WEBVTT - What happens in the brain during an orgasm? 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.560 It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:16.319 from house Stuff Works dot Com. Hey, and welcome to 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:19.040 the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. With me is always this 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:22.720 Charles W Chuck Bryant. He's got a new haircut. Everybody 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:26.640 looks really good. You can take my word for short, 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:29.600 high and tight. Yeah, high and tight. Makeing stuff you 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:32.199 should know? Chuck out his ears lowered? Have you ever 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:36.440 heard that? And I don't think anyone under seventy has 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:39.239 ever said that? Though, Yeah, well I just had. I 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:43.400 took the cake. Yes, speaking of have you ever heard 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:47.600 of the origin of the word cakewalk? The term cake walk? 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:50.000 I wrote a blog on it. You should check it out. 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:52.840 Very surprising. I'll check it out, very eye opening. Again, 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:57.639 tell us just go to the blog blog. Um, it's 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:02.240 so Chuck. Are you ready? Yes, Chuck, Yes, I want 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:08.440 to commend you. Okay, Um, just a day ago I 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:13.760 woke up, checked my smartphone and found an email and 0:01:13.760 --> 0:01:15.760 you said, how about these for stuff you should know? 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:19.440 And one of them was what happens in the brain 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:25.560 during an orgasm? I'm sorry. Last week what happens in 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:27.680 the brain during an orgasm. And I thought, oh, man, 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:30.280 I don't know about that one. Like we've got some 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:34.759 younger listeners, like are we qualified to talk about this stuff? 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:38.480 I got I started sweating. Um, it was just it 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:41.440 was a wreck. It was a terrible way to wake up. Um. 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:44.279 And I emailed you and was like, are you sure? 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:47.880 And you said something that I thought was this is 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:50.640 why I'm commending you. You're like, look, man, we've done 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:54.240 a lot of stuff on like really violent things which 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:56.400 just off the top of my head, shrunken heads are 0:01:56.440 --> 0:01:58.960 step by step guide to shrinking heads or check the 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:03.400 cannibalism at the Ripper. Um, and we have we've done 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:06.200 a lot of stuff about violent stuff. And you're like, 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:08.919 and I don't want to just be able to talk 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:11.440 about violent stuff but not be able to talk about sexuality, 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:15.040 like it's bad or worse than violence. I don't want 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:17.840 to play ball with that scene. And that is very 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:21.079 especially in America. It's a scene we just celebrated Thanksgiving. 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:25.320 We're a very puritanical country still. And that's absolutely true. 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:28.840 Like violence is celebrated and okay, sexuality is hidden and 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:32.160 it's not okay. Uh, And yeah, I don't subscribe to 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:34.200 that either. So I wanted to commend you for having 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:38.400 that level of foresight insight every kind of site and 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:42.320 forum suggesting we do this. Thanks for having said that. 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:45.959 If you're a parent, if you're a younger listener, maybe 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:48.079 you should ask your parents. We're gonna be very mature 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:51.320 about this, but it's not gonna be funny. But if 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:53.480 if you uh, if you don't think you want your 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:57.519 kid listening to uh anything about orgasms, then switch it off. 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:00.480 Hey man, you're the parent, we're not. It's up to 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:03.720 you to decide when you want your kid. Personally, I 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:05.840 went to sex ed when I was either the fifth 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:08.400 or sixth grade, so I learned about this stuff when 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:11.079 I was like from a teacher I was like seventh 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:14.480 or eight. Really I was younger. Yeah, yeah, well you're 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:17.840 you're very experienced. I remember one very funny thing that happened. 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:20.280 I can't say it. I wish I could. Oh yeah, yeah, 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:23.639 one kid in my class, I remember his name even 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:26.280 it was he asked a very funny question that he 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:28.080 wouldn't mean it to be funny. And but now that 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:31.200 I'm older, looking back, he was asking a legit question 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:35.440 and it was. It was funny. Yeah. Um, that was 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:39.440 a great story. My imagination is running wild right now. 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:43.640 All right, let's get to this, chuck. Yeah, let's this 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:46.480 is a really this is a bang up way to 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:49.800 start a podcast. Like what happens in the brain during 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:55.120 an orgasm? Defining orgasm from the Oxford English Dictionary. It's dry, 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:58.560 it's stayed, it's like clinical, it's perfect. It was perfect. 