The Shyness Buster

If you’re like me, the following should come as a ray of sunshine. What’s ‘like me’? Well, I need to get up a lot of nerve to make small talk with a member of the opposite sex; and the more attractive she is, the more tongue-tied I get. I put it down to being a Class-A nerd at school and college; and was silently resigned to the theorem that me and pretty women just don’t mix.

Now salvation may be at hand. Researchers at Zürich University have created a spray that can relieve people of shyness, and help them socialize with others. The spray is said to harnesses the powers of a feel-good hormone called Oxytocin, a neurotransmitter in the brain that is involved in social recognition and bonding. The spray contains a synthetic version of the mammalian hormone, which is produced naturally by the body when a person is in love. During a study conducted on 70 volunteers, it was found that all participants had stopped feeling anxious, and started to engage better with others in the group.

Heartened as I am by this discovery, I must admit to a sense of disillusionment at the notion of a supreme emotion like romantic love being reduced to a chemical reaction in the brain. Still, if this provides an opportunity to make less of an ass of myself when confronted by a lady, I am in no position to complain.

The spray is very easy to use. You just need to spray it into the nostrils. Apparently, this is the most effective method of its administration, as it is absorbed into the body more rapidly. The researchers are now planning to conduct large-scale trials of the spray. If the trials prove successful, the spray may be launched in the market in the next five years. The next five years, geez! I’ll be 67 by then. This stuff had better be potent.