Don't worry folks, this is nothing you have to go out and buy - nothing that needs to be FDA approved.  When we women are touched, our bodies naturally produce a powerful sex hormone called oxytocin. Not only does touch stimulate production of oxytocin, but oxytocin promotes a desire to touch and be touched: it's a feedback loop that can have wonderful results. Basically the more we are touched, the more oxytocin our bodies produce...making us want to be touched more.  This is why when we get "it", we want "it" more often and all the time.  Oxytocin makes us feel good about the person who causes the oxytocin to be released and it causes a bonding between the two persons. Nursing a baby produces oxytocin in both mother and child, and this is a major part of what initially bonds the mother and her baby. Even thinking of someone we love and enjoy can stimulate this hormone.  When women in good relationships were asked to think about their partners, the level of oxytocin in their blood rose quickly. Any amount of touch is good.  Whether it be curled up on opposite ends of the couch; if there is foot / leg contact it is producing oxytocin. Oxytocin's affect on the brain is greatly dependent on its interactions with sex hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, testosterone and corticosterone. However, its effectiveness as the 'cuddle hormone' requires the presence of estrogen. This fact may partially explain some of the behavioral differences between the sexes when it comes to intimacy, the desire for cuddling and the touches role in the ability to achieve orgasm, since women's bodies produce vastly more estrogen than the male body.

Here's to touching!!

Sugs

PS: Artie Lange...we love our Baby Gorilla