Oxytocin: Your Brain’s Natural Balancer

In this episode of the Returning to Us Podcast, Lauren announces the show’s move to the Five IVES website and wraps up the nervous system series with a look at hormones. Cortisol and Adrenaline—our “stress squad”—can throw us off balance, but Oxytocin, the “love hormone,” helps restore calm and bring us back into our Window of Tolerance.

Lauren shares simple, science-backed ways to boost Oxytocin—like hugs, eye contact, and laughter—that support mood, sleep, and nervous system regulation. She reminds us that while hormones impact how we feel, they don’t have to take over. Small, mindful actions can help us reclaim calm and clarity.

If you haven't already, check out Five Ives to see how strategies like this can be applied to adults, especially in the workplace. Five Ives works with staff in high burnout jobs to help them incorporate regulation strategies into their daily routines.

Try it at home tip: Try any of the tips suggested in the last few episodes about nervous system regulation.

Other related resources from The Behavior Hub:

Blog Post:

• Sympathetic Nervous System
• Fight or Flight: Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS)
• Rest & Digest: Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS)

Podcast:

• Understandig Heart Rate Vulnerability: Tools for a More Regulated Nervous System
• From Stuck to Safe: A Deeper Dive to Rewiring Your Nervous System After Freeze & Fawn
• Why Freeze State Happens in Two Different Ways (and Why it Matters)
• Cold Exposure: How the Cold Can Calm your Nervous System
• Beyond Deep Breaths: Surprising Ways to Reset your System
• Find Your Way Back to the Window of Tolerance
• I Can't Stop Talking about the Nervous System
• 5 Ives episode

Our Online Courses:

• Classroom Design with the Brain in Mind
• From Conflict to Calm: How to communicate with kids so they listen the FIRST time!
• 4 Simple Steps to Problem Solving

Do you have a question? I can answer it in a future episode!

• Email questions to [e-mail] or send via text to 717-693-7744.
• Subscribe to our mailing list and find out more about the Emotional Brain.
• Check out our Facebook Group – Raising and Teaching Respectful Children
• The Behavior Hub website
• The Behavior Hub blog

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