February 24, 2010 • 23 mins
Molly and Cristen break down the science behind orgasms -- and discuss theories about why women have them -- in this episode.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.
It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff mom never told you?
From house to works dot Com. Hey there, and welcome
to the podcast. This is Kristen, This is Molly, So Molly. Today,
(00:21):
I'm gonna go into the oh zone. I don't talking
about and do you. Today we're going to discuss the
explosive discharge of neuro muscular tensions at the height of
sexual arousal that is usually accompanied by the ejaculation of
semen in the male and by ivaginal contractions in the female,
in other words, the orgasm. Yes, today we're gonna talk
about orgasms, but don't don't get too excited out there.
(00:43):
We're gonna try and make it as boring as possible. Yeah,
we're gonna We're gonna take the spice out of this.
We're gonna go neuroscience and evolution with these puppies. No,
no getting crazy in the studio at ten thirty on
a Thursday morning, Christon, we're gonna go. We're gonna go
sign typic. We're not gonna go Cosmo. We're gonna go
a little national geographic, little more scientific Americans little textbookie,
(01:07):
little textbook. So but it will still be fun, of course, Yeah,
because I mean it's a very unique thing that can
happen in the body, and uh, what's really going on
in an orgasm in your brain? In your brain? First
we talk about what what's happening in the body, Yes,
(01:28):
talking about the body, and then will show how the
body sends all these messages to the brainy. So, Kristen,
when I gave you that line about explosive discharge of
neuro muscular tensions, that was from that was from the dictionary. Yes,
that was old Merriam Webster. Yes, that's how they define
an orgasm. But what's actually happening with the body is
(01:48):
when you have an orgasm, in both males and females,
your rectum starts contracting, uh approximately every point eight seconds.
Fun fact out there and some contractions going on. But
that's really the only world toes. But everything else there's
voluntary less voluntary muscle control. You're losing a little bit
(02:10):
of control. Yeah, that's sort of one definition, I guess. Okay,
so it actually had a loss of bodily body control,
but that is actually also happening. Um, and we've got
the spasm. Ng. Yes, you're just saying curl toes. We've
got muscles all over the body starting to spasm of
their own free will. Okay. And then we've got all
these pleasure chemicals saturining the brain. We've got released of oxytocin,
(02:33):
nor penephren and serotonin. And in women, they've got the
muscles in the vagina and the uterus contracting. So lots
of muscle contractions. But why do they all contract I
think we should talk about the nerves. The nerves, Yeah,
this is all we have nerves to think for orgasms.
(02:54):
She isn't really that surprising because all of our sensations
of touch and feeling and all that are related to nerves.
UM and our genitalia contain an insane amount of nerve endings,
which is a large part of why um orgasms are
so intensely pleasurable. For instance, Molly, the claris alone has
(03:19):
more than eight thousand nerve endings, eight thousand packed into
yeah um. And though all of those nerves are connected
to larger nerves that run up to the spinal cord
that connected the brain that shoot those fireworks off up top,
but we also have um four major nerves that are
(03:42):
involved um in this brain body feedback, starting with the
hypogastric nerve that transmits sensations from the uterus and the
cervics and women and from the pro statan men. And
we've got the old pelvic nerve that's sending messages from
the vagina and the cervis and women and from the
rectum in both sexes. And next up we've got the
(04:02):
old pudendal nerve. It's going from the clutterists and women,
and from the scrotum and penis in men. And then
we have this might be the most interesting nerve to
talk about in the discussion, Molly, the vagus nerve that
goes from the cervix, uterus and vagina to the brain,
but it bypasses the spinal cord. And only recently scientists
(04:26):
have started to understand how the vegas nerve can contribute
to orgasms by bypassing the spinal cord, because I used
to think that all the messages had to be sent
up through the spinal cord to the brain, but indeed,
but it's not the case. So depending on where you're
receiving pleasure during sex in the nether regions, that message
(04:48):
goes up the nerve through the spinal cord with the
exception of the vagus nerve to the brain, and the
brain is like, oh yeah, this is good, and that's
what can trigger the orgastic. I'm gonna release all these
chemicals and and about to feel real good. So that's
why orgasms may feel differently depending on where you're being stimulated.
So to borrow a page from Cosmo, even though Kristen said,
(05:11):
we're not really going to talk about Cosmo, this is
why you'll get that advice to try all sorts of
different things, because who knows which nerve is is most
effective at at getting the message up to the brain, right,
you get different types of sensations and going back to
UM the vagus nerve. There was a study in two
thousand four by a team of researchers at Rutgers University
(05:33):
that UM that kind of goes along with our capabilities
of having an orgasm through UM different types of stimulation.
