Labor Addiction

Experts say that for some women childbirth is a kind of a drug. Many women admit their labor addiction and are eager to have this experience again and again.

Midwife Nicole Croft from the UK claims that women’s experience during childbirth is comparable to the effect of drugs. Doctors know why this happens. The fact is that during the labor, the increased concentration of pleasure hormones is produced.

The first hormone is oxytocin, the “hormone of hugs,” which reduces the feeling of fear and sharpens the sense of trust. In addition, it controls the level of the epinephrine hormone, whose increased concentration occurs in the state of stress and danger. Oxytocin is also produced during sex and breastfeeding.

Childbirth triggers the production of endorphins that improve mood. They are like natural opiate that is 500 times stronger than morphine. The Daily Mail writes that because of the high concentration of endorphins a woman in labor may fall into an altered state of consciousness and even temporarily lose memory.

The experts explain that nature has certain mechanisms to facilitate the birth process and make it less painful for women.