New nasal spray made with oxytocin, the 'cuddle hormone,' could make men more sensitive

Think your man’s too macho? A new nasal spray may turn him into a sensitive romantic who’s tuned in to your every mood.

The spray, developed by scientists at the Friedrich-Wilhelms University of Bonn, Germany, uses the hormone oxytocin. Known as the cuddle hormone, it can reduce anxiety, stimulate feelings of affection in humans, bring out feelings of contentment and help new moms bond with their babies, reports the Daily Mail.

To test the so-called sensitivity spray, scientists gave 24 healthy men the cuddle drug spray while 24 other men got a placebo. The scientists worked with researchers at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, and their findings appear in the Journal of Neuroscience.

After their noses got squirted with spray, the men looked at "emotionally loaded" photos like a crying child or a man in mourning. Afterward, they were asked to discuss how much empathy they felt with the people in the photos. The men who got the sensitivity spray displayed much more emotional empathy than the men who got the placebo, according to Dr. Rene Hurlemann of Bonn, Germany. The doctor said the men who had gotten the oxytocin spray attained "the levels of sensitivity usually found in females."

Hurlemann said the study "shows for the first time that the emotional-projecting ability of oxytocin can be created." The spray could one day prove effective in treating schizophrenics, who often are unable to connect with others and who tend to lack social skills.

nydailynews.com