Some when referring to sexual attraction insist that everything starts from the mind.
As new research shows, everything ends there! U.S. researchers announced that they had solved one piece of the mystery of what happens in the brain during sex by monitoring the activity of the female brain during an orgasm.
Research group from Rutgers University in New Jersey, using imaging machines, studied the brains of women and found that orgasm activated different brain regions depending on which body part was the source of sexual excitement.
Specifically, the scientists identified thirty different parts of the brain that were activated, including the centers responsible for emotion, touch, joy, satisfaction and memory.
Knowing the sequence of events from stimulation to orgasm allows us to see what parts of the brain become activated and in what order.
If we can compare this to the brain activity in anorgasmic women, we can see at what point their orgasm gets blocked and work out whether it’s possible to get around that block, said Barry Komisaruk of the Rutgers University.
Two minutes before orgasm, the brain centers associated with reward were activated (they also are triggered when we eat and drink). Shortly before orgasm, other brain regions were activated, such as the cortex that receives sensory messages of touch from all over the body.
The last brain area to be activated was the hypothalamus, the control center that regulates temperature, hunger, thirst, and fatigue.
The researchers also found that sexual excitement numbs the female nervous system, blocking the sensation of pain and leaving only that of pleasure. The research team from the Rutgers University will now attempt to map the male brain at the time of orgasm.
Moreover, previous studies have already identified a chemical difference between men and women, which causes the differences in attitude towards sex.
Researchers of the Spire Liverpool Hospital found that during sex, women produce higher levels of oxytocin, the hormone that binds us emotionally to our partner. It is worth noting that this hormone is produced in the same quantities, whether it is a one-night stand or a serious relationship.
In men, instead, the orgasm stimulates the nervous system to produce more dopamine, the pleasure hormone, and this surge even can be addictive.
That is why women are more likely to fall in love with a man after having sex with him, while for men sex is just a surge of simple pleasure…
