talk

Women do, anyway – Women: Why does talking with a girlfriend make us feel so good? If we don’t get enough “girl talk,” feel deprived. A new study has identified a likely reason: feeling emotionally close to a friend increases levels of the hormone progesterone, which reduces anxiety and stress.

Researcher Stephanie Brown says, “This study establishes progesterone as a likely part of the (chemical) basis of social bonding in humans.” Progesterone is a sex hormone that fluctuates with the menstrual cycle, and it’s also present in low levels in post-menopausal women and in men. Higher levels of progesterone increase the desire to bond with others, and may even give us a greater willingness to help other people, even at our own expense.
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One of the main problems in the world is that different groups of humans have trouble communicating with one another. Now researchers say we’d be better off if we behaved more like our close relatives, the chimpanzees. Scientists at the Zoological Society of London are looking for volunteers who are willing to test out this theory by acting like chimps in their work and home lives. They will be told to wave their arms, brandish objects to make themselves appear large and to assert authority over others, and bond with their groups by grooming each other.
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