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:04.160 So let's do that the first one. There a sudden movement, spasm, contraction, 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:09.800 or convulsion, a surge of sexual excitement. That's pretty much 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:13.160 on the on the head there, right, Miriam Webster. Explosive 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:18.240 discharge of neuromuscular tension at the height of sexual arousal uh, 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:21.320 usually accompanied by the ejaculation of semen in the male 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:25.920 and by vaginal contractions in the female. And then famous 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:31.680 smut peddler Dr Alfred Kinsey, I'm sorry, sex researcher. Researcher 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:33.960 Alfred Kinsey. What was the name of the movie that 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:36.640 Ray Finds played him? Was it just Kinsey? It was 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:44.440 Kinsey and it was Liam Neeson. Yeah. Um, he called 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:47.960 an orgasm. It can be likened to the crescendo or 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:53.240 climax and sudden stillness achieved by an orchestra of human emotions. Also, 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:57.200 it could be compared to an explosion of tensions or 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:00.440 to sneezing, which Shane of Freeman, who wrote the this article, 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:04.479 took issue with. That's because it's not true. That's all myth, 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:08.160 like if you sneeze five times it's like an orgasm 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:10.440 where you'll have an orgasm. I don't think that's at 0:05:10.480 --> 0:05:14.279 all what he was saying. A sense of tension and 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:18.039 then really immediate relief that washes over your body following 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:20.599 like a heavy sneeze. I think that's what he was saying. Yeah, 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:22.599 but there's an urban myth that if you sneeze like 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:24.760 five or seven times in a row. I don't think 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.159 Kinsey Dalton have been myths. That was a scientist I'm 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:30.400 saying since then. So the point of all this is 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:34.760 that the orgasm, while it is this um sensation that 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:37.400 washes over your body, it's an explosion of tensions. It's 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:42.000 like sneezing. Uh, It's accompanied by ejaculation and men um. 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:46.800 There's all these physiological experience is going on, but all 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:49.159 of it is centered in the brain. The point is 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:51.919 the orgasm takes place in the brain. And thanks to 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:56.440 the Wonder Machine, we now know pretty much what's going 0:05:56.560 --> 0:06:00.560 on in the brain. We don't we don't fully understand orgasms, 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:04.080 but we have a much clearer picture than we did 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:07.280 even ten years ago, twenty years ago. Did you ever 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:11.040 hear the Billy Connolly, you know, the comedian his uh 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:14.120 He had one bit where he talks about when he 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:16.200 learned first learning of an orgasm, when he was like, 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:18.960 you know, twelve years old, like some older friend of 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:21.120 his or his brother or cousin taught him like how 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:23.280 to achieve it and what it was, and he's like, 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:24.560 you know, I did it, and it was the best 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:26.320 thing ever, And he said, and then he came back 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:27.960 to me the next day and was like, you only 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:31.440 get one thousand of those? He was like, the next 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:36.120 week I had used them all up. Well, I don't 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:37.920 know if it was a thousand, then I don't even 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:39.080 know if this is gonna make it on the air. 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:42.560 I'll find out. So let's start clean. So um, okay, 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:46.080 so we have let's let's talk about where all this 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:52.080 starts takes place. Orgasms begin in the genitalia and they 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:56.520 end in the brain. Yeah, pretty much, that's it. Or 0:06:56.720 --> 0:06:59.800 they begin in the genitaliet, go to the brain and 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:02.200 then come back to the genitalia. Maybe, or they begin 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:04.560 in the brain and then go to the genitalia end 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:05.880 them back to the brain. We're gonna get to the 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:08.279 bottom of this. But essentially there's a lot of nerves 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:12.120 involved in this, and there's um you know, you're not 0:07:12.120 --> 0:07:14.560 going to be surprised to find that the genitalia, both 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:19.600 male and female, are extremely sensitive nerve wise. Apparently the 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:23.800 clitteress um is has about eight thousand nerve endings just 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:29.520 in itself. Uh, comparatively speaking, the penis circumcised penis is, 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:32.400 I understand it has about four thousand nerve endings and 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:36.080 the whole thing that glands. Oh really yes, but and 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:40.120 I didn't see this substantiated anywhere, but an uncircumcised penis 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:43.520 supposedly has like twenty five thousand nerve endings in it. 