Sexual Health: The Big O

A study of 58 middle-aged women conducted by researchers at Arizona State University found that physical or sexual behavior with a partner significantly reduced stress and elevated moods. That feel-good sensation carried over to the next day, too.

Gordon Gallup Jr., a psychology professor at SUNY Albany, found that Prostaglandin, a hormone present in semen, is a natural antidepressant. In a 2002 study of nearly 300 women, Gallup found that those who frequently had sex without condoms had significantly fewer symptoms of depression than those who were not regularly exposed to semen.

“We’ve done a number of follow-up studies,” says Gallup. “Most are consistent with that original hypothesis. Semen may contain things that serve to increase the likelihood that the female will bond with the male.”

As short-lived as the experience may seem, an orgasm can have lasting effects. Hormones produced by semen have been detected in blood samples taken from both men and women for up to a week after ejaculation. Animal studies suggest that brain, behavioral and hormonal changes can last for as long as 15 days.

Feeling Hormonal?

Having an orgasm spurs the production of three important hormones. The first is dopamine, which produces a pleasurable sensation. The second, DHEA, boosts the immune system, promotes bone growth, and keeps skin and tissue supple and healthy.

In a 1999 study of 111 undergraduates at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania, researchers found that people who reported having sex once or twice a week over a one-month period also had 30 percent higher levels of immunoglobulin A, an immune-boosting antibody.

The third hormone that is released is oxytocin, which reduces pain and stimulates uterine contractions and an “uptake” reflex that researchers say encourages the movement of semen to encourage fertilization. Oxytocin is a potent natural painkiller that researchers say can reduce pain by 50 percent or more.

Got a migraine? Instead of saying “not tonight, I have a headache,” you may be better off getting off. Although orgasms can sometimes trigger headaches, a 1990 study conducted by the Headache Clinic at Southern Illinois University found that nearly half of the 57 participating women who reported having sex when they had a migraine said that an orgasm relieved their symptoms.

Not only do these hormones dull painful sensations, but they also enhance pleasurable ones, making women more sensitive to touch even after orgasm. It’s not for nothing that oxytocin is also known as the “cuddle hormone,” because it inspires feelings of emotional closeness.

“Oxytocin functions to promote social and affectional bonds,” Gallup says. “Oxytocin released at birth and during breast-feeding increases the bonding between mother and baby, which is in both of their best interests. During orgasm, it would function to promote bonding with their sexual partner.”

It’s All In Your Mind

Neuroscientist Dr. Barry Komisaruk, coauthor of The Science of Orgasm and The Orgasm Answer Guide, has made a career out of studying the female orgasm. With sex toys in hand, volunteers at his Rutgers University lab in New Jersey are placed head first into an MRI machine so researchers can track which part of the brain is stimulated at the height of stimulation.

His research has led to a number of discoveries. In the book, The Science of Orgasm, Komisaruk and coauthors, Rutgers University professor emeritus Beverly Whipple and Carlos Beyer-Flores of Mexico’s Laboratorio Tlaxcala, reveal the inner mysteries of the female orgasm. They have learned, for instance, that four different nerve pathways carry sensory signals from the vagina, clitoris, cervix and uterus and each contributes to a woman’s orgasm.

Another big finding was that some women don’t need any genital stimulation to experience orgasm. Test subjects included women who, because of spinal cord injuries, had no sensation below the waist. Yet their brain scans showed they achieved orgasm through stimulation of other parts of the body. Previous research conducted by Dr. Marca Sipski-Alexander in 2001 and 2006 also found that about 50 percent of 45 men and 44 percent of 68 women with spinal cord injuries experienced orgasm with genital stimulation, even though they couldn’t technically feel that part of their body.

Komisaruk’s research suggests that the vagus nerves may be the conduit. These nerves stem from the base of the brain and wander throughout the body, bypassing the spinal cord to reach all the major organs. Some volunteers participating in Komisaruk’s research can even “think themselves off.” According to their brain scans, they achieved orgasm without touching themselves at all!

What’s Turned on and What’s turned Off

Orgasms turn on a variety of areas in the brain but, interestingly, they also turn off others. In women, who are easier to measure because their orgasms last longer than men’s, Dutch researcher Gert Holstege of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands notes that “at the moment of orgasm, women do not have any emotional feelings.”

Holstege arrives at that conclusion after taking PET scans of 13 women with their partners during orgasm and observing that activity in the prefrontal cortex, the amygdala and hippocampus, dropped significantly. These areas control alertness and anxiety, leading Holstege to conclude that “fear and anxiety levels have to go down for orgasm.”

As Holstege notes, this is hardly news. However, it may shed some light on why some women have difficulty achieving orgasm.

Not Just a Reflex

In their 2005 book, The Case of the Female Orgasm, Kim Wallen, professor of behavioral neuroendocrinology at Emory University, and Elisabeth Lloyd, professor of history, philosophical science and biology at Indiana University, reviewed 80 years of sex research and concluded there is no evolutionary basis for the female orgasm.

