2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43
"A gray cardinal is an influential person who acts behind the scenes and usually does not occupy formal positions with such powers." Wikipedia
Few aspects of human relationships evoke as intense feelings and experiences as sex and sexuality. This is due to the fact that from the point of view of nature, the sexual act, procreation is the meaning of life and the pinnacle of the functioning of the organism. From a biological point of view, this process is incredibly complex and therefore sexual contact, on the one hand, relies on ancient instincts and reflexes, and on the other, includes powerful and deep individual experiences.
Since the topic of sex has only recently ceased to be taboo, a huge number of prejudices, myths and prejudices persist in this area. Many couples try to be guided by a certain "norm" in their sexual life, asking questions: "How many times a week should we have sex?", "How long should the sexual act last?" Unfortunately, there is no definite answer to these questions, since sexual interaction has a very wide range of normality and this is exactly the case when the average temperature in a hospital is a poor guideline. However, understanding the physiological and emotional mechanisms governing sexual needs and their fulfillment will allow you to formulate a personal “norm” for yourself and your couple.
In this series of articles, we will talk about what neurochemical and neurophysiological processes occur in the body at various stages of sexual contact, how hormones and neurotransmitters affect our state, emotions and attitude towards a sexual partner. How do hormones form attachment to a sexual partner? What exactly makes orgasm a vivid euphoric experience? Why does sexual interest temporarily disappear after a strong orgasm?
The first stage of sexual interaction is sexual interest … If you are healthy, not overwhelmed by stress, and in puberty, you will periodically experience feelings of sexual interest. The level of sex drive is regulated in both men and women by testosterone. In men, testosterone levels are much higher than in women, it is this hormone that develops male sexual characteristics and triggers the search behavior characteristic of men - constant scanning of the environment for the presence of interesting partners.
This process takes place entirely in the subconscious part of the psyche, but each potential partner / partner goes through an assessment in which all the senses and about 20 brain zones are involved. Therefore, if your faithful turns into a trail of an attractive woman, it is useless to scold him, you just got a high-testosterone male. Also, testosterone is responsible for the feeling of self-confidence, increases the propensity to compete and take risks in behavior. That is why, usually, men are active when they meet and take the risk of taking the first step. Women, due to their low testosterone levels, tend to respond to the manifestation of interest in them, with the exception of the ovulation period, when the testosterone level increases and then female search activity also increases.
It is important to understand that testosterone levels in men decline with age, by a few percent per year, and by the time they are fifty, they drop to half their peak value. The second factor after age in reducing testosterone is obesity, since adipose tissue disrupts the cycle of testosterone secretion.
The next step is the emergence desires (emotional excitement). When an attractive potential partner appears in the contact zone and interest is fixed, dopamine, a neurotransmitter of motivation, begins to be released. Dopamine has the effect of a stimulant, energy, it mobilizes the body's forces to achieve a vital goal. Dopamine, on the one hand, promises a reward, and on the other hand, makes you give your best. Dopamine energizes, energizes, pushes for risky actions and excites. It is the action of dopamine that explains the readiness of a lover to drive to the other end of the city even in the middle of the night in order to just see his beloved.
Interestingly, dopamine is in some antagonism with the neurotransmitter serotonin, which actually gives the feeling of satisfaction. Therefore, while the level of dopamine in the nervous system is high, the lover is motivated to take active actions to conquer, to approach the object of love, but his state is tensely painful, albeit subjectively pleasant, since there is a lot of energy. But at the same time, passionate people have the same low serotonin levels as people who are depressed. Therefore, if at this moment, the connection is cut off, then the level of dopamine will drop sharply, but since the level of serotonin is low, the person will feel that something very important has been taken away from him. Therefore, unrequited love can be experienced as a strong shock for the body, as a severe depression and can even push you to suicide.
If the interest is mutual, then the level of dopamine will be the stronger the higher the attractiveness of the potential partner / partner for you and the more uncertain the result of your interaction. Therefore, flirting with an attractive stranger can sometimes cause even more arousal than, for example, marital sex.
Under the influence of dopamine, blood rushes to the senses, muscles and skin. Sensations (colors, smells, sounds) become brighter, time subjectively slows down and excitement spreads through the body. The body begins to prepare for loving interaction, mobilizing almost all vital systems.
The stronger the dopamine arousal, the brighter and more intense the sexual contact will be. That is why flirting, play of love, spontaneity and other ways to introduce novelty, a share of risk and uncertainty in sexual contact are so important for maintaining arousal in contact with a regular partner.
If interaction with the object of sexual attraction meets a response and leads to physical intimacy, then the stage begins sexual arousal … The main marker of this is that, in addition to dopamine, oxytocin begins to be released.
Oxytocin is an attachment hormone that is released by tactile contact. During intimacy, touching and kissing, oxytocin is produced in large quantities.
At the moment of sexual intimacy, oxytocin is necessary in order to create an atmosphere of love and trust between two lovers and through a sense of the specialness and importance of their contact to form a couple. The release of oxytocin is experienced through a sensation of warmth, internal melting, expansion in the chest. Namely, we experience the effect of large doses of oxytocin as love. It gives a sense of satisfaction, a reduction in fear and anxiety, a sense of belonging and attachment, and turns the "stranger" into his own. That is why you should not have sex with a person to whom you would not want to become attached - under the influence of oxytocin in the morning you can feel that he is “the one, special and only one”.
Plus, oxytocin causes physiological arousal - an erection of the nipples, male penis and swelling of the female labia. At the same time, it "conflicts" with norepinephrine, an anxiety hormone, so anxiety before the upcoming sexual intercourse can lead to difficulties with erection or vaginal hydration. Foreplay is necessary just in order to relax partners, relieve anxiety and through the release of oxytocin to open the "road" for physiological arousal. In addition, oxytocin stimulates the release of dopamine and endorphins (a hormone of euphoria), so the deeper the emotional and tactile contact between partners, the more ecstatic the penetration and orgasm will be. Since the penetration of the penis into the vagina is a process of interaction of very sensitive zones saturated with nerve endings, without endorphins, copulation would be very painful.
In the next stage, stage copulation, the body is fully mobilized, we have extreme activation of all systems. Both the central and peripheral nervous systems work in an "emergency" mode. Dopamine is again actively released, stimulating the activity of partners and the desire for pleasure. At the same time, there is an increased release of oxytocin (the hormone of attachment), endorphins (the hormone of euphoria) and prolactin (anti-stress hormone). The most "excited" are the pleasure centers and zones associated with receiving and processing information from the senses: vision, smells, tactile sensations. Arousal in the cerebral cortex builds up to a pre-orgasmic level.
To be continued…
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