female sexual motivation

Chapter 35 Sex is like a panacea (2)
At the Maston Sexual Psychophysiology Lab, we wanted to look at the effect of exercise on libido, which also activates the sympathetic nervous system.Participating women had to come to the lab twice, the first time they watched a travel documentary and then pornography.The second time, they exercised for 20 minutes, cycling or running on a treadmill, and then watched similar pornography as the first time.Their exercise intensity is 70% of their maximum heart rate, which is a lot of exercise for many people.Each time the participating women watched pornography, the researchers used a "vaginal photoplethysmography" to measure their sexual arousal.It was found that the women who exercised were more sexually aroused when they watched porn.In fact, the second arousal was a full 150 percent higher than the first.So, activating the sympathetic nervous system not only allows women to respond to "fight or flight" emergencies, but also makes women more engaged in sexual activity.

Studies have found that in men and women, the opposite is true. Activating the sympathetic nervous system can make a man unable to get an erection, especially when he has concerns about his sexual performance.Research from Maston's lab has shown that activating the sympathetic nervous system can help women with sexual dysfunction.If a woman "wants" to have sex, but her body is relatively dull, try some strenuous exercise—chasing your boyfriend around in circles (or asking your boyfriend to chase you), going dancing, or watching A horror movie.Many books give women with arousal or orgasm disorders the exact opposite advice—listen to soothing music, take a bubble bath, or meditate.These methods help to relax the body and mind, but Maston's lab believes that these methods will not "ignite" women's bodies as effectively as strenuous activity.

Love, is scared out!
A few years ago, a team in Maston's lab visited several theme parks in Texas to see if roller coasters that activate the sympathetic nervous system could increase sexual arousal in women.Since theme parks are family-oriented, it would be unreasonable to require women to wear vaginal testers there, meaning the team couldn't directly measure women's arousal.So the research team thought of a way to investigate the extent to which women are attracted to the opposite sex.Over several days, the research team interviewed women who were waiting in line to ride the roller coaster and women who had just gotten off the roller coaster.Women who had just ridden a roller coaster while their sympathetic nervous system was still active were asked to look at a photo of a man and then fill out a questionnaire with questions including: What do you think this man looks like?Would you like to kiss him?Would you like to date him?Although all the women interviewed looked at the same photo, the women who had just gotten off the roller coaster thought the man in the photo was more handsome and were more willing to date him than the women waiting in line.It seems that women whose sympathetic nervous system is still active are more likely to fall in love with the opposite sex.

Single people in reality may have to ask, is it easier to have an affair when going to a place for dancing than a place for leisure, is it easier to meet a lover when going to the gym than going to a coffee shop?This question cannot be answered directly.In reality, it depends on whether each other likes each other a little bit.If so, then it's possible.But if a woman doesn't like you at all, even if she runs a marathon, she won't like you, let alone sleep with you.

Right now, the concept of the sympathetic nervous system enhancing a woman's arousal is still relatively foreign to most people.However, smart men have long realized this.In 550 AD, there is such a passage in the records of the Colosseum in Rome:
The ladies stood up excitedly, beat the backs of the people sitting in the front seats with their fists, and shouted hysterically: "Kill! Kill! Kill!" Before the performance started, the young men would look at those who might The runaway ladies, then deliberately sat next to them.In a burst of hysterical madness, the ladies completely forgot about their manners, watching the bloody scene in front of them and just yelling and screaming. At this time, the men next to them would take advantage of them.

sunshine of love
Studies worldwide have shown that women are twice as likely to suffer from depression as men.About 20% of women and 10% of men will suffer from depression during their lifetime.Differences in sex hormones between men and women may be why women are more prone to depression.Because only women who have menstruated and entered puberty are more likely to suffer from depression than men.The testosterone in the male body does not fluctuate violently, and the testosterone in the body is generally the most in the morning.Sex hormones in women, such as estrogen and progesterone, change dramatically during the menstrual cycle.Women's menstrual cycle is generally 28 days.The 12th day of menstrual cramps (before ovulation) estrogen is the most, and the progesterone in the body is the most on the 19th to 22nd day.

Women's sex hormones also undergo drastic changes with their physiological changes, such as puberty, pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum, and menopause.The wild swings in sex hormones can affect several chemicals in the brain that can tip a person into a depressed mood.For the same reason, 5% of women experience inexplicable depression and restlessness in the week before menstruation, a symptom called premenstrual dysphoria.Therefore, when the sex hormones in the body undergo drastic changes, many women will feel depressed.

Women are three times more likely than men to suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a depressive mood that changes with the seasons and natural light.When natural light diminishes, the pineal gland in our brains secretes melatonin, which has a hypnotic effect (so people with insomnia sometimes take melatonin supplements).When the morning sun hits the retina, the body's melatonin decreases and we wake up.In winter, the days shorten and the nights lengthen, and the melatonin in the human body will also increase.Most people suffer from SAD in winter, so scientists believe that SAD is related to the increase of melatonin.