They found that women who had severed spinal cords were
still able to reach an orgasm by UM stimulating different
(05:53):
parts of your body. Like one woman even just UM
used a vibrator on her neck and was able to
come to an orgasm, and they think that this has
a lot to do with UM activating the vaguest nerve
because they did m R I scans on their brains
and obviously since their spinal cords were severed, the messages
aren't running up via spinal cord, but it was actually
(06:13):
the vagus nerve that was sending all these messages. And
some people who have lost a limb can actually have
UM experience an orgasm through their phantom limb. Some people
can experience it through different um you know, other sensitive
places on their body outside of the genitalia. But you know,
originally Kristen orgasm kind of hard to study because you've
(06:36):
got to you've got to rely on someone's word that
like they had one UM, there wasn't a lot known
about it, but you mentioned brain scans, yes, And you know,
I've got to I've got to wonder if the guy
who embedded brain scanning ever thought that people who are
being sexually pleasured would be hooked up to his machine,
because that's what that's what they've done. They have hooked
(06:57):
people up Like let's take this one study that happened
in the late ninety nines and mid two thousand's okay, okay,
we're in the Netherlands to set the scene, and we've
got many women coming in to be part of this
sex study. And they used pet scans to illustrate the
different areas of the brain that light up and shut
off during sexual activity. So basically, you would come in
(07:18):
for this test and they would just you know, scan
you while you're arresting, get sort of the baseline brain picture.
They would get your scan while you're being sexually stimulated,
and then they would get your scan while you're having
an orgasm, so they could just watch how the brain
changed through all of that. Now we already knew these
researchers already knew going into this that UH an orgasm
(07:39):
will stimulate the reward circuit in the brain that basically
UH responds to pleasurable sensations and is also linked to
you know, kind of what lights up during heavy drug use,
um and shopping and shopping, and so different parts of
the brain associated with it. With this would be the amygdala,
which regulates our emotions, the nucle the cucumbents, which controls
(08:01):
for dopamine, release the v t A which will actually
release the dopamine, and then we've got the cerebellum that
controls muscle function, hence all of those contractions, crazy contracts
on spasms. And then we've got the pituitary gland, which
is going to release beta endorphins which are gonna decrease
your pain and uh amp your oxytocin uh and also
(08:24):
your vasopressin, which is going to lead to feelings of
bonding and trust. So all the you know, those are
just kind of that's just kind of the basic brain circuitry,
uh that's lighting up during all of this. But these
guys in the Netherlands found some more interesting areas that
are lighting up and shutting down. Yeah. What I thought
was interesting is first they go through all the ways
(08:46):
that men and women are similar when it comes to
sex and orgasm. So you've got this region behind your
left eye, the lateral orbitofrontal cortex, which shuts down. Um,
that's the seat of reason and behavioral controls. So like
be sad you lose control to go back to Cosmo.
They're always telling you, you you know, stop thinking about the
dishes and all the stuff you should be doing. You know,
(09:08):
you've got to sort of just be in the moment.
You can't have that reason going crazy. UM, let that
let that lateral orbitofrontal cortex just calm down, shut off. UM.
And because you lose that that control. Kristen brought up
drug use. But basically, the brain during an orgasm looks
like the brain of a person taking heroin, which is
(09:31):
the possibly the worst UM kind of drug message I
think I've ever heard. UM. So men and women both
have you know, these kind of heroin brains if you will,
during orgasm. But there is one major difference UM for
women during orgasm, and that is activation in the part
of a brainstem called the periaqueductal gray or the p
(09:55):
A G. That is that that lights up and this
controls are fight or flight response. And also we have
decreased activity in the amygdala and the hippocampus, which deal
with fear and anxiety and so kind of all of
this contributes to feelings of heightened trust and UM, feeling
(10:17):
more relaxed with your with your lover and feeling safe.
And you know, probably if you want to take it
a step beyond what the researchers say it you know,
it goes back to this old stereotype that women needs
to be in love to have sex. That you know,
because these parts of the brain are not as active
that you know, we couldn't just be with a stranger
(10:38):
because that fireflight thing is it's activated. Um. And then
we also have the area of the cortex associated with
pain also activated, just in women rather than men. So
it's kind of interestingly there's obviously this kind of neurological
fine line between pleasure and pain, which sort of been
it's a lot to unpack odd finding. Let's say it
(10:59):
for another podcast. Yeah, Now, they did ask the women
Kristen to fake an orgasm, and a faked orgasm, as
you might guess, looks nothing like a real one um
in the brain. That is, as that's about to say,
in the brain, not necessarily to the to the fella
or the lady um. When you fake an orgasm, the
brain activity increases in the cerebellum in other areas related
(11:19):
to controlling movement. So basically, you know, you've got to
maybe curl some toes, spasm some muscles, but you're thinking
about you're like, okay, here's when orgasm looks like I
shall now duplicate it. Basically, the exact opposite brain function
is going on when you're when you're faking then when
you're not, which that makes sense, that's why it's fake. Right.
It would be interesting, you know, if if there ever
(11:41):
comes a day when pet scanners are available for general
public use, if if people would start to buy them
and hook them up during sex up relations A little bit.
