couples who also reported touching or any sexual activity with each other during that week. It was also associated with lower cortisol levels. a stress hormone that can suppress immune functionin their saliva.

“We see improved wound healing in the group that combines [PAT] interaction and oxytocin, but this effect is much less powerful than the effect of those who combine oxytocin with natural touch and even sexual or intimate behavior,” says Dietzen. “We now know that we have really strong evidence that oxytocin appears to be the main mechanism mediating these effects of positive couple interaction.”

“What makes the results particularly interesting is that they suggest that combining oxytocin administration with positive relationship behaviors may improve physical recovery—a promising direction for future psychosocial interventions in health care settings,” says Daryl O'Connor at the University of Leeds, UK.

Anna Whittaker at the University of Stirling in the UK say administering a higher dose of oxytocin may provide similar benefits, perhaps especially for older people who tend to have suppressed immune systems.