Now, however, American researchers have uncovered what goes on in a woman’s head during an orgasm.
The scientists from Rutgers University, New Jersey, used scans to monitor women’s brains during orgasm and found that different brain parts are activated when various parts of her body are aroused.
They found that up to 30 different parts of the brain are activated, including those responsible for emotion, touch, joy, satisfaction and memory.
The scientists found that two minutes before orgasm the brain’s reward centres become active. These are the areas usually activated when eating food and drink.
Immediately before they reached the peak, other areas of the brain became affected such as the sensory cortex, which receives ‘touch’ messages from parts of the body.
The final part of the brain to be activated is the hypothalamus, the ‘control’ part which regulates temperature, hunger, thirst and tiredness.
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The scientists also discovered that sexual arousal numbs the female nervous system to such an extent that a woman doesn’t feel as much pain — only pleasure. The team now hopes to map what happens in a man’s brain during orgasm.
