Contributor: Dr. Reef Karim, Founder, The Control Center for Behavioral Medicine
When you get turned on and think about sexy body parts, how often do you think about the brain? Furthermore, why don’t we ever hear a beautiful woman say: “That guy had the biggest brain, it was so hot.”
Everything we do in our sex lives… the hot, intense, loving, kinky… starts with our brain.
The Complicated Organ: The Brain
That complicated organ above our necks is the biggest and most powerful sex organ in the body. It governs the sexual response cycle and oversees everything from desire to arousal to orgasm and the refractory period.
Our loins don’t make us sex crazed, our brains do.
Recent neuroimaging studies on human sexual behavior show us how active our brains are on the topic of sex. There are some gender differences (men show more activity with visual processing, etc.) but we have more in common than we realize.
Here’s How Sex on the Brain Works
Sexual Stimuli:
We take in sexual information very quickly. Some studies say .02 seconds is all it takes for a man to register that a woman in a swimsuit photo is desirable.
Let’s say we look at porn. The sexual stimuli gets processed through our senses (sight, taste, smell, touch and hearing) most often through visual processing. An area of our brain called the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) promotes the recognition and grading of the sex appeal of the stimulus.
The vmPFC connects to the limbic reward and emotional systems and calibrates how much we pay attention to that stimuli.
Our amygdala activation gets us to act on our desires. Studies show when men look at short arousing video clips, their amygdala light up. But, once the penis or clitoris is stimulated, the amygdala shuts down. So basically, the amygdala stirs the pot but then backs out once things get going.
Also, our medial orbitofrontal cortex keeps quiet as we move towards orgasm. Its job is to keep our emotions from getting out of control. So when that brain area is quiet, there’s less of a chance we will think about what we’re doing and a much higher likelihood, the deed will get done.
Reward & Motivation:
Sex has to feel good or we wouldn’t keep doing it over and over again. If it was mechanical or boring, nobody would procreate and we would all ultimately cease to exist.
Enter the neurotransmitter Dopamine.
As the primary neurotransmitter of the reward system (ventral tegmentum, nucleus accumbens, etc), dopamine directs, reinforces and motivates the behavior so we want to do it again. And we remember the behavior being pleasurable.
Body Physiology:
Our genital responses, hormonal changes, blood pressure, sweating, heart racing and lots of other physical manifestations occur with sexual arousal and the body preparing for sex.
This physiological response is also mediated by our brains (hypothalamus, insula, anterior cingulated cortex, etc.)
Neurochemistry:
Besides our dopamine system, there’s a chemical cocktail associated with orgasm including oxytocin, endorphins and prolactin. The potential attachment and security one may feel from oxytocin after orgasm probably explains why people end up dating the absolute wrong people for them. Think back to that one relationship you were in. Now you know why.
There’s a lot more neuro-imaging and research studies that need to be done on the neurobiology of sex. But one thing’s for sure, if you want good sex, have a good brain.
References:
- Stoleru S., (2012) Functional neuroimaging studies of sexual arousal and orgasm in healthy men and women: a review and meta–‐analysis. Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews. 36 (6) 1481- ‐509.
- Ortigue S., Bianchi–‐Demicheli, F (2010) Neuroimaging of love: fMRI meta–‐ analysis evidence. Journal Sex Med. Nov 7(11) 3541–‐52.
- Chung, WS; Lim SM (2013) Gender differences in brain activation to audio–‐visual sexual stimulation; do women and men experience the same level of arousal in response to the same video clip? International Journal of Impotence Research. 25
- (4) 138- ‐42. 4) Sylva D, (2013) Neural correlated of sexual arousal in heterosexual and homosexual women and men. Hormones and behavior. 64 (4), 673–‐84.
The opinions and views of our guest contributors are shared to provide a broad perspective of addictions. These are not necessarily the views of Addiction Hope, but an effort to offer a discussion of various issues by different concerned individuals.
We at Addiction Hope understand that addictions result from a combination of environmental and genetic factors. If you or a loved one are suffering from an addiction, please know that there is hope for you, and seek immediate professional help.
Published on November 17, 2014
Last Updated & Reviewed By: Jacquelyn Ekern, MS, LPC on June 4, 2018
Published on AddictionHope.com