But while we're talking about all of these uncontrollable things
that are going on in our brain and our nerves
and wonderful feelings and since stations, I do think we
need to also mention, uh, something called an orgasmia, which
(12:06):
is a condition where someone is not able to reach
an orgasm, and that might have to do with taking
antidepressants that can interfere with the brain's production of dopamine
and therefore my block those pleasurable feelings from happening. Um
and in some cases doctors just aren't exactly sure why
(12:27):
why it happens. But Kristen, let's not leave the Netherlands yet,
because those same researchers who found all those things we
just discussed on the pet scanners have used MRI scanners
on women who experience an orgasmia, and their brain scan
showed that they did recognize that they're being sexually stimulated.
You know, there was pleasure be had, and what they
did then was they sort of talked them down and
(12:49):
calmed their brains a little bit. Um. So they do
think that there are techniques that women can use to
once they know how their brain works, to actually reach
an orgasm. We're not going to go this is a
pretty big topic. I think that we'll revisit uh inability
to have an orgasm, how to have an orgasm better
at some later date. We're just trying to focus on
(13:10):
the brain right now. Yeah, and my my big question
right now, Molly, is why, I mean, taken together, orgasms
are strange creatures. You know, we basically they're these moments
of total release where the body loses control. You go
through the series of muscle spasms, and you know, it's
(13:32):
just an odd thing. So why, I mean, why do
we even have How do we even have it in
the first place, Because you know, there might be another
way to reproduce, to have an orgasm. Women don't need
to have an orgasm to reproduce. So now, as I said,
I think we're gonna go to our other way to
try and make this topic a little bit boring. Evolution. Evolution,
(13:54):
I mean when we're talking about the why of an orgasm.
For men, it's easy, Okay, man needs to have an
orgasm in order to ejaculate and therefore spread his seed
for an evolutionary reason to do it. Basically, if we want,
you know, if we go back to the idea that
men need to spread their seed far and why to
um continue their line. Obviously, the fact that sex feels
(14:17):
good is a really good incentive to go out there
and spread your line. But women, they just need to
have some babies. Yeah, women don't have to obviously do
not have to have an orgasm in order to get pregnant.
So the question then, Kristen, is do we have orgasm
is based on pure luck? Or like men, is there
(14:39):
some evolutionary reason for us to have them too? Yeah?
There are all sorts of theories as to why women
biologically need to have orgasms. And the first one and this, uh,
there's really no proof to this, but I think one
of the more popular theories is something called sperm retention theory,
(14:59):
and these researchers essentially hypothesized that when the vagina and
the uterus contract mid orgasm, uh, it allows it to
suck up more sperm and to hold it in there
and not drip out post coitousa have a better chance
game pregnant, which helps evolution. Yes, well, I mean which
(15:21):
you know, which meets goals of evolution basically, keep more
sperm in your body therefore gives there's a better chance
of you know, a little guy swimming up there to
unite with an egg. And then kind of piggyback on
the sperm retention theory. Uh, there's also the idea that
an orgasm just tuckers us out, just tuckers a woman out,
and we're just gonna lay around for a long time
(15:42):
following sex, and so we won't stand up, and so
gratty's not working. It's magic. Yes, so you're laying flat,
sperm has got nowhere to go but towards an egg. Yeah, supposedly,
but like I mentioned, there is really no proof that
either these musical contractions or lying on your back keeps
(16:04):
sperm inside of the body, so it doesn't actually lead
to pregnancy, well not necessarily necessarily necessarily doesn't necessarily increase
your chances of that um And then this next one
makes sense. Uh, orgasms feel good, therefore makes women want
to have sex. Yea, that is just common sense. But
(16:25):
but the thought is is that if if women had
no pleasure during sex, then maybe the men who wanted
to spread their seats so far and wide would have trouble.
So this also meets a goal of of problems. I mean,
you know, continuing the species. And speaking of continuing the species,
there's also the idea that perhaps orgasms allow women to
choose the best mate. I mean, let's face it, it it
(16:47):
is not for anyone who is picked up not to
keep going back to one of my least favorite magazines. Uh,
you know, anyone who's picked up a Cosmo knows that,
you know, every month there tips in there for how
to achieve an orgasm as a woman. It is not
the easiest thing in the world for him, you know,
to do. So they say, well, you know, the maybe
(17:11):
it allows a woman to choose the best mate because uh,
you know, he has to be able to kind of
know what to do um in order to mean it happen.
It's part of the whole package you've always talked about
as to why women subconsciously choose mates, you know, looks
ability in the bedroom. Yeah, it's evolved, just like these series.
(17:32):
Let's go back to suction because I don't think we
talked about it enough. Yeah, there's the idea that we've
got this like kind of physical section with the muscle contractions.
But then there's also the thought that the hormone oxytocin
that is released in the brain during orgasm also helps
retain sperm in the body. Now, let's talk about love.
