The allure of the orgasm has held human beings in its thrall since, well, forever, and when you look into the science of these pleasurable enigmas, you'll find that our bodies have been carefully wired to enjoy them.
It all starts with arousal, says the episode of AsapSCIENCE above, when the brain stimulates blood-flow to the genitals, your heartbeat and breathing increase, and the central nervous system becomes fully engaged, so it can send signals of enjoyment to the brain's reward system. When thousands of nerve endings are constantly relaying pleasure signals to your brain, it can result in an orgasm.
For men, that orgasm is it for several minutes or hours, depending on the individual, thanks to a 'refractory period' that prevents them from having another straight away. But for women, there's no refractory period to speak of, which means they're capable of having multiple orgasms, one after another.
Using functional MRI (fMRI) scans, researchers have found that when we have an orgasm, 30 separate regions in the brain are activated, and our brains become flooded with the hormone dopamine, which makes us crave the feeling again. At the same time, the hormone oxytocin is also released, which mediates feelings of bonding and love between mates.
And did you know that all this brain activity ends up temporarily dampening emotions in women, and aggressiveness in men? Watch AsapSCIENCE above to find out how.
Source: AsapSCIENCE