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:46.120 That's all propaganda. Is that brought to you by the 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:50.000 Circumcision Society Anti Circumcisi was It was on one of 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:53.000 those sites. And also that reminds me, go listen to 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:56.200 the circumcision podcast. That was a good one. Did you 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:58.800 just want to remind yourself that we can cover these 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:02.720 things without laughing. No, I just remember that we did circumcision, 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:04.720 and then I thought you were just like, I gotta, 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:06.560 I gotta do this. I gotta be able to say 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:10.960 the word penis without laughing. Penis gland. All right. Uh, 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:13.040 so what happens is you got all these nerve endings 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:16.920 UM during intercourse and a climax that will be UM 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:20.520 messages sent through these large nerves that run up your 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:24.160 spinal cord, except for the vagus nerve, which will It 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:27.480 is very important that we mentioned that bypasses the spinal 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:33.120 cord uh and to the brain and tells the brain, Hey, 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:35.520 this is great, this feels awesome. You want to you 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:40.080 wanna do this again. And there's a different bundles there, 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:44.280 I guess, stimulated in different areas, right, Yeah, So you've 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:48.320 got like the hypogastric nerve um, which is located in 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:50.840 the uterus and cervix and women, and in the prostrate 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:54.240 in men. So if you tickle these areas you can 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:59.120 conceivably achieve orgasm through the hypogastric nerve. There's a pelvic 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:03.000 nerve transmits from the vagina and cervix and women obviously, 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:06.360 and from the rectum of both sexes. Yeah, there's some 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:10.000 overlap here. Uh, you go ahead and say that. Next one, Uh, 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:14.839 the pedundele nerve. Yeah, that's pudendale or pudundal I'm not 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:17.599 sure which, or pudundle, but either way it's p U 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:21.320 d E n d A L. Right, that's the clitteress 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:24.240 in women and the scrotum and penis and men. So 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:29.120 that's like kind of the that's the well established, long 0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:33.840 understood bundle of nerves, is it. Yeah, because the whole 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:35.880 like the whole concept that a woman can even have 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:40.240 an orgasm is pretty recent. It's pretty new, like the 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:43.240 last century. Yeah, as far as science goes. You go 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:45.439 to Europe and asked some lady a hundred years ago, 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:47.160 two hundred years ago, I's gonna be like, what are 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:49.920 you stupid? Yes, watch this. They're like, oh, that's what 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:56.679 that's called. We thought you just had the humors, right. Uh. 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:59.720 And then you've got the vegas nerve, which we uh said, 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:02.320 by passes the spinal cord. It transmits from the cervix 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:08.079 uterus and vagina and of the nerve fibers or sensory 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:10.319 in the vegas nerve. So the vegas nerve is the 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:13.280 money nerve um and it controls more than just orgasms. Apparently, 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:15.440 if you have vegas nerve damage, you choke when you 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:18.040 try to swallow liquids. We talked about that in something 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:21.480 we've said vegas before, and it had to do with choking. 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:27.960 I'll bet you it was either competitive eating or swords 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:31.800 following Was it sword swallowing? Okay, so the vegas nerve 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:36.000 is involved in swallowing as well as in um uh orgasm. 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:39.200 And I could only find obviously then if it's involved 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:41.880 in swallowing, it's in men and women. But I could 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:45.000 only find reference to the vegas nerve and orgasms in 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:48.600 relation to female orgasms. But we'll get to that later. 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:50.960 And the vegas nerves though, also, like you said, that's 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:54.800 a pretty important nerve and it's very only recently discovered 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:58.200 as far as orgasms go. But the big key to 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:01.000 it is that it by hass as the spinal cord 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:03.960 and go straight to the brain, which is really really 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:08.480 good news for a certain subset of the human population 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:13.439 Chuck a k a. Paraplegics sample who have suffered catastrophic 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:16.840 spinal injuries, even people whose spines have been interrupted like 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:19.920 their spines. Their spinal cords are no longer connected top 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:26.800 and bottom. They're totally paralyzed. They can still um come 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:32.199 to climax, which is new because that was I mean forever. 