Explained: How your body reacts to sex

Sure you know what happens to you when you have sex, however, do you know what happens to your body during love-making, physiologically? What are the changes it undergoes and how? Sex therapists Masters and Johnson coined what is known as the sexual-response cycle, which divided sex in four phases. They are excitement, plateau, orgasm and resolution. Here we take a look at what happens during each of these phases of sex.

EXCITEMENT

This phase begins anywhere around half a minute to a minute after stimulation.

Man: His penis begins to get erect and even his nipples can get erect.

Woman: Her fluids begin to flow. Her vagina, clitoris and sometimes even breasts swell up.

Both: Increase in breathing pace, blood pressure and heart rate.

PLATEAU

Man: His penis is fully erect by now. His testes are drawn towards the scrotum.

Woman: The outer and inner lips of her vagina swell more while the opening line to the vagina becomes narrow. For women who are not mothers, their vaginal lips may turn red and mothers may experience a change of colour of their vaginal lips to purple.

Both: Muscles become tensed in hands, thighs and buttocks. A ‘sex flush’ can appear on various spots like chest, shoulders, stomach and neck.

ORGASM

This is the shortest phase of the four phases, only lasting a couple of seconds for both the partners.

Man: He experiences a collection of fluid in in his urethral bulb. This is when he experiences what is called ‘ejaculatory inevitability’. Then, he ejaculates the semen from the penis while he experiences contractions in his penis.

Woman: She experiences rhythmic contractions of the vaginal wall, 10 rhythms in every eight seconds on an average. She may even experience contraction of muscles in the uterus.

Both: Many a times, orgasms come along a grasping muscular reflex that happens in your hands in feet. Muscle tension as well as blood vessel engorgement is the maximum at this time.

RESOLUTION

This is the phase that follows climax and can last for even longer than half an hour, mostly for women.

Man: The penis becomes flaccid and he may get into the refractory period where it is impossible for him to orgasm again. The duration of the refractions differs for men in different age groups and leading different life-styles.

Woman: Her uterus as well clitoris resume their usual states. However, some women are able to respond to further stimulation.

Both: The swelling deflates and muscle tension is released. If you experienced any sex flushes, they will disappear as well.

THE BRAIN LIGHTS UP: It isn’t just your body that responds to sex; your brain also experiences colossal changes. In women, different regions of the cortex get activated when they experience stimulation in various sexual organs. Stimulation even activates their hippocampus and amygdala.

SIMULTANEOUS ORGASM? Though in both men and women the four phases correspond, having an orgasm at the same time is a little difficult because women usually take longer than men to orgasm.

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