As an evolutionary psychologist, Gallup begs to differ. “My work is focused on human reproductive competition,” Gallup says. “Among higher mammals, reproduction is often dependent upon high frequency sex and orgasm is one of the mechanisms that has evolved to ensure the frequent occurrence of the sex act in species that need to do it more than once. The experience of orgasm makes them more likely to have sex in the future. It’s been estimated that the likelihood of conception as a consequence of a random sexual encounter is only about 1 in 100, so among higher mammals reproduction is often dependent upon high frequency sex.”

The orgasmic nature of a woman also seems to be linked to the desirability of her mate. Studies have found, for instance, that women are more orgasmic with partners who have physically symmetrical features, which are suggestive of good genes. More recently, researchers in China have found that women have more orgasms if their partners are wealthy.

“During recent human evolutionary history, intellectual prowess has come to replace physical prowess,” says Gallup. “It used to be that strong healthy men were better providers. They were better hunters and so on and so forth. Nowadays, being a good provider is not so much dependent on the size of your biceps; it’s dependent upon the size of your brain. Wealth is a good fitness indicator, in terms of not only able to adequately provision the female but, given there’s a lot of competition, wealthy men are likely to be carrying genes that code for ambition, competitiveness, intelligence.”

An orgasm, it turns out, is much more than a reflex. From Gallup’s perspective, it’s almost a biological imperative.

Help is at Hand

To paraphrase the immortal words of the woman in the climax-over-coffee scene in When Harry Met Sally, we all want what she’s having. For some women, however, orgasms don’t come easily. Indeed, about 10 to 15 percent of women have never had one.

Today, men with erectile dysfunction can take a pill to help them get back in the saddle. For women who have difficulty achieving orgasm, the solution is a bit more complicated, but Dr. Stuart Meloy, a pain specialist in North Carolina, is working on one.

It’s called — no lie — the Orgasmatron. Named after the climax-inducing machine in Woody Allen’s 1973 film Sleeper, it’s an experimental implant that involves two electrodes activated by remote control to send electrical pulses to stimulate the nerves that trigger orgasms.

Meloy came up with the idea in 1998 while implanting electrodes into a woman’s spine to treat chronic leg pain. His aim was to block her pain but, because of where Meloy put the implants initially, the woman experienced extreme pleasure. Meloy hopes that if he can gain approval from the Food and Drug Administration, the implants will be available for about $12,000 in a couple of years.

Though certain physical conditions can affect a woman’s ability to have an orgasm, often the blockage is more mental than physical. As a sex therapist, Patricia Whelehan, an anthropology professor at SUNY Potsdam and coauthor of Human Sexuality: Biological, Psychological, and Cultural Perspectives, says she typically sees people struggling with emotional issues. “Sexual response, attraction and sexual interaction is a highly complex thing that is largely driven by your brain not your genitals,” says Whelehan. “That includes really mundane things, like how tired you are.”

In some cases, Whelehan says, the sheer exhaustion of juggling careers, kids and family responsibilities puts a damper on romance, although often the problem goes deeper than that. Past sexual experiences, particularly negative ones, can inhibit a woman’s ability to relax and enjoy herself. People’s attitudes toward sexuality, which are shaped by family and by society, also come into play. Then there are the expectations that people have about their relationships and their inability to communicate their needs to their partners.

To effectively communicate, however, you first have to figure out what it is you want to say. That’s why Whelehan suggests women take the time to get to know their own bodies. “Find out what is pleasing and acceptable to you,” she says.

It’s never too late to start. A 2009 study, conducted by Danish psychosexual therapist Pia Struck, of 500 women ages 18 to 88 who reported having difficulties climaxing offers hope. Though 25 percent had never had an orgasm, when they underwent group therapy that encouraged them to view their bodies in a positive light and when they were given stimulating toys to play with, 93 percent achieved orgasm.

“The more you masturbate, the more you know what pleases you and how to please you,” says Whelehan. “Most people are reliably orgasmic. You can bring that knowledge and awareness to the relationship.”

By the Numbers

No partner? No problem! According to the Hite Report on Female Sexuality, 94 percent of women achieve orgasm on a regular basis when they are by themselves.

Some women worry there’s something wrong with them because they don’t climax during intercourse. In fact, most women don’t. About 75 percent of women don’t experience orgasm through penetration alone.

In 1927, Napoleon’s great-grand-niece Princess Marie Bonaparte, a French psychoanalyst, published her theory that the optimal distance between clitoris and vagina was 2.5 centimeter for a woman to achieve orgasm during vaginal intercourse. Kim Wallen, professor of behavioral neuroendocrinology at Emory University, thinks she may have been onto something and is testing Bonaparte’s data to see if there really is a “rule of thumb” when it comes to female satisfaction.

The first genetic study of the female orgasm found that up to 45 percent of the variation in women’s ability to climax may be due to genes. In their research for The Big O, authors Christine Webber, a psychotherapist, and family planning specialist Dr. David Delvin, found that 47 percent of women climaxed for the first time during masturbation, 32 percent during sexual intercourse, 20 percent through petting, and one percent while sleeping.

The Big O reports that, on average, most women experience orgasm for the first time at age 18, but some women’s first time didn’t happen until they were in their 40s.