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:34.560 They said, you know, those days are over for you 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:40.600 pretty much. But thank you Dr Berry Kamiseruk St. Kamiseruk, 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:44.080 who we should just call this guy Dr Oh because 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:45.920 he is the as far as I can sell, the 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:50.319 pre eminent orgasm scientists. He and Whipple are he and 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:56.240 Dr Whipple Beverly Beverly, That's that's what the paraplegic people 0:11:56.240 --> 0:11:58.320 call her. Of course they do. Uh. They are at 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:02.360 Rutger's at rat giz goos Arlette nights. And they did 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:06.480 some tests on women in two thousand four who had 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:09.280 severed spinal cords, and they found that they could feel 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:13.400 stimulation in their cervicts. They could reach orgasm, and they 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:15.040 did the m r I and said, hey, it looks 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:19.599 like this thing is bypassing. Yeah, they're saying this is 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:22.120 real because the the m r I machine lit up 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:25.120 like it's supposed to write, and like you said that, 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:28.280 they showed that the areas of the brain that respond 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:31.800 to the vegas nerve we're lighting up especially, and they're like, oh, 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:35.000 it's the vegas nerve, which is I mean, we're not 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:37.080 getting around. That is great news because that's one of 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:42.840 the most upsetting parts I would imagine of spinal injury 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:44.720 is to say goodbye to that part of your life, 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:47.080 you know, to lose your sexuality like that. One of 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:50.520 my um good friends stated a girl who was paralyzed 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:54.600 from the waist down and she was able to um, 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:57.880 I have an orgasm. Thank you, vegas nerve. Yeah, the 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:01.280 vegas nerves basically proof that him in our God's favorite. 0:13:01.960 --> 0:13:05.719 Oh yeah, no, actually, we'll see that's quite the opposite. 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:09.600 That's right. I mean the vegas nervous it's it's pretty 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:13.880 great for women, but overall, dumb lumbering men have it 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:18.880 a way better. Yeah, as we'll see. Okay, so let's 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:21.120 talk about the brain. Let's talk about the pleasure center 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:25.040 a k a. Reward circuit. This is a pretty new 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:28.440 Like the nineteen fifties is when they first kind of 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:31.440 discovered this, and it seems like we talked about this too. 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:34.760 They did experiments on rats. They basically hooked them up 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:37.960 in the skinner box and said, hey, if you go 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:41.959 push this button, you're gonna get rewarded in a very 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:44.600 pleasurable way in your brain. It was like cocaine or something, 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:48.520 wasn't it. I think so? And they they found out 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:50.480 that the brats really loved it, to the tune of 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:55.840 about seven button pushes an hour, and they didn't eat anymore, 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:59.080 didn't want water anymore. They just lay there and push 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:01.280 this button. And it was and cocaine. They had electro's 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:03.760 implanted in the brain's rewards, so it was going and 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:06.240 just stimulating everything. No, but I think it had to 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:09.199 do with a study on drugs, because the reward center, 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:13.240 like sexual arousal and the high from drugs, is what 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:16.880 a lot of it's going on there. Well, not only that, eating, laughing, 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:20.640 hanging out with other people, basically anything that ensures our 0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:24.080 survival as a species or as an individual. Um, the 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:25.960 reward center has something to do with it. And the 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:28.680 whole point of the reward center is we get this 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:33.880 release of dopamine, this pleasurable um, this pleasurable chemical um 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:36.440 that teaches us, wow, this feels really good. I want 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:39.880 to do that again, so I will survive. These rats 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:43.520 died of exhaustion, though, Yeah, exactly, that's so crazy, but 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:46.360 that's where they discovered it in the fifties. And um, 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:48.240 if we're gonna talk about the pleasure center, and we 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:51.760 should mention a few specific areas, like the amygdala right 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:54.160 regulates your emotions, and we talked about the brain a lot, 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:56.080 so this is sort of rehashed. This is kind of 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:57.960 like up there with fight or flight, Like we talked 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:00.440 about the reward circuit quite a bit. We do because 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:02.440 we like it. Well, it's a great circuit. I wish 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:04.600 I had that button. I'd be pushing it seven hundred 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:06.240 times an hour and I have to come along and 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:11.120 be like, you need to stop. The nucleus accumbents, which 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:13.280 I don't think we've ever mentioned on the show. I 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:16.680 think we have we have that controls the release of dopamine. 