Are you permanently horny or constantly scrolling your phone in search of sex? Sex is great. Gay sex is even better. But perhaps all that scrolling is having a detrimental effect on your life?
A new study has found that men who display hypersexual behavior, often have elevated levels of the hormone oxytocin.
Researchers at Umeå University in Sweden looked at 64 men with a clinical diagnosis of hypersexual disorder. The results were recently published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Hypersexual disorder is when you have an excessive preoccupation with sexual fantasies, urges or behaviors to the extent it has a negative impact on your life.
Around half of the hypersexual participants were enrolled in a seven-week cognitive behavior therapy program to help them address their behavior. They also gave routine blood samples for the study.
The study discovered that men with hypersexuality had almost twice the levels of oxytocin as the control group.
It also discovered that after seven weeks of behavioral therapy, the oxytocin levels fell significantly, until they were just slightly above the control group.
“There is a lack of knowledge regarding the pathophysiology underlying hypersexual disorder, and this is the first study to indicate a role for oxytocin’s involvement,” lead researcher Andreas Chatzittofis, MD, PhD, told Healio.
Why the men had higher oxytocin levels is unknown. However, the researchers believe that at the very least, if someone is seeking a hypersexual diagnosis, checking their oxytocin levels might prove a beneficial indicator.
Related: CDC issues health alert to gay and bi men in Florida
What is oxytocin?
Women tend to have more oxytocin than men, as it’s a key hormone of the reproductive system and plays a role in childbirth and breastfeeding.
However, all humans have the hormone. It’s sometimes dubbed the “cuddle hormone” or “love hormone,” as levels are boosted when we experience affection and intimacy. Men also experience a boost in oxytocin from their brains when they ejaculate. Hugs, hand-holding, and touch can boost the hormone, or simply cuddling your pet dog or cat.
It generally makes us feel warm and fuzzy and improves our sense of well-being, but in stressful situations, can also drive us to seek out social contacts or fuel our fight-or-flight instinct.
The exact impact it can have upon mood is uncertain and seems to depend largely upon the situation people find themselves.
The researchers in this study speculated men may seek out ways to elevate their oxytocin levels to counteract feelings of stress but say more research is needed to explore this theory.
They also say more research is needed to determine whether “recent sexual activity” is a factor in the raised hormone levels, highlighting that, “ejaculation is known to significantly increase plasma oxytocin levels in the short term … future studies should address and properly account for this potential source of bias.”
Related: What is bigorexia and do you suffer from it?
Chatzittofis, lecturer in psychiatry at the University of Cyprus, told Queerty, “the relationship between stress and sexual behavior is complex depending on many factors,” so it might not be a case of men seeking an oxytocin boost to alleviate stress.
He was also unwilling to speculate on whether gay men, who are known to experience a greater degree of depression than the general population, are more prone to hypersexual behavior. This study didn’t ask about sexuality, “so it’s very difficult to express an opinion,” he said.
However, he agreed that gay guys, “experience greater levels of stress than the general population and oxytocin might be involved in stress-coping mechanisms also in that population.”
bachy
Oxytocin is sometimes called the “bonding” hormone, typically detected in women bonding with their newborns. Could it not also be naturally generated during times of social strife when increased male bonding is needed to stave off communal disorder?
Mark Behar
Thanks for mentioning this BACHY. This theory has been bantered about for decades, and seems a reasonable response to stress. Perhaps another reason why LGBTers and heterosexual women seek health (nursing, medicine) and teaching professions more than their hetero counterparts.
Donston
I mean, it’s probably not as simple as an increased hormone. But clearly hormones have a lot to do with sex and the strength of instincts. While there isn’t anything wrong with being a very sexual person. However, watching porn a few times every day for years or hooking up with new people every week for years- that can’t be good for a variety of reasons. Hyper-sexuality, fluidity, fetishes, paraphiliacs can be detrimental to mental health and healthy sociology, especially if you don’t recognize them. They can also keep people from being real with themselves and others when it comes to the dimensions of their sexuality or keep people from being real with themselves when it comes to the gender, sexual, affection, romantic attachment, emotional investment, relationship contentment, longterm commitment spectrum. So, the more people talk about this stuff and the more research is done the better.
[email protected]
It is better to be bipolar.
A gay psychiatrist once said to me: “Do you know that being bipolar can make your need for sex compulsive?”
Me. “Really. What is the longest number of days you have spent all day in bed with a man?”
Him: “Three days.”
Me: “Ten days. And what is the most number of orgasms in a day?”
Him: “Four.”
Me: “Fifteen.”
he never raised the subject of being oversexed again.
DCFarmboy
Damn, that explains my new boyfriend.
gregg2010
And this is a bad thing? I guess it is if it interferes with doing the laundry.
Donston
If the overproduction of that hormone contributes to hyper-sexuality then it’s a big deal. Hyper-sexuality/hyper sexual instincts can interfere with having a healthy, fulfilling, productive life. It can overwhelm people’s thoughts and actions. It can contribute to a lot of risky sexual endeavors, which of course can contribute to getting STI’s. It can contribute to cheating, porn addiction, emotional disfunction, which can make it difficult to have stable, healthy commitments. It can help lead to constant inappropriate behaviors and comments, which can make it difficult to have a social life or maintain a job. In the most extreme examples, it can help contribute to someone sexually harassing someone, sexually assaulting someone, or raping someone. If someone has hyper-sexuality/hyper sexual instincts and also contends with mental health struggles or internalized phobias or fluidity or harmful paraphiliacs or queer insecurities or gay resentments or being really confused about their place in the gender, sexual, romantic, emotion, commitment spectrum- disfunction is inevitable. So, this study isn’t something to completely dismiss.
abfab
Yes Donston.
It can do this and it can do that and it can contribute to cheating, porn, etc. It can. That being one of your repetitive words with little to no value. Life can lead to death. Long winded monotonous posts can lead to extreme boredom.
You started sounding like an automaton long ago but someone needed to let you know, and there is no time like the present.
Openminded
Donston, Keep up the good work. Yes, sometimes long, but your truth is always appreciated.
gregg2010
I guess it’s bad if it interferes with doing the laundry.
darkanser
I do feel rather cuddly after cumming. I especially like to kiss afterwards..
abfab
Above photo with couple. The best in show. Thanks Q.
abfab
The musclemen, not the scruffy boys.
inbama
When you’re young, the more you get, the more you want. I’m not surprised to learn that this might be due to brain chemistry.