They last typically between 13 and 51 seconds in a woman but a mere six seconds in a man – but their benefits can extend way beyond this.
For orgasms unlock much more than the obvious benefits of sexual pleasure.
‘Orgasms trigger the release of ‘feel-good’ hormones such as oxytocin, serotonin and dopamine,’ says Dr Tania Adib, a consultant gynaecologist at the private HCA Lister Hospital in London.
Other benefits include raising your heart rate to 140 to 160 beats per minute, which is equivalent to walking a mile in 20 minutes and then climbing two flights of stairs, adds Geoff Hackett, a professor of sexual medicine at Aston University in Birmingham.
Levels of serotonin, one of the body’s feel-good hormones, as well as the love hormone oxytocin, are boosted by an orgasm. Meg Ryan fakes it in When Harry Met Sally
Now a new study suggests it can also help women with stress — researchers in Switzerland surveyed 370 women on how often they masturbate and the reasons behind it: 64 per cent reported they masturbated to relax, 55 per cent said it evoked joy and 12 per cent said they did it to relieve stress, reported the International Journal of Sexual Health.
Previous research has suggested it helps relieve stress by prompting the release of the feel-good hormone dopamine in the brain.
We know that orgasms have a physiological and evolutionary purpose, as Professor Hackett explains: ‘When we orgasm, hormones including oxytocin, the ‘love’ hormone are released by the hypothalamus [the body’s hormone control centre] and it triggers rhythmic contractions in the uterus and pelvic floors of women and the pelvic floors of men.
‘The contractions help men ejaculate, and in women move sperm up along the vagina towards an egg so conception is more likely – these were important in evolution when the main purpose of sex was getting your mate pregnant.’
But here leading sexual health experts reveal the other benefits for body and mind – some of which may surprise you.
NATURAL PAIN RELIEF
Feel-good hormones released when you orgasm are also potent natural painkillers, says Dr David Edwards, past president of the British Society of Sexual Medicine.
‘Orgasms can give good pain relief – an Italian study found that an orgasm gives the equivalent effect of 10mg of morphine.
‘This is down to the release of hormones such as endorphins, oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin.
‘They can relieve pain by blocking pain signals and they also reduce stress and improve mood.’
A small U.S. study of ten women in 1985 found that their pain tolerance threshold and pain threshold detection rose by 74.6 per cent and 106.7 per cent respectively at the point of orgasm, reported the journal Pain.
Dr Edwards says orgasms are also believed to relieve menstrual cramps in some thanks to the release of endorphins which block pain signals in the uterine muscles.
Orgasm may also alleviate migraine headaches in some people.
In a 2013 study at the University of Munster, Germany, questionnaires were sent to 800 migraine patients and 200 with cluster headaches. Analysis of these revealed that 60 per cent of those who had sex during migraine attacks found it reduced their symptoms. With cluster headaches (a rare but very painful type of headache that usually occurs in attacks known as ‘clusters’), 37 per cent said sex eased their headache. However, some patients in both groups reported that orgasm made their pain worse.
A study by the University of Chunju, Korea, found that oxytocin suppressed ageing in skin cells
IMMUNE SYSTEM BOOST
Orgasm may also boost immunity and help you fight off infections and stay well.
Research on this has focused on masturbation (and limited because of the difficulties of finding volunteers to have orgasms inside an MRI scanner) – one study of 11 men found that levels of immune cells called white blood cells and natural killer cells rose for 24 hours after orgasm.
‘Hormones released during sex reduce the stress hormone cortisol – and high levels of cortisol are associated with stress which can affect immunity,’ says Dr Edwards.
‘But the higher levels of white blood cells might only be short lived.’
UNBLOCKS YOUR NOSE
Another short-term fix is that having an orgasm can actually clear congested nasal passages if you have a cold, says Dr Catherine Hood, a specialist in sexual and psychosexual medicine, working in private and NHS practice in London.
‘This is because when the hormone adrenaline is released with orgasm, you’re in fight-or-flight mode and blood is diverted away from small vessels to bigger muscles.
‘So blood is diverted away from the capillaries in the lining of the nose, for instance, and they constrict – this clears the nasal passage of swelling and clears the congestion.’
