Some experts 1 the stress-reducing , health-related benefitsof hugging to the release of oxytocin, often called “the bonding hormone” 2 it promotes attachment inrelationships, including that between mother and their newborn babies. Oxytocinis made primarily in the central lower part of the brain, and some of it isreleased into the bloodstream. But some of it 3 in the brain, where it 4 mood, behavior and physiology.