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:19.960 It's part of the limbic system and this plays a 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:23.280 really big role in sexual arousal and like the high 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:26.920 you feel from from certain drugs. The v t A 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:31.239 or the ventral tegmental area that actually releases the dopamine, 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:35.400 It takes its orders from the nucleus acumens a cumbins. 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:39.040 The cerebellum controls your muscle function. Muscles are very important, 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:42.560 uh in an orgasm and the pituitary gland. Here's this 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:44.760 is a big one because it's not just dopamine the 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:49.360 pleasure that you've since like you you just you know, 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:52.640 it's not just pleasure. There's other stuff going on, Like 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:57.160 there's tristesse crying after sex, Like that's not just pleasure. 0:15:57.200 --> 0:16:00.760 That's you're overwhelmed with emotions sometimes and that is thanks 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:04.160 to our friend the pituitary gland, which releases beta endorphins 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:09.400 that decreased pain, oxytocin, which increased feelings of trust that's oppressing, 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:12.440 which increases bonding UM and a lot of these same 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:16.960 hormones and chemicals are released UM when you give birth, 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:20.440 when a woman gives birth as well, which apparently forms 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:24.080 bonds between mother and child. And also UM these things 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:28.160 are released I think like oxytocin is a lactation chemical 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:32.240 as well, so both mother and child during breastfeeding UM 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:36.440 bond have like basically re overwhelmed with the sense of like, 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:38.800 I really like you, and I get this sense you 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:42.120 like me too, so let's hang out. Yeah. Oxytocin is 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:44.880 called the hormone of love and actually means quick birth 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:49.440 in Greek. And not only is it released during childbirth, 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:55.760 but it sort of facilitates childbirth and um, nipple stimulation, 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:58.240 it is released and that's what makes you lack DA 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:02.640 which is pretty cool and calmness. It reduces your anxiety, 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:06.640 makes you calm. So ocutosin up with oxytocin. Yeah. Investip 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:10.520 pressing too has similar effects as well. So you've got 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:14.280 all these chemicals flooding your body, You've got your reward 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:21.560 circuit going. Yeah, and um, this is the orgasm basically, 0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:24.360 especially the female orgasm. We should say, like the male 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:29.920 orgasm includes ejaculation, and it's been long understood what's going 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:32.600 on there, right, But like it's pretty much an A 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:36.600 to B relationship. Yeah. But like I said, like it 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:39.080 was pretty recent, like the middle of last century that 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:42.520 people that science came to really say like, okay, all right, 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:45.040 so this is real. Women are just trying to get 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:48.359 on board here, like they they really are experiencing something. 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:52.320 And then in the late nineties and um, mid two thousands, 0:17:52.359 --> 0:17:55.000 a group of Dutch researchers said, we're going to take 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:57.159 this m ri I, We're gonna stick people in this 0:17:57.400 --> 0:18:00.480 mri I, We're going to bring them to orgasm and 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:02.840 then we're gonna watch what goes on in their brains. Yeah, 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:05.399 well first they use the PET scan. Okay, you're right. 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:08.240 I'm sorry. And actually, since you mentioned men, you told 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:11.840 me in another email said this article is sexist because 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:15.960 it only talks about women almost and I looked that up. 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:19.640 Apparently it's because the men's orgasm is so short it's 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:24.000 hard to study it. Okay, so it's like boom, it's over, 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:27.920 whereas a woman can have a prolonged orgasm. Much easier 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:32.000 to study that. All right, Um, to pet scan. So 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:33.960 the PET scan. But think about this is like the 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:38.720 swing in his study since like King Kazy, you know, um, 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:42.240 this is uh. These these test subjects were brought to 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:45.800 orgasm that pet they were their brains were watched with 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:49.440 PET scans later on MRI s and what the Dutch 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:54.359 researchers found was that there really aren't that many differences 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:58.000 in the brains between men and women as far as 0:18:58.040 --> 0:19:00.840 the pleasure circuit goes. They saw all the stuff they 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:05.040 expected to see. Um. Apparently, the the the brain if 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:07.399 you take a snapshot of maybe the peak of it 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:10.480 during orgasm or peak orgasm, and you compared it to 0:19:10.520 --> 0:19:14.880 a snapshot of the peak of a heroin dose. Uh, 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:18.480 it looks the same, one of the Dutch researchers said, 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:23.400 But there are differences between men's orgasms and women's orgasms 0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:25.399 as far as brain regions are concerned. And it's not 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:28.000 really surprising what they found when you hear it. It's 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:30.639 kind of intuitive, you know. Well. The other thing that 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:32.960 they found was the same, though, is that the orbital 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:37.479 orbital frontal cortex shut down for both. And that is 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:40.879 the where you the seat of reason and behavioral control 0:19:40.880 --> 0:19:43.520 in your brain. So it's no surprise that that thing 0:19:43.560 --> 0:19:46.080 shuts down for both of us. You just completely lose control. 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:51.040 You're enthralled by your orgasm. So the differences that you 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:55.800 mentioned when a woman has sex, the I had this 0:19:55.840 --> 0:20:02.040 so right earlier period coductile gray PG is activated and 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:05.360 uh it saysn't here controls fight or flight. I got 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:09.359 more that it provokes your defense responses and it's not 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:12.399 necessarily controlling fightre flight. You know? Is that right? Is 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:15.280 it activating and or stimulating it? It just said what 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:18.760 I saw is said it provokes your defense responses, which 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:22.120 is interesting. Okay, Well, I mean you can say defense 0:20:22.160 --> 0:20:24.200 responses fight or flight. Yeah, that's true. Was part of 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:27.520 it at least. Uh. The woman's brain showed decreased activity 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:30.440 in the middala and hippocampus. This one made sense to me. 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:33.600 Deals with fear anxiety. So fear and anxiety are out 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:35.720 the door all of a sudden. Yeah, which makes sense 0:20:35.760 --> 0:20:39.920 because for a woman to have and enjoy sex, and 0:20:39.960 --> 0:20:44.000 it takes um. Just physically speaking, it takes far more 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:47.840 trust than it does for a man, and emotionally, right, 0:20:47.880 --> 0:20:51.040 you need to be relaxed general. Uh. And then here 0:20:51.200 --> 0:20:53.480 was one that I thought was kind of interesting. UM. 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:57.320 The part of the cortex associated with pain, the insular cortex, 0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:02.040 which UM is used to judge like the the ferocity 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:05.480 basically of pain, like just how bad pain is, is activated. 0:21:05.680 --> 0:21:09.560 So it's basically scanning, looking looking out for pain, or 0:21:09.640 --> 0:21:13.560 judging the experience based on partially through the lens of pain. 0:21:14.800 --> 0:21:18.080 I think everyone's been there, whether it's like tickling or anything. 0:21:18.200 --> 0:21:19.840 We're like, oh, I hate that, I hate that, but 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:23.360 I love that. I love that. Very fine line. Sometimes 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:28.199 there's a very egalitarian interpretation checkers, thank you. UM. Faking 0:21:28.240 --> 0:21:31.159 an orgasm. Not surprisingly, of course, it doesn't use the 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:34.080 same part of the brain. There's really bears almost no 0:21:34.119 --> 0:21:37.080 resemblance whatsoever. I didn't even think that should have been included. 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:40.800 I didn't either, but I was mad in shanea Freeman 0:21:40.840 --> 0:21:42.840 for being sexist at the time when I read that. 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:45.720 Now that I look back on it, I still don't 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:49.439 think it should have been included. That's right, um so, Chuck. 0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:54.119 We've been giving all of the kudos and attention to 0:21:54.280 --> 0:21:58.640 people who have orgasms, no problem, right, m hmm. There 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:03.959 are people out there who, um are who who can't 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:09.440 have orgasms, and yes, they have an orgasmia, which is 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:13.280 an inability to achieve an orgasm. And one of the 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:20.960 big culprits are S SR eyes serotonin as something reuptake inhibitor. 0:22:21.200 --> 0:22:25.840 What was the other s? I can't Yes, select serotonin 0:22:25.920 --> 0:22:29.600 reuptake inhibitor, which keeps serotonin in your synapses longer, so 0:22:29.760 --> 0:22:33.040 you cannot be depressed. The problem is it decreases the 0:22:33.040 --> 0:22:37.040 production the natural production of dopamine in your brain, and dopamine, 0:22:37.080 --> 0:22:40.680 obviously is how we learn to enjoy and go do 0:22:41.520 --> 0:22:47.200 something like achieving an orgasm again. So fortunately, once people 0:22:47.200 --> 0:22:49.960 wean themselves off of S S R eyes or start 0:22:50.040 --> 0:22:53.840 taking other drugs, that increased dopamine production, usually that an 0:22:53.960 --> 0:22:58.840 orgasmia goes away, usually not all the time. Sadly a 0:22:58.960 --> 0:23:01.280 very small person enage. I didn't get a number, but 0:23:01.720 --> 0:23:06.600 I did see that was uncommon, thankfully. Uh post s 0:23:06.600 --> 0:23:09.800 s ri I. Sexual dysfunction means after you have weaned 0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:13.720 yourself off and you're producing dopamine regularly, you're still not 0:23:13.800 --> 0:23:16.040 able to achieve an orgasm. Right. They have no idea 0:23:16.119 --> 0:23:19.840 why because they're like, your dopamines working, Like what, what's 0:23:19.840 --> 0:23:23.359 your problem? And this is thanks to Dr oh again, right, 0:23:23.920 --> 0:23:29.240 I believe, so it's all over this stuff. Uh he um. 0:23:29.280 --> 0:23:31.360