If melatonin levels rise in winter for all, why are women more prone to SAD?Researcher Thomas Weil of the National Institute of Mental Health and colleagues have shown that women are biologically more sensitive to exposure to natural light.But now the night is brightly lit, as if it were day.So some people think that the brain may be "deceived" by the light, thinking it is daytime, so it no longer secretes melatonin.In testing this hypothesis, the researchers found an interesting gender difference: Women could still perceive changes in natural light no matter how bright the lights were, while men did not.Therefore, the level of melatonin in women will increase significantly in winter.For men, light replaces natural light, and the melatonin level in the body does not fluctuate greatly with the seasons.

Long-term stress can disrupt the balance of hormones in the body, which can lead to outbreaks of depression.Information transmission in the brain is accomplished through neurotransmitters.There are many types of neurotransmitters, three of which are closely related to emotions: serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine.If the brain cannot secrete these three neurotransmitters normally, the "limbic system" of the brain will not work properly.The limbic system is in charge of our emotions, appetite, sleep, thinking, sexual desire and so on.When the limbic system is out of order, everything it controls goes into chaos.

During times of stress, the adrenal glands located above the kidneys secrete cortisol, a hormone that speeds up the body's metabolism.Normal levels of cortisol help the body return to homeostasis under stress.But chronic stress can lead to prolonged cortisol secretion, which produces depression.People with major depression typically have extremely high levels of cortisol in their bodies.We know that women have much higher levels of estrogen than men.Studies have found that estrogen not only increases cortisol production but also affects the body's ability to return to normal cortisol levels.Therefore, women are more likely to suffer from depression than men.Plus, when you're sexually aroused or have an orgasm, your body's cortisol levels are lower.If the cortisol content in a woman's body is too high, it will affect her normal sexual function.A recent study conducted by Maston's laboratory showed that when women watch pornographic movies, if the level of cortisol in the body is high, it is difficult to be sexually aroused. Conversely, if the level of cortisol in the body is low, then the Easily aroused sexually.However, sex can help lower cortisol levels in the body, which can ease feelings of anxiety and depression.

Many studies have proved that women with depression are more likely to have sexual dysfunction, such as frigidity and difficulty in sexual arousal.As we discussed in Chapter 2, medications for depression can disrupt a woman's normal sexual function.So, for women who are taking antidepressants, it's not clear whether depression or the drugs are the cause of sexual dysfunction.Maston's laboratory conducted a survey for this purpose. The subjects of the survey were 100 female college students who were in a romantic relationship. They were required to fill out a questionnaire about depression and sexual function. In order for the respondents to be honest To answer the questions, the questionnaire takes an anonymous form.All respondents were not taking any antidepressant medications.It was found that, compared with those without depression, the respondents who were slightly depressed had the following problems: the vagina was not easily wet during sexual intercourse, sexual intercourse was painful, it was difficult to reach orgasm, less sexual satisfaction, and lower sexual pleasure.Another startling finding from the survey: Depressed women masturbated more often than others.

So why do depressed women masturbate more?One explanation is that depressed women use masturbation as a form of "self-help therapy" -- an orgasm to lift their spirits.The endorphins secreted in the body during orgasm will make people feel refreshed for a short time.Depressed women get no joy out of life, so the orgasm from masturbation becomes a temporary refuge for the spirit.And for the vast majority of women, masturbation is easier to achieve orgasm-they know where to touch, when to apply pressure, and how hard to apply.In addition, finding a partner requires a certain level of socialization after all, and people with depression are often afraid of socializing.Masturbation saves a lot of trouble, there is no "behavior anxiety", and there is no need to worry about what others think of you.

A panacea for mood regulation

In some ways, masturbation is indeed better than sex with a partner, but psychologist Gordon Gallup of the State University of New York at Albany points out that there is a particular benefit to women having sex with a heterosexual partner.In the survey, researchers asked 293 female college students to fill out a form about depression and then answer a questionnaire that asked questions such as: How often do you have sex?How long has it been since you had sex?What contraceptive measures are you using?It was found that women who did not use condoms (and who were probably using oral contraceptives) were less likely to be depressed than women who used condoms regularly, and were happier than women who had no sex.Most startlingly, 13% of the women who used condoms had attempted suicide, compared to only 5% of the women who did not use condoms.

The findings suggest that sperm contain "depressive mood" substances that women who use condoms or do not have sex do not get.It has long been known that sperm contain nutrients that allow them to travel far and wide to find the egg of their dreams.But little is known about the various hormones contained in sperm, including testosterone, estrogen, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, prolactin, and several prostaglandins.All of these hormones have the potential to regulate mood and can enter blood vessels from the vaginal wall.In fact, several hours after the sperm enters the body, some of the hormones enter the woman's bloodstream.Of the hormones that sperm contains, the most uplifting are estrogen and prostaglandins.Depressed patients have lower levels of these two hormones than normal, and studies have found that estrogen can help boost the mood of postmenopausal women.Other studies have shown that birth control pills containing estrogen help regulate mood in young women.

The survey also found that women who did not use condoms became more depressed after they stopped having sex.However, this was not the case for women who used condoms after they stopped having sex.The researchers believe this suggests that women go through a "off period" when they lose sperm moisture.In Chapter 2, when we explained the evolutionary reason for orgasm, we mentioned that the pleasure brought by orgasm is the "reward" for women to have sex.Physiologist Roy Levin points out that sperm's role in regulating mood may be another "reward" for women to have sex.

(End of this chapter)