Let's talk about love, because you know, when all those
(17:56):
chemicals are released, you feel closer to your partner. And
if you feel close to your partner than evolutionarily speaking,
you'll be more likely to stick around, stick together, raise
a family, give your jour in the best shot they've
got in the big bad world. And those pleasure chemicals
you get from an orgasm help you do that. I've
got like al Green in my head now, I know
I wish more love songs talked about evolution and suction. Um. Now,
(18:22):
this next theory, though, is the one I'm putting if
I if I were a betting gale, Molly, this is
the one I put all my money on. You're the
thrifty nickel. I bet you don't bet money. I only
bet it on solid, solid gambles. The initial development hypothesis
this was got a lot of buzz in the nineteen seventies,
(18:42):
and it has recently received some some more attention. The
initial development hypothesis states that women have orgasms because men
do too. Yeah, why not, because basically the hormones that
determine your sex aren't developed in the earliest stages of pregnancy,
(19:05):
in the fetus doesn't have a gender. However, during that
ungendered that neutered if you will, fetal stage, the nerves
that are laid down for future sex organs are exactly
the same in all fetuses. We all have all of
these you know nerves when where in that you know,
that tiny mass of cells. So when a fetus becomes
(19:27):
a female instead of male, we still have the same
nerve pathways that allow for an orgasm during sexual intercourse.
So the very very earliest stages in the womb, everybody's
got the same shot of being able to uh to
have an orgasm. Interesting, but Kristen, if that theory is correct,
it's possible that if we don't have to, if we
(19:49):
don't need to have an orgasm, if we just kind
of do by some happy accident, then maybe eventually might
lose the ability. It might become like a vestigial organ Eventually,
evolution could just wipe that out. However, though I will
counter that with uh, it is always probably going to
be necessary for a male. Do you have an orgasm
(20:09):
in order to, you know, to ejaculate? Proceed? So if
all the stuff is taking place before gender even comes
into the picture, it's always going to be necessary. That
makes you an optimist, well, Molly, of all the things
in this world, why not be optimistic about orgasms? And
I'm gonna agree with you, Chris, and I'm going to
stay optimistic to you. But that is the question laid
(20:31):
out in the article we've been using for part of
this podcast, our female orgasms essential to continuing the human species?
We said some reasons why or why not? We've broken
orgasm down to its evolutionary and neuroscience origins. I mean,
do you think we've made it boring enough for everyone?
I mean, I think it's pretty exciting. You know, I
(20:52):
am a science stork, Molly, so I'm really happy to
know what exactly is going on in our in our
brains and bodies. During during the ozone, say you're say
the name of your favorite nerve again, Prudendal Kristen really
loves the pudendal nerve let's move along money. So uh,
usually we asked for anecdotes, but I don't really want
(21:13):
to hear about other people's orgasts. That really need to
hear your your orgasm stories. But I'm sure you have
found something to email us about in the course of
this podcast and we would like to hear that. So
our email address is mom stuff at house stuffworks dot com.
And to get off this topic, let's let's read some
some listener mail. Kristen, I got an email here from Ben.
(21:37):
He says, Hey, lady, I'm from the UK and I
must say that I'm loving the podcast. This is my
favorite house stuff Works podcast, even better than Chuck and
Josh on stuff you should know. Then that's a great
way to start off an email. I'm not gonna lie.
Sorry Chucking Josh. The only minor thing I noticed listening
to the women in the Olympics podcast. Molly mentioned that
(21:57):
you do tricks while ski jumping, but you do not
do tricks and ski jumping. That event is aerials, in
which both men and women have competed since nine four
in Lilahammer. Sorry to be a stickler for the details,
but I just thought I would let you know since
you now love ski jumping and I think that we
should know Molly. At this point, speaking of skiing and
women and the Olympics, Lindsey Von won the goal through
(22:19):
the downhill skiing. Yeah on the day we're recording. It
happened last night. Yeah, it's pretty awesome. It was awesome.
So yeah, thank you Ben for the correction. So next,
I want to give a shout out to both Tarn
and Meigs who wrote out that we need to be
looking out for Olympian at Clara Hughes of Canada. Tarn
writes that there's one woman who always gets on on
camera despite how great the team is, and that is
(22:40):
Clara Hughes. She has won many speed skinning medals in
different races, but also an Olympic gold medal in cycling.
And Meigs wrote about how she donates her entire life
savings to the n g O Right to Play, making
her a great positive amount of for girls and boys
because she didn't earn media attention on the basis of
sex appeal. Awesome, So it's pretty cool. Well, folks, thank
(23:02):
you for writing in and again our email is mom
Stuff at how Stuff works dot com if you would
like to send us your thoughts, and as always during
the week, if you want to keep up with us,
we've got a blog. It's called how to stuff And
if you would like to read the articles that we've
been referencing in this episode, it is They are what
(23:23):
happens in the brain during an orgasm, and our orgasms,
female orgasms necessary to continue the human population, or something
along those lines. You can find those articles at how
stuff works dot com. For more on this and thousands
of other topics, does it how stuff works dot com.
