Your brain on an orgasm

Volunteers masturbated inside a functional MRI machine so that researchers could deepen their understanding of the female orgasm. They found that from build-up to orgasm, your brain lights up like Sydney Harbour on December 31.
AT FIRST TOUCH

The brain’s genital sensory cortex fires up. “The clitoris, vagina and cervix each stimulate different parts of the cortex,” says behavioural neuroscientist Dr Barry Komisaruk, who led the MRI study by Rutgers University, US.



“Because each can produce an orgasm independently” – and here’s the take-home – “stimulating several at once may lead to more intense, pleasurable orgasms.”

THE BUILD-UP

Continued stimulation stokes your hippocampus, a region known to evoke dreamlike memories. (Remember that weekend away in Byron Bay? Good times…) Also activated is the amygdala, involved in emotional expression and intense feelings. Though researchers don’t know exactly what kind of emotions you experience, we’ve got a guess: they’re positive.

ALMOST THERE…

At the start of an orgasm, the cerebellum triggers tension in your thighs, bum and abs, while the frontal cortex – the brain’s controller of planning and abstract thought – kicks in, kicking off more fantasies. (Keith Urban? Alexander Skarsgard? We won’t tell.) The anterior cingulate cortex and insula turn on. These regions may inhibit pain so that you feel the exact opposite: pleasure.

ECSTASY – OHHH, YES!
The release of oxytocin is triggered by the hypothalamus, causing uterine contractions

to generate those erotic O sensations. The moment isn’t purely physical: oxytocin, aka the “love hormone”, also promotes bonding (what this means when you’re flying solo, Dr Komisaruk isn’t sure). As the nucleus accumbens, or “pleasure centre”, receives dopamine, you fly even higher.

POST-ORGASM

Lights out in the brain. Everything cools down while you bask in the afterglow. Mmmm…


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