Are you feeling stressed? Pick up the phone and call your mother, no matter where you are, because a new study claims that her voice is the best stress reliever.
According to the ‘Daily Mail,’ researchers conducted the study and discovered that hearing mother’s voice can quickly calm frayed nerves – and a phone call often has the same effect as a hug. The findings may help to explain why mothers are often the first person people, even adults, turn to when they are in trouble.
The researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison investigated the role of oxytocin, a hormone involved in sex, sexual attraction, trust, and confidence, in the study.
Cuddle chemical
It is known as the “cuddle chemical” because it is released into the blood during labour, causing the production of breast milk, and it floods the brain during breast feeding, assisting mother and baby bonding.
It also appears to be important in a mother’s ability to calm her child, relieving stress when it is released in children.
A group of seven to twelve-year-old girls were forced to give a speech and solve a series of math problems in front of a panel of strangers. This caused the children’s hearts to race and their levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, to skyrocket.
When the girls were stressed, a third were comforted in person by their mother, a third were told to call her, and a third were given a film to watch. Oxytocin levels quickly increased in those who saw or spoke to their mothers, according to the findings.
And, to the researchers’ surprise, the girls who called their mothers were just as calm as those who were comforted in person within an hour.
“It was understood that oxytocin release in the context of social bonding usually required physical contact.
But it’s clear from these results that a mother’s voice can have the same effect as a hug,” lead researcher Leslie Seltzer was quoted as saying.
The findings have been published in the ‘Proceedings of the Royal Society B’ journal.