(23:44):
Want more how stuff works, check out our blogs on
the house. Stuff works dot com home page. Brought to
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are you
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.
It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff mom never told you?
From house to works dot Com. Hey there, and welcome
to the podcast. This is Kristen, This is Molly, So Molly. Today,
(00:21):
I'm gonna go into the oh zone. I don't talking
about and do you. Today we're going to discuss the
explosive discharge of neuro muscular tensions at the height of
sexual arousal that is usually accompanied by the ejaculation of
semen in the male and by ivaginal contractions in the female,
in other words, the orgasm. Yes, today we're gonna talk
about orgasms, but don't don't get too excited out there.
(00:43):
We're gonna try and make it as boring as possible. Yeah,
we're gonna We're gonna take the spice out of this.
We're gonna go neuroscience and evolution with these puppies. No,
no getting crazy in the studio at ten thirty on
a Thursday morning, Christon, we're gonna go. We're gonna go
sign typic. We're not gonna go Cosmo. We're gonna go
a little national geographic, little more scientific Americans little textbookie,
(01:07):
little textbook. So but it will still be fun, of course, Yeah,
because I mean it's a very unique thing that can
happen in the body, and uh, what's really going on
in an orgasm in your brain? In your brain? First
we talk about what what's happening in the body, Yes,
(01:28):
talking about the body, and then will show how the
body sends all these messages to the brainy. So, Kristen,
when I gave you that line about explosive discharge of
neuro muscular tensions, that was from that was from the dictionary. Yes,
that was old Merriam Webster. Yes, that's how they define
an orgasm. But what's actually happening with the body is
(01:48):
when you have an orgasm, in both males and females,
your rectum starts contracting, uh approximately every point eight seconds.
Fun fact out there and some contractions going on. But
that's really the only world toes. But everything else there's
voluntary less voluntary muscle control. You're losing a little bit
(02:10):
of control. Yeah, that's sort of one definition, I guess. Okay,
so it actually had a loss of bodily body control,
but that is actually also happening. Um, and we've got
the spasm. Ng. Yes, you're just saying curl toes. We've
got muscles all over the body starting to spasm of
their own free will. Okay. And then we've got all
these pleasure chemicals saturining the brain. We've got released of oxytocin,
(02:33):
nor penephren and serotonin. And in women, they've got the
muscles in the vagina and the uterus contracting. So lots
of muscle contractions. But why do they all contract I
think we should talk about the nerves. The nerves, Yeah,
this is all we have nerves to think for orgasms.
(02:54):
She isn't really that surprising because all of our sensations
of touch and feeling and all that are related to nerves.
UM and our genitalia contain an insane amount of nerve endings,
which is a large part of why um orgasms are
so intensely pleasurable. For instance, Molly, the claris alone has
(03:19):
more than eight thousand nerve endings, eight thousand packed into
yeah um. And though all of those nerves are connected
to larger nerves that run up to the spinal cord
that connected the brain that shoot those fireworks off up top,
but we also have um four major nerves that are
(03:42):
involved um in this brain body feedback, starting with the
hypogastric nerve that transmits sensations from the uterus and the
cervics and women and from the pro statan men. And
we've got the old pelvic nerve that's sending messages from
the vagina and the cervis and women and from the
rectum in both sexes. And next up we've got the
(04:02):
old pudendal nerve. It's going from the clutterists and women,
and from the scrotum and penis in men. And then
we have this might be the most interesting nerve to
talk about in the discussion, Molly, the vagus nerve that
goes from the cervix, uterus and vagina to the brain,
but it bypasses the spinal cord. And only recently scientists
(04:26):
have started to understand how the vegas nerve can contribute
to orgasms by bypassing the spinal cord, because I used
to think that all the messages had to be sent
up through the spinal cord to the brain, but indeed,
but it's not the case. So depending on where you're
receiving pleasure during sex in the nether regions, that message
(04:48):
goes up the nerve through the spinal cord with the
exception of the vagus nerve to the brain, and the
brain is like, oh yeah, this is good, and that's
what can trigger the orgastic. I'm gonna release all these
chemicals and and about to feel real good. So that's
why orgasms may feel differently depending on where you're being stimulated.
So to borrow a page from Cosmo, even though Kristen said,
(05:11):
we're not really going to talk about Cosmo, this is
why you'll get that advice to try all sorts of
different things, because who knows which nerve is is most
effective at at getting the message up to the brain, right,
you get different types of sensations and going back to
UM the vagus nerve. There was a study in two
thousand four by a team of researchers at Rutgers University
(05:33):
that UM that kind of goes along with our capabilities
of having an orgasm through UM different types of stimulation.
