Dont be an after-sex cuddling cock-blocker
Surprisingly, the brain doesn't differentiate much between sex and other pleasurable experiences. The parts of your brain that make you feel good after indulging in dessert or winning at poker are the same areas that light up during orgasm.
Along with enticing us to reproduce, orgasming might also help keep our brains healthy.
"It may also be that, evolutionarily speaking, since this activity increases blood flow across the brain so dramatically, it may have developed in part to help keep the brain healthy, too,"
"Sex is experienced as pleasurable and this is because the reward pathways in our brains are activated during and leading up to orgasm. These are the very same networks that are activated in response to drug use, alcohol consumption, gambling, listening to your favourite song or enjoying a delicious meal,"
"As the pituitary gland is activated, the release of endorphins, oxytocin, and vasopressin promote pain reduction, intimacy, and bonding,"
This may help explain why things that might make us wince in a non-sexual situation, like smacking or hair-pulling, aren't as painful during sex and can even be pleasurable.
"In both men and women, the orgasm signals the parasympathetic nervous system to start down-regulating (or calming) the body. The prefrontal cortex, which was previously activated leading up to orgasm, also becomes down-regulated - and this is linked to increased levels of oxytocin to facilitate attachment,"
All brains experience the release of oxytocin during sex, which is a hormone responsible in part for creating feelings of closeness and bonding. However, the brains of women behave a little differently after orgasm.
"In women,
oxytocin tends to continue to be released after orgasm, which may explain the motivation for post-coital cuddles,"
Though we usually think of orgasm and sexual pleasure as being dependent on the stimulation of our genitals, that's not entirely true. In some cases, the
brain can create new pathways to pleasure that don't involve our sexual organs at all.
"When organs are injured or removed, remapping of the senses may occur allowing us to experience sexual and orgasmic sensations in other body parts," Dr. O'Rielly explained.
In people who have suffered lower body paralysis, for example, the brain might actually rewire itself in order to allow a person to achieve orgasm through stimulation of other body parts, such as the skin of the arm or the
nipples.
Research has also suggested that female orgasm
may have once played a role in stimulating ovulation, though now ovulation occurs spontaneously and doesn't depend on sexual activity.
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