HELPS YOU SLEEP BETTER
‘Falling asleep after orgasm is common, ‘says Dr Edwards.
‘It’s mainly to do with a reduction of the stress hormone cortisol, which helps you feel more relaxed.’
Researchers at Central Queensland University in Australia found that men and women were equally as likely to fall asleep after orgasm.
Their research, published in Frontiers in Public Health in 2019, concluded that orgasms achieved with a partner were most effective for sleep, but orgasms achieved through masturbation could also improve sleep quality and how quickly you fall asleep.
Dr Hood says men will usually sleep for longer after sex, as women are ready for more sexual stimulation quicker than men, which is why they can have multiple orgasms.
Men take much longer to recover from an orgasm, adds Professor Hackett, ‘due to a rise in heart rate, afterwards they’re likely to fall asleep in the same way as they may feel sleepy after a gym workout’.
KEEPS MEMORY SHARP
Orgasm has been shown to increase blood flow to all parts of the body – including the brain – and releases the pleasure hormone dopamine: these effects may be protective of memory.
A U.S. study published last year in the Journal of Sex Research found that people aged 62 to 74 who described their sex lives as satisfying and pleasurable had better cognitive scores five years later, compared to those who said they didn’t have a satisfying sex life.
The researchers said dopamine released on orgasm may shield nerves linked to memory and reduce stress.
Professor Hackett adds that areas of the brain have been shown to light up during orgasm on an MRI scanner, signifying increased blood flow and electrical activity.
‘This happens particularly in the basal ganglia [deep in the central area of the brain] and hippocampus [found above each ear], which are involved in memory and fine cognitive processes such as executive planning needed for work organisation, for example.
‘There could well be benefits for memory, but designing studies to investigate this can be tricky.’
LOWERS HEART RISKS
As men and women orgasm, the heart rate goes up, says Professor Hackett. ‘Sex is good exercise for your heart.’
‘However it should never replace exercise as it’s not as intense – but it might make a difference to someone who is a couch potato.’
A U.S. study of 2,500 men aged 40 to 70 found that those who reported having sex twice a week were 45 per cent less likely to develop heart disease over the 16-year study period, reported the American Journal of Cardiology in 2010.
‘We don’t know if those benefits come from having sex or orgasm specifically – researchers didn’t differentiate,’ says Professor Hackett.
Equivalent studies on women’s orgasm and heart health haven’t been done.
But a study of male and female heart attack patients published in 2022 found that having sex at least once a week was associated with a 10 per cent reduction in dying of heart disease and a 44 per cent reduction in dying from other causes, reported the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
‘Sex is a form of exercise – it gives the body a workout, which we know is beneficial for heart health,’ says Professor Hackett.
STRENGTHENS PELVIC FLOOR
Perhaps the most obvious physical health benefit to come from orgasms is on men’s and women’s pelvic floor, a thick sheet of muscle that spans the bottom of the pelvis and supports the pelvic organs (bladder and bowel, and uterus in women).
‘The release of the hormone oxytocin during orgasm triggers muscle contractions in women’s pelvic floor muscles, which support the uterus, bladder and bowel,’ says Dr Adib.
‘The effect of oxytocin is similar in strength to Kegel exercises [which are NHS-recommended and proven to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles].
‘The orgasm contractions strengthen the pelvic floor muscles and can help improve urinary conditions such as stress incontinence, which are common after childbirth and in post-menopausal women,’ adds Dr Adib.
‘Having strong pelvic floor muscles can also improve the quality of orgasm. Having an orgasm about twice a week should be enough to keep it in shape.’
A 2022 study in the Journal of Sexual Medicine found that women who combined daily Kegel exercises with orgasms [either by sex or masturbation], in the months after giving birth experienced more improvement in their pelvic floor strength than women who did Kegel exercises alone, after six months.
The same benefit can be found in men when they orgasm, where hormones released from the brain instruct muscles in the pelvic floor supporting the prostate gland, bladder and bowel, to contract for a couple of seconds.
‘Many men seem to be unaware of their pelvic floor – they don’t get given information about it in the same way as women do – but these muscles contract during orgasm and so they get a workout, too,’ says Professor Hackett.
‘In men, having good pelvic floor muscle tone can help prevent incontinence and means they are able to exercise more control over when they reach orgasm and match their partner’s orgasm – meaning that sex lasts for longer.