They found that women who had severed spinal cords were
still able to reach an orgasm by UM stimulating different
(05:53):
parts of your body. Like one woman even just UM
used a vibrator on her neck and was able to
come to an orgasm, and they think that this has
a lot to do with UM activating the vaguest nerve
because they did m R I scans on their brains
and obviously since their spinal cords were severed, the messages
aren't running up via spinal cord, but it was actually
(06:13):
the vagus nerve that was sending all these messages. And
some people who have lost a limb can actually have
UM experience an orgasm through their phantom limb. Some people
can experience it through different um you know, other sensitive
places on their body outside of the genitalia. But you know,
originally Kristen orgasm kind of hard to study because you've
(06:36):
got to you've got to rely on someone's word that
like they had one UM, there wasn't a lot known
about it, but you mentioned brain scans, yes, And you know,
I've got to I've got to wonder if the guy
who embedded brain scanning ever thought that people who are
being sexually pleasured would be hooked up to his machine,
because that's what that's what they've done. They have hooked
(06:57):
people up Like let's take this one study that happened
in the late ninety nines and mid two thousand's okay, okay,
we're in the Netherlands to set the scene, and we've
got many women coming in to be part of this
sex study. And they used pet scans to illustrate the
different areas of the brain that light up and shut
off during sexual activity. So basically, you would come in
(07:18):
for this test and they would just you know, scan
you while you're arresting, get sort of the baseline brain picture.
They would get your scan while you're being sexually stimulated,
and then they would get your scan while you're having
an orgasm, so they could just watch how the brain
changed through all of that. Now we already knew these
researchers already knew going into this that UH an orgasm
(07:39):
will stimulate the reward circuit in the brain that basically
UH responds to pleasurable sensations and is also linked to
you know, kind of what lights up during heavy drug use,
um and shopping and shopping, and so different parts of
the brain associated with it. With this would be the amygdala,
which regulates our emotions, the nucle the cucumbents, which controls
(08:01):
for dopamine, release the v t A which will actually
release the dopamine, and then we've got the cerebellum that
controls muscle function, hence all of those contractions, crazy contracts
on spasms. And then we've got the pituitary gland, which
is going to release beta endorphins which are gonna decrease
your pain and uh amp your oxytocin uh and also
(08:24):
your vasopressin, which is going to lead to feelings of
bonding and trust. So all the you know, those are
just kind of that's just kind of the basic brain circuitry,
uh that's lighting up during all of this. But these
guys in the Netherlands found some more interesting areas that
are lighting up and shutting down. Yeah. What I thought
was interesting is first they go through all the ways
(08:46):
that men and women are similar when it comes to
sex and orgasm. So you've got this region behind your
left eye, the lateral orbitofrontal cortex, which shuts down. Um,
that's the seat of reason and behavioral controls. So like
be sad you lose control to go back to Cosmo.
They're always telling you, you you know, stop thinking about the
dishes and all the stuff you should be doing. You know,
(09:08):
you've got to sort of just be in the moment.
You can't have that reason going crazy. UM, let that
let that lateral orbitofrontal cortex just calm down, shut off. UM.
And because you lose that that control. Kristen brought up
drug use. But basically, the brain during an orgasm looks
like the brain of a person taking heroin, which is
(09:31):
the possibly the worst UM kind of drug message I
think I've ever heard. UM. So men and women both
have you know, these kind of heroin brains if you will,
during orgasm. But there is one major difference UM for
women during orgasm, and that is activation in the part
of a brainstem called the periaqueductal gray or the p
(09:55):
A G. That is that that lights up and this
controls are fight or flight response. And also we have
decreased activity in the amygdala and the hippocampus, which deal
with fear and anxiety and so kind of all of
this contributes to feelings of heightened trust and UM, feeling
(10:17):
more relaxed with your with your lover and feeling safe.
And you know, probably if you want to take it
a step beyond what the researchers say it you know,
it goes back to this old stereotype that women needs
to be in love to have sex. That you know,
because these parts of the brain are not as active
that you know, we couldn't just be with a stranger
(10:38):
because that fireflight thing is it's activated. Um. And then
we also have the area of the cortex associated with
pain also activated, just in women rather than men. So
it's kind of interestingly there's obviously this kind of neurological
fine line between pleasure and pain, which sort of been
it's a lot to unpack odd finding. Let's say it
(10:59):
for another podcast. Yeah, Now, they did ask the women
Kristen to fake an orgasm, and a faked orgasm, as
you might guess, looks nothing like a real one um
in the brain. That is, as that's about to say,
in the brain, not necessarily to the to the fella
or the lady um. When you fake an orgasm, the
brain activity increases in the cerebellum in other areas related
(11:19):
to controlling movement. So basically, you know, you've got to
maybe curl some toes, spasm some muscles, but you're thinking
about you're like, okay, here's when orgasm looks like I
shall now duplicate it. Basically, the exact opposite brain function
is going on when you're when you're faking then when
you're not, which that makes sense, that's why it's fake. Right.
It would be interesting, you know, if if there ever
(11:41):
comes a day when pet scanners are available for general
public use, if if people would start to buy them
and hook them up during sex up relations A little bit.
