By Emily Murray

There are many things we wish we could have – love potions to make the one who we desire fall in love with us, the fountain of youth to keep us forever young, but a chemical to keep our man monogamous? Well…science may be one step closer to actually developing this!

We’ve discussed the amazing functions that oxytocin has in creating a bond between mother and child shortly after birth as well as the bond it creates with a woman and a potential mate after sex and even the role it plays in helping break addiction, but now scientists have found that when men are exposed to oxytocin, they may be less tempted to stray.

These findings were recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience. In the study, men in committed relationships who were given oxytocin actually kept their distance from attractive women more often than those who were not exposed to the ‘love hormone.’ The idea was first tested in animals and after proving successful it was then tested on humans.

There were 86 heterosexual men involved in this  study. About half received a placebo nasal spray and the others received oxytocin. Of these men, roughly half were single and half were in relationships.

Nearly 45 minutes later, an attractive women entered on to the scene. In some cases the men were told to walk toward here and other times the woman was told to walk toward the man. The men were then instructed to say when they felt they were at a comfortable distance from the women, one that would keep them from feeling like their personal space was invaded.

When the results were studied, the average comfortable distance for men in relationships that had the oxytocin spray was 28 to 30 inches and for those who were single, in addition to those with the placebo spray (single or not),the comfortable space was 20 to 24 inches.

When it comes to distance between each other, the men were not affected one way or another it appears that the oxytocin merely affected the comfort level between the male – female distance ratio.