Abstract
The most detailed study ever of brain activity during orgasm has discovered why climaxing makes women feel less pain, and shown that switching off isn't necessary. Nan Wise at Rutgers University, New Jersey, and her colleagues recruited 10 women to lie in a functional MRI scanner and stimulate themselves to orgasm. They then repeated the experiment but had the volunteers' partners stimulate them. The team was able to follow brain activity in 20-second intervals to see what happens just before, during and after orgasm. At the point of orgasm, the brain's dorsal raphe nucleus area becomes more active. This region plays a role in controlling the release of serotonin, which can act as an analgesic, dampening the sensation of pain. Her team also saw a burst of activity in the nucleus cuneiformis, which is a part of systems thought to help us control pain through thought alone.
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