15 Things You Didn’t Know About the Big “O”

By Kelly O | The Talko

There’s soo much stuff that happens to your brain and body when climaxing. Sensations arise from signals being sent to your brain, which produces lots of chemicals and various reactions from your body. It’s super interesting actually, and goes a long way in explaining why you feel the way you feel after a sexual encounter.

Related Article: You Deserve to Experience Ecstasy: The 5 Levels of Orgasm

Here you’ll learn why feelings of pleasure and even love are derived from climaxing. You’ll learn why you grasp at the bed sheets and feel as though you’ve been lifted off the ground. You’ll learn how having sex is a similar experience to taking drugs and so much more…

1) We lose control for a second

When climaxing, the part of the brain responsible for behaviour control (the lateral orbitofrontal cortex) shuts down for a moment. This means we lose control of our bodies for a short time while having an orgasm. And this is also what happens to people’s brains who are on heroin. A study in The Journal of Neuroscience showed that a person’s brain on heroin looks similar to a person’s brain when they’re orgasming.

2) Feelings of intimacy

Lots of people talk about how women can fall in love with the person they have sex with. There is some truth to this. When men and women reach orgasm the brain releases a chemical called oxytocin, also known as “the cuddle hormone”. This chemical produces feelings of intimacy, it creates feelings of bonding, trust and loyalty too. It’s not yet certain whether this is different in men and women but it’s thought that the higher levels of testosterone in a man’s brain reduces the affects of oxytocin. That’s why after your session you fell in love but for men this may not always be reciprocated. Thanks a lot brain.

3) There’s a massive release of energy

Through all the foreplay and lovemaking your sexual energy is building and building (or it should be at least). So by the time you reach The Big O it’s time for all of that built up sexual energy to be released. This is more of a physiological happening. When you climax, your bits respond and your muscles contract causing a strong out pour of sexual energy. This results in the feeling of relief and even a sort of weightlessness.

Related Article: Energy Orgasm Experiment: Can You Orgasm Without Sexual Touch? 3 Women Try It (Video)

4) Curing headaches

According to Cosmopolitan magazine, 48% of headache sufferers claimed that thier orgasms did take away their headaches. Even more interesting, the orgasms relieved their headaches faster than the painkillers could have. Could be interesting fact to remember the next time you have a headache.

5) The amount of pleasure you feel depends on your pelvic floor

Turns out it’s a really good idea to get going with those kegel exercises now, it’s not just older women who need to do them to stop themselves from peeing a little in their pants. When your body reaches orgasm, your vagina, uterus and pelvic floor begin to contract every eight tenths of a second. This is what gives you those wonderful pleasurable feelings. Scientific studies have shown that the strength of your pelvic floor therefore correlates with your level of pleasure. The more toned it is, the better your orgasm.

6) It can last up to a minute and a half

Woohoo! This is the goal surely. We don’t just want a quick burst of pleasure, we want an orgasm to last well over a minute. The truth is though it’s quite rare for this to happen. Most people have a so-called Type I orgasm that lasts 20-30 seconds, but a lucky few also get Type II orgasms meaning that they get more random contractions for up to 90 seconds. The study that showed this also proved that there are similarities in the length of orgasm between men and women. Although most places you’ll read that the average length of the male orgasm is 6 seconds while the average length of the female orgasm is 20 seconds. I haven’t carried out a study myself, so believe what you want to believe.

Related Article: The One Big Myth That Keeps Men from Experiencing More Sexual Pleasure

7) Women who are insecure

Women who are insecure about their relationships are less likely to achieve an orgasm. This may be due to various factors, you can’t fully concentrate or you are not letting go and just enjoying the moment. One thing we can learn here is to let go and enjoy the moment, being insecure is not helping you at all.

8) Your whole body feels it

There are both physiological and psychological effects when a person climaxes as we have seen. Waves of orgasm travel throughout your entire body, that’s why you might shake or writhe around. Your breathing speeds up, as does your blood pressure and heart rate, making sex a good work out obviously. Sometimes there’s a muscle reflex meaning you grasp with your hands and feet. When orgasming the tension of your muscles and even the engorgement of blood vessels reaches its peak. Basically there’s a ton of crazy stuff going on in your entire body.

9) It can take a while to calm down

If you’ve had a really hot session you know it can take some time to cool off. After that almighty peek your body begins to recover and return to its normal state. The time it takes for this to happen differs from person to person. The time it takes for guys can depend on their age or level of fitness. For some people it can take just a few minutes, for others it takes longer. It can be half an hour or longer before you’ve fully calmed down. And men usually simmer down quicker than women.

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Tags: effects of an orgasm, featured, the big O, things you didn't know about orgasms