‘Having an orgasm twice a week would be enough to keep a man’s pelvic floor well-toned,’ he says.
CUTS RISK OF PROSTATE CANCER ( …MAYBE)
In 2016, a long-term study of 20,342 male health professionals in the U.S. by Harvard University found that those who regularly ejaculated had lower risk of developing prostate cancer in later life, reported the journal European Urology.
Men who orgasmed and ejaculated more than 21 times a month had a 31 per cent lower risk of developing prostate cancer than those who did it four to seven times a month.
However, the study relied on self-reported sexual activity so has limitations, say experts, and doesn’t establish causation.
‘One possible explanation for this may be that ejaculate comes from the prostate gland and if you are ‘emptying the tanks’, so to speak, regularly then there is less chance of a build-up of semen,’ says Dr Edwards.
‘The benefit of that might be that you won’t get a build-up of any toxic substances that may potentially become cancerous – but that’s just a theory.’
GOOD FOR YOUR COMPLEXION AND VAGINAL TISSUE
Heart rate shoots up when you have an orgasm and blood is pumped around the body, including to the genitals, says Dr Adib.
‘One of the benefits of increased blood flow around the body is that it improves production of collagen, the scaffolding structure of skin and which plumps up tissue.
‘After menopause, as oestrogen levels drop, older women can experience thinning of skin as well as dryness and soreness in the vulval and vaginal area – because oestrogen supports collagen production.
‘But regular orgasms mean increased blood flow to the area which helps keep the skin and other tissue plumped up.’
Dr Adib says sex can be painful in older women due to vaginal dryness and also the shrinking and narrowing of the vagina.
Orgasms unlock much more than the obvious benefits of sexual pleasure. Meg Ryan in the famous fake orgasm scene from When Harry Met Sally
‘But it’s a case of use it or lose it,’ she adds.
‘The friction of sex actually stimulates the fibroblast cells in skin to create more collagen to plump up the vaginal tissue, making sex more comfortable.’
There are benefits for your complexion, too: One study by the University of Chunju in Korea, published in the British Journal of Dermatology in 2019, found that oxytocin suppressed ageing in skin cells, a process called cellular senescence, that can lead to wrinkles, skin sagging and reduced elasticity.
Dr Justine Hextall, a consultant dermatologist at the private Tarrant Street Clinic in Arundel, adds that oxytocin is an anti-stress hormone and stress has considerable effects on skin ageing.
‘There are receptors for oxytocin on fibroblasts that create collagen.’
Increased blood flow due to orgasm also helps with collagen production, as it delivers nutrients to skin tissue and helps maintain it, so the skin looks plumped up and more elastic, says Dr Adib.
‘As it’s maintaining collagen the effects will be long-term rather than short term,’ she says.
BOOSTS WELLBEING AND LIFTS MOOD
Levels of serotonin, one of the body’s feel-good hormones, as well as the love hormone oxytocin, are boosted by orgasm.
‘Having an orgasm brings couples closer – it’s that feeling of being loved and supported by someone that is so good for mental health and what people miss the most when sex goes wrong or can’t happen,’ says Dr Hood.
‘The happiness hormones will also boost your mood and self-confidence.
Oxytocin can help you bond with your partner and feel close
‘If you have good sex and feel supported and connected with a partner you are less likely to be depressed generally.’
Dr Adib adds: ‘Oxytocin can also help you bond with your partner and feel close.’
A 2013 review from Oxford University of research on the effects of oxytocin found it improved communication between partners, empathy, fidelity, mind-reading, eye-gazing, trust and reduction of stress and anxiety.
A 2012 study in the Journal of Neuroscience also found that oxytocin may play a role in keeping men faithful, because they’re more likely to keep away from attractive female strangers.
‘Couples who have better sex together tend to stay together longer and not seek other partners for sexual satisfaction – you don’t hear women say ‘the sex was sensational I’m leaving you’,’ says Professor Hackett.
But Dr Hood stresses that if you can’t achieve orgasm for whatever reason, intimacy can still have health benefits.
‘Orgasm isn’t the be all and end all, feeling loved and supported is what people miss most when they can’t have sex.’
