Martial Arts Increase Oxytocin Production Notes

Peptide refers to its molecular structure:
Oxytocin is made up of a short chain of amino acids (specifically 9 amino acids)
Peptides are smaller than proteins but built the same way - amino acids linked together

It's a chemical messenger that travels through the bloodstream
It's produced in one part of the body (the hypothalamus) and affects other parts
It binds to specific receptors on target cells to trigger responses

Dyadic = involving two people (a dyad is a pair)
Prosocial = behavior that benefits others or promotes positive social relationships
Interaction = communication or engagement between the two people

means to boost the body's natural production and release of oxytocin, rather than introducing it from an external source.

Randori (乱取り) is a fundamental training method in Japanese martial arts, most commonly associated with judo, but also used in aikido and some other disciplines. The term literally means "chaos taking" or "free taking" in Japanese.

In BJJ this is usually referred to as "rolling" or "sparring". Rolling is unrestricted grappling where both practitioners freely attempt submissions, sweeps, guard passes, and positional control without predetermined sequences. Like judo's randori, it's the "live" training that makes BJJ effective.

First, given the early suggestions connecting physical exercise and OT, we examined whether the high-intensity aerobic training during martial arts would result in exercise-induced increases in OT.
Second, as beginner and advanced participants have had substantially different levels of prior martial arts training, we investigated whether this might lead to differential OT responses.
Finally, we examined whether the longer close contact time occurring during ground grappling would result in greater OT response.

Figure 1: Comparison of salivary oxytocin response between beginner and advanced martial artists during martial arts training.

Figure 2: Comparison of salivary oxytocin response between grappling and sparring sessions of martial arts.

Researchers measured salivary oxytocin at three time points: baseline (before training), peak-training (during intense activity), and cool-down (after training) - They compared different groups: beginner vs. advanced martial artists, and grappling vs. sparring training types

LMM (Linear Mixed Model): A statistical technique that accounts for repeated me2asurements from the same people over time
Fixed factors: Variables they're testing (skill level, time, training type)
Random factor: Individual differences between participants

Time effect was significant: Oxytocin levels changed significantly across the three time points
No skill level difference: Beginners and advanced martial artists had similar oxytocin responses
No interaction: The pattern of oxytocin change over time was the same for both skill levels

Time effect was significant: Again, oxytocin levels changed across time points
Training type interaction was significant: The two types of training produced different oxytocin patterns
Specific finding: Grappling produced higher oxytocin levels than sparring, but only immediately after peak training (53.6 vs. 38.1 pg/ml)

Physical activity increases oxytocin regardless of martial arts experience level
Grappling (close physical contact) triggers more oxytocin than sparring (striking)
The difference appears right after intense training, suggesting that physical contact during grappling specifically boosts oxytocin release
AUC (Area Under the Curve) measurements confirm grappling produced a larger overall oxytocin response

However, another more complex social mechanism that may contribute to OT increase during randori is the ability of OT to increase the salience of social information.
In humans, administered OT was found to increase gaze toward eye regions, which are considered the most socially communicative part of faces .
Moreover, several neuroimaging studies have shown that the administration of OT can have effects on socially-relevant brain areas including the amygdala and the ventral tegmental area, and studies using fMRI found that the tendency toward increasing gaze to the eyes is associated with an increased coupling of amygdala and superior colliculi activity, supporting the view that OT biases an individual toward social visual information.

Mutually agreeable touch, in general, as opposed to non-touch relaxation methods, has been demonstrated to reduce anxiety and impart beneficial effects for social development, with interventions such as massage therapy reducing anxiety in the elderly and aggression in adolescents .
Additionally, it has been shown that greater parental touch is predictive of a greater rise in offspring’s salivary OT following a dyadic interaction, and pre- liminary research has indicated that lower OT levels may be predictive of the level of touch an individual seeks (e.g., the extent to which dog owners pet and touch their canine companions).
Thus, given that both overt relaxation-intended touch (e.g., massage therapy) and non-focused touch (e.g., dog petting and interpersonal tactile interaction) lead to increased OT, it is not surprising that the extensive tactile interaction involved in grap- pling may lead to enhanced OT response.

In sum, the present study is the first to examine the effects of martial arts training on OT response. Findings demonstrated that both types of training, but especially the component involving intense tactile interaction, resulted in significant release of salivary OT. Traditional martial arts typically involve a dyadic, stimulating, and prosocial physical activity and have gained increasing popularity in the last several decades, due to demonstrated positive effects on cognitive functions, self-regulation, and sense of well-being