But while we're talking about all of these uncontrollable things
that are going on in our brain and our nerves
and wonderful feelings and since stations, I do think we
need to also mention, uh, something called an orgasmia, which
(12:06):
is a condition where someone is not able to reach
an orgasm, and that might have to do with taking
antidepressants that can interfere with the brain's production of dopamine
and therefore my block those pleasurable feelings from happening. Um
and in some cases doctors just aren't exactly sure why
(12:27):
why it happens. But Kristen, let's not leave the Netherlands yet,
because those same researchers who found all those things we
just discussed on the pet scanners have used MRI scanners
on women who experience an orgasmia, and their brain scan
showed that they did recognize that they're being sexually stimulated.
You know, there was pleasure be had, and what they
did then was they sort of talked them down and
(12:49):
calmed their brains a little bit. Um. So they do
think that there are techniques that women can use to
once they know how their brain works, to actually reach
an orgasm. We're not going to go this is a
pretty big topic. I think that we'll revisit uh inability
to have an orgasm, how to have an orgasm better
at some later date. We're just trying to focus on
(13:10):
the brain right now. Yeah, and my my big question
right now, Molly, is why, I mean, taken together, orgasms
are strange creatures. You know, we basically they're these moments
of total release where the body loses control. You go
through the series of muscle spasms, and you know, it's
(13:32):
just an odd thing. So why, I mean, why do
we even have How do we even have it in
the first place, Because you know, there might be another
way to reproduce, to have an orgasm. Women don't need
to have an orgasm to reproduce. So now, as I said,
I think we're gonna go to our other way to
try and make this topic a little bit boring. Evolution. Evolution,
(13:54):
I mean when we're talking about the why of an orgasm.
For men, it's easy, Okay, man needs to have an
orgasm in order to ejaculate and therefore spread his seed
for an evolutionary reason to do it. Basically, if we want,
you know, if we go back to the idea that
men need to spread their seed far and why to
um continue their line. Obviously, the fact that sex feels
(14:17):
good is a really good incentive to go out there
and spread your line. But women, they just need to
have some babies. Yeah, women don't have to obviously do
not have to have an orgasm in order to get pregnant.
So the question then, Kristen, is do we have orgasm
is based on pure luck? Or like men, is there
(14:39):
some evolutionary reason for us to have them too? Yeah?
There are all sorts of theories as to why women
biologically need to have orgasms. And the first one and this, uh,
there's really no proof to this, but I think one
of the more popular theories is something called sperm retention theory,
(14:59):
and these researchers essentially hypothesized that when the vagina and
the uterus contract mid orgasm, uh, it allows it to
suck up more sperm and to hold it in there
and not drip out post coitousa have a better chance
game pregnant, which helps evolution. Yes, well, I mean which
(15:21):
you know, which meets goals of evolution basically, keep more
sperm in your body therefore gives there's a better chance
of you know, a little guy swimming up there to
unite with an egg. And then kind of piggyback on
the sperm retention theory. Uh, there's also the idea that
an orgasm just tuckers us out, just tuckers a woman out,
and we're just gonna lay around for a long time
(15:42):
following sex, and so we won't stand up, and so
gratty's not working. It's magic. Yes, so you're laying flat,
sperm has got nowhere to go but towards an egg. Yeah, supposedly,
but like I mentioned, there is really no proof that
either these musical contractions or lying on your back keeps
(16:04):
sperm inside of the body, so it doesn't actually lead
to pregnancy, well not necessarily necessarily necessarily doesn't necessarily increase
your chances of that um And then this next one
makes sense. Uh, orgasms feel good, therefore makes women want
to have sex. Yea, that is just common sense. But
(16:25):
but the thought is is that if if women had
no pleasure during sex, then maybe the men who wanted
to spread their seats so far and wide would have trouble.
So this also meets a goal of of problems. I mean,
you know, continuing the species. And speaking of continuing the species,
there's also the idea that perhaps orgasms allow women to
choose the best mate. I mean, let's face it, it it
(16:47):
is not for anyone who is picked up not to
keep going back to one of my least favorite magazines. Uh,
you know, anyone who's picked up a Cosmo knows that,
you know, every month there tips in there for how
to achieve an orgasm as a woman. It is not
the easiest thing in the world for him, you know,
to do. So they say, well, you know, the maybe
(17:11):
it allows a woman to choose the best mate because uh,
you know, he has to be able to kind of
know what to do um in order to mean it happen.
It's part of the whole package you've always talked about
as to why women subconsciously choose mates, you know, looks
ability in the bedroom. Yeah, it's evolved, just like these series.
(17:32):
Let's go back to suction because I don't think we
talked about it enough. Yeah, there's the idea that we've
got this like kind of physical section with the muscle contractions.
But then there's also the thought that the hormone oxytocin
that is released in the brain during orgasm also helps
retain sperm in the body. Now, let's talk about love.
