An infinite, complete pleasure, which fills you with joy, serenity, and which makes you sleep. People with sexuality will have recognized them: these are the pleasant effects of orgasm, the climax (or not, it’s OK too) of sexual intercourse.
But some people may experience other, more bizarre effects, such as tears, tremors or even sneezing. Unpredictable reactions of the body after love that 20 minutes decrypts it for you.
Laugh or cry, or both
An irrepressible fit of laughter, or an uncontrollable rush of tears: it sometimes happens that some people lose control of their reactions a little just after having enjoyed. For what ? “The orgasmic experience, for both men and women, is fundamentally emotional, and generally occurs after a moment of tension,” explains Alain Héril, sex therapist and author of the work Therapeutic orgasm, When pleasure chases away pain (ed. Grancher). It can be present before sexual intercourse but also during it, where we are in a form of tension, both physical and emotional. And when all this releases at the moment of orgasm, the pent-up emotions will be released.”
Laughter suggests that we have accessed something joyful. But tears are not necessarily a sign of sadness, he emphasizes. “It can mean that something within oneself has relaxed enough that there is this state of absolute relaxation, to the point of being overwhelmed by a range of emotions.”
In addition, “from a neurophysiological point of view, we know that orgasm releases hormones in the brain, endorphins such as serotonin, oxytocin and dopamine, which creates a big ‘hormonal rush'”, continues the sex therapist. So why rather tears or laughter? “There’s really no particular reason, moreover there can be both, one after the other or a little at the same time. The whole emotional register is summoned. And that’s a very good thing: it’s very balancing for brain activity.
Relieve migraine, or on the contrary give headache
The well-being experienced with orgasm can relieve a migraine attack. “In this case, orgasm rather has a rebalancing function in people with migraines, who have problems with intracranial blood circulation,” indicates Alain Héril. This is why we take paracetamol or aspirin, which will thin the blood and thus relieve the pain. In the same way, the orgasm can act as a painkiller by regulating blood flow, thus relieving the migraine”.
In others, enjoyment can on the contrary trigger violent headaches, or orgasmic headaches. “Two varieties of headache could be distinguished from the clinical history. The first, developing as sexual arousal increases, has the characteristics of a muscle contraction headache. The second, severe, throbbing or “explosive”, occurring at the time of orgasm, is probably of vascular origin, associated with a hyperdynamic circulatory state”, reports an article published in 1976 in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, as part of a study carried out by Australian scientists. Specific headaches which affect men more than women, and for which medicinal treatments exist.
Sneezing after love
While there are many who quickly join the arms of Morpheus after orgasm, others are overcome by sneezing attacks. “A curious reaction that has so far been underestimated, and which could be much more common than expected,” underline the authors of a study published in the journal of the royal society of medicine.
By what mechanism would sneezing go hand in hand with the act of climaxing? “We hypothesize that stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system could be an underlying mechanism explaining this phenomenon”. The researchers, citing in particular the case of a 69-year-old man complaining of severe sneezing immediately after orgasm, put forward the idea that the phenomenon is “due to the similarities between the erectile tissue of the nose and that of the penis” .
Tremors in the legs
Among the quirks that our body can experience, it often happens to have legs that shake after sex. It is above all a reaction to the physical effort provided and the enjoyment achieved. “It has to do with muscular relaxation, the total relaxation of the body afterwards,” indicates Alain Héril. The orgasmic surge is also manifested by a certain muscular tension, many points of the body contract. So, after orgasm, as soon as the tension is released, it also releases all the static electricity that is in the body. To the point of causing cramps in some people.”
Having spasms similar to an epileptic seizure
More unexpected reaction: some people suffer from orgasmolepsy: seizures similar to epileptic seizures. “It’s not far-fetched,” replies Alain Héril. Recent work has been done on what happens in the brain during orgasm, and scientists have observed through MRI that neuronal electrical activity can be altered in a way similar to that caused by a seizure. epilepsy, but also spasmophilia”.
Could orgasm thus cause epilepsy? “Not really,” says the sex therapist. Would people with epilepsy experience, at the time of orgasm, a brain reaction similar to an epileptic seizure? It’s possible, but I wouldn’t say that orgasm creates epilepsy as such”.