Orgasm – Not just for pleasure

Inspired by Greengirl’s account of her experience when her husband/Dom *makes* her have a lot of orgasms, i did some quick internet research on orgasm and the brain.  Fascinating!

In this article, Kayt Sukel writes about her experience when she was asked to masturbate to orgasm while having an MRI so they could map the brain function.   It’s an interesting read because, you know, how often do we masturbate wearing a headmask and attached to wires with people watching?

~~ O, wait, that might actually be routine for some of us ~~

but for most people, that would be a bit stressful.  Some folks might even have difficulty cumming under those circumstances.

But our girl, Kayt, was able to do it.

I wouldn’t say it was one of my best, but, hey, in my humble opinion, it still qualified.

…I now had a great story if anyone ever asked me to name the strangest place I’ve ever had an orgasm. And I had helped science while doing it. Triumph for all parties concerned.

The results, as you can imagine, show a lot of brain activity.   Lots of dopamine ~ which most of us recognize as one of the neurotransmitters connected to pleasure.  For more information about dopamine, check out this article.  It is not as simple as we make it sound, but still – plenty of dopamine connected with orgasm.

The other hormone/neurotransmitter that gets released in great quantity is oxytocin.  Oxytocin is what I think of as the true “feel good” brain chemical.  Check out this article for a (relatively) scholarly look at oxytocin.

Greengirl says:

He’s been in a mood to make me come recently, frequently and spectacularly – i know – poor me…..  And after – he points out, “You needed that.”  And he’s right; I relax, I sleep, I calm down, I snuggle and I’m more all around pleasant to him.

And later she seems to think she should be more pleasant and helpful and submissive all the time, not just when she’s having frequent, spectacular orgasms .  But THIS article on oxytocin explains why it doesn’t work that way.

According to the article, oxytocin is “a love potion.”

Often referred to as the “love molecule”, oxytocin is typically associated with helping couples establish a greater sense of intimacy and attachment. Oxytocin, along with dopamine and norepinephrine, are believed to be highly critical in human pair-bonding.

Oxytocin reduces social fear.

Given its ability to break-down social barriers, induce feelings of optimism, increase self-esteem, and build trust, oxytocin is increasingly being seen as something that can help people overcome their social inhibitions and fears.

It can bring healing and pain-relief.

Amazingly, oxytocin can also be used to heal wounds (through its anti-inflammatory properties). Studies have also shown that a rise in oxytocin levels can relieve pain — everything from headaches, cramps and overall body aches.

Helps relieve stress.

Not surprisingly, given its ability to alleviate social anxiety and produce feelings of trust, oxytocin has the peripheral ability to reduce stress — which is no small thing when you consider the toll that stress takes on the body. Oxytocin has been observed to reduce cortisol in the body and lower blood pressure.

Increases generosity.

Evolutionary biologists, particularly those who subscribe to the selfish gene theory, have long struggled to understand why people sometimes share or give away things — often at a personal cost. But several lines of research have connected oxytocin to feelings of empathy. In one study that required persons to share money with a stranger, infusions of oxytocin were shown to make some subjects as much as 80% (wow!) more generous than those on a placebo.

And it helps make us human.

…oxytocin plays a crucial role in forging our ability to spark and maintain relationships, while endowing us with the ability to empathize, trust, and even love one another. Without it, we would be something significantly less than what we are.

So all that explains why it’s easier for Greengirl to be a wonderful partner and submissive when she’s having frequent orgasms.  But there’s one more benefit for her.  Gg started her post, as she often does, talking about her tendency to “overthink.”  According to an article on the neurobiology of bliss,

Bliss, both sacred and profane, shares the diminution of self-awareness, alterations in bodily perception and decreased sense of pain.*

…Absence of pain is predictably akin to pleasure, but the other two—losing a sense of identity and of bodily limits—are less obvious. Self-awareness, apparently, is no picnic. William James described the self as that kernel of consciousness that persists throughout various experiences and sensations. The self is divided between the stream of consciousness and an internal observer—except in those rare moments when we dissolve into mysticism.

…Self-awareness exists as a running critique organizing conscious experience. Telling stories to ourselves (often about ourselves) is the cognitive default.

Escaping continual self-observation seems an underappreciated pleasure. Roy Baumeister wrote an entire book devoted to the premise that self-awareness is frequently a burden…

Without quoting the whole article, it seems that orgasm ~ and the accompanying increase of oxytocin ~ allow us to let go of that self-focus and the little voice inside that is always explaining and pondering and often criticizing.

So if there is a message here for Gg – nope, i started to express my “what she should do” but i won’t.  Either it comes together for her or it doesn’t, and i may be wrong in what i’m thinking.

But it seems clear that scientifically speaking, more orgasms lead to better mental health, better relationships, and more happily submissive girls and boys.  Just saying…

*Bold emphasis is mine.