Let's talk about love, because you know, when all those
(17:56):
chemicals are released, you feel closer to your partner. And
if you feel close to your partner than evolutionarily speaking,
you'll be more likely to stick around, stick together, raise
a family, give your jour in the best shot they've
got in the big bad world. And those pleasure chemicals
you get from an orgasm help you do that. I've
got like al Green in my head now, I know
I wish more love songs talked about evolution and suction. Um. Now,
(18:22):
this next theory, though, is the one I'm putting if
I if I were a betting gale, Molly, this is
the one I put all my money on. You're the
thrifty nickel. I bet you don't bet money. I only
bet it on solid, solid gambles. The initial development hypothesis
this was got a lot of buzz in the nineteen seventies,
(18:42):
and it has recently received some some more attention. The
initial development hypothesis states that women have orgasms because men
do too. Yeah, why not, because basically the hormones that
determine your sex aren't developed in the earliest stages of pregnancy,
(19:05):
in the fetus doesn't have a gender. However, during that
ungendered that neutered if you will, fetal stage, the nerves
that are laid down for future sex organs are exactly
the same in all fetuses. We all have all of
these you know nerves when where in that you know,
that tiny mass of cells. So when a fetus becomes
(19:27):
a female instead of male, we still have the same
nerve pathways that allow for an orgasm during sexual intercourse.
So the very very earliest stages in the womb, everybody's
got the same shot of being able to uh to
have an orgasm. Interesting, but Kristen, if that theory is correct,
it's possible that if we don't have to, if we
(19:49):
don't need to have an orgasm, if we just kind
of do by some happy accident, then maybe eventually might
lose the ability. It might become like a vestigial organ Eventually,
evolution could just wipe that out. However, though I will
counter that with uh, it is always probably going to
be necessary for a male. Do you have an orgasm
(20:09):
in order to, you know, to ejaculate? Proceed? So if
all the stuff is taking place before gender even comes
into the picture, it's always going to be necessary. That
makes you an optimist, well, Molly, of all the things
in this world, why not be optimistic about orgasms? And
I'm gonna agree with you, Chris, and I'm going to
stay optimistic to you. But that is the question laid
(20:31):
out in the article we've been using for part of
this podcast, our female orgasms essential to continuing the human species?
We said some reasons why or why not? We've broken
orgasm down to its evolutionary and neuroscience origins. I mean,
do you think we've made it boring enough for everyone?
I mean, I think it's pretty exciting. You know, I
(20:52):
am a science stork, Molly, so I'm really happy to
know what exactly is going on in our in our
brains and bodies. During during the ozone, say you're say
the name of your favorite nerve again, Prudendal Kristen really
loves the pudendal nerve let's move along money. So uh,
usually we asked for anecdotes, but I don't really want
(21:13):
to hear about other people's orgasts. That really need to
hear your your orgasm stories. But I'm sure you have
found something to email us about in the course of
this podcast and we would like to hear that. So
our email address is mom stuff at house stuffworks dot com.
And to get off this topic, let's let's read some
some listener mail. Kristen, I got an email here from Ben.
(21:37):
He says, Hey, lady, I'm from the UK and I
must say that I'm loving the podcast. This is my
favorite house stuff Works podcast, even better than Chuck and
Josh on stuff you should know. Then that's a great
way to start off an email. I'm not gonna lie.
Sorry Chucking Josh. The only minor thing I noticed listening
to the women in the Olympics podcast. Molly mentioned that
(21:57):
you do tricks while ski jumping, but you do not
do tricks and ski jumping. That event is aerials, in
which both men and women have competed since nine four
in Lilahammer. Sorry to be a stickler for the details,
but I just thought I would let you know since
you now love ski jumping and I think that we
should know Molly. At this point, speaking of skiing and
women and the Olympics, Lindsey Von won the goal through
(22:19):
the downhill skiing. Yeah on the day we're recording. It
happened last night. Yeah, it's pretty awesome. It was awesome.
So yeah, thank you Ben for the correction. So next,
I want to give a shout out to both Tarn
and Meigs who wrote out that we need to be
looking out for Olympian at Clara Hughes of Canada. Tarn
writes that there's one woman who always gets on on
camera despite how great the team is, and that is
(22:40):
Clara Hughes. She has won many speed skinning medals in
different races, but also an Olympic gold medal in cycling.
And Meigs wrote about how she donates her entire life
savings to the n g O Right to Play, making
her a great positive amount of for girls and boys
because she didn't earn media attention on the basis of
sex appeal. Awesome, So it's pretty cool. Well, folks, thank
(23:02):
you for writing in and again our email is mom
Stuff at how Stuff works dot com if you would
like to send us your thoughts, and as always during
the week, if you want to keep up with us,
we've got a blog. It's called how to stuff And
if you would like to read the articles that we've
been referencing in this episode, it is They are what
(23:23):
happens in the brain during an orgasm, and our orgasms,
female orgasms necessary to continue the human population, or something
along those lines. You can find those articles at how
stuff works dot com. For more on this and thousands
of other topics, does it how stuff works dot com.
(23:44):
Want more how stuff works, check out our blogs on
the house. Stuff works dot com home page. Brought to
you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready,
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