How staring at your dog helps you beat cancer

A recent NY Times article The look of love is in the dog's eyes talks about how staring into the eyes of your dog causes the release of the hormone oxytocin in both you and the dog.

Japanese researchers found that dogs who trained a long gaze on their owners had elevated levels of oxytocin, a hormone produced in the brain that is associated with nurturing and attachment, similar to the feel-good feedback that bolsters bonding between parent and child. After receiving those long gazes, the owners’ levels of oxytocin increased, too.

Combine that with studies that show how oxytocin inhibits proliferation of cancer cells and you can see why I've added regular stare fests with Eva to my cancer protocol.

Truth is I was already staring at Eva pretty regularly, but with a different intent. She cries when she's hungry, which is pretty much all the time, and the way I get her to stop is just to stare at her.

I can't imagine life without a dog, much less trying to beat a life-threatening disease without the support of pets. It pleases me to no end that I now have scientific proof of the value of our stare fests.

Here are links to the oxytocin and cancer stories:

Oxytocin inhibits proliferation of human breast cancer cell lines

Oxytocin and oxytocin receptors in cancer cells and proliferation