Men and Women: life and Health

All of us know that sex plays a very crucial role in the adult life. It’s an irreplaceable part of any happy, long-lasting relationship which helps people feel closer, demonstrate love, and get pleasure.
But can you have too much sex? Though it may sound strange, you really can. And in some cases, sex is able to become a serious problem.
Let’s hunt down a question and consider how much sex is too much.

What Figures Tell

According to the recent study, on the average, sexually active people aged 18-29 have 112 sexual intercourses per year. At the same time, adults aged 30-39 have averagely 86 sexual intercourses per year. Also, the experts claim that in order to maintain a good relationship, the couples should romp in the sheets no less than once per week.
But of course, these figures are the average ones. They can’t 100% answer the question of how much sex is too much sex because all the couples are different. And sexual appetite in a particular may change in the course of relationship.

Healthy Sex

Indeed, sex is a must for any relationship in a healthy adult couple. It is an excellent foundation for the formation of bond between the partners. It offers many emotional and physical benefits to both a man and a woman.
Naturally, at the beginning of any relationship and during the honeymoon, overmastering passion guides the couple. Emotions run high because the feelings and everything related to a beloved one is new and erotic. It means that at this period, the man and woman aspire to have sex almost each time they meet one to one. Therefore, at this time, it’s absolutely normal that there is too much sex in the couple’s life.
But when the magic of newness fades away, sexual appetite reduces. Hence, the frequency of sexual encounters also drops. At this stage of the relationship, ungovernable passions are replaced with mature love, care, respect, and tenderness. And it’s not a problem that now it’s less sex in the relationship.

Compulsive Sex

Sexual abundance becomes a problem if you become sex addicted. In this case, sexual appetite is compulsive. It means that you get trapped with violent passions which spin out of control. Unfailing longing for sex never stops. Regardless of how much sex you have, it’s never enough. But still this exhausting and devastating lust can’t be satisfied.
Uncontrollable sexual behavior not only poses a threat to your relationship, but is also dangerous to your health and life. The matter is that such a behavior makes people forget about adequate protection against sexually transmitted diseases.
If you face the problem of compulsive sex, you should visit a sex therapist. The professional help will enable you to break the vicious circle of destructive sex addiction.

Sex is a wonderful part of life for all beloved ones. But here it is important not to lose yourself and your partner in a constant search for sex. Don’t be enslaved by own passions.
And if you feel that your sex life becomes unhealthy and you have too much sex, it’s better to consult a professional who will help you cope with this issue.

• 3. Orgasm

This phase can be further divided into two sub-parts. The first one is emission, where ejaculation becomes inevitable. Immediately after that, the second sub-phase follows, which is the ejaculation itself. It is accompanied by active contractions of anus, penile and perineal muscles, which is to promote shooting semen out.

During this phase, neurochemicals flood the brain’s reward center triggering a strong emotional release, which is a typical attribute of an orgasm.

The lateral orbitofrontal cortex, another brain area, is shut down fully while this process is developing. It is known to play a key role in an individual’s self-control and judgment. This is why men tend to describe orgasms as a period of time when nothing else really matters.

Resolution and Refraction

Right after an orgasm, a phase of resolution follows. The penis loses its erection gradually, and the feeling of ultimate relaxation comes to overwhelm, which can result in drowsiness.

The refractory period, or simply refraction, is the post-climax stage characterized with a man’s inability to achieve an erection again, even if stimulation is applied. This stage can last from 15 minutes in young men up to a day in older individuals.

Is a Multiple Orgasm in Men Possible?

Multiple orgasms are a series of orgasms successively occurring within several seconds or minutes. In this case, ejaculation will not occur after each orgasm as this is impossible physiologically. So the successive climaxes will be pure psychological events involving all ejaculation-specific emotional components.

According to scientific studies conducted on the subject, only 10% of young men about 20 years old and 7% maximum of 30-years old men are multiorgasmic, that is they are really able to experience this kind of emotional discharge.

There are two types of multiple orgasms:

• Condensed – when 2 to 4 individual and clearly defined orgasms come within several seconds to a couple of minutes.
• Sporadic – when the refraction stage is delayed. This makes it possible to achieve more orgasms within a short period of time.

Along with age, there are other factors affecting the ability to experience multiple orgasms. Just a few to name are: taking psychoactive drugs, intercourse with multiple partners, having a new sex partner, enhancing the stimulation effect with sex toys etc. The above consideration leads us to the conclusion that being multiorgasmic depends more on an arousal level achieved than on any individual-specific physiological or hormonal characteristics.

Orgasm Disorders in Men

Orgasm disorders should not be confused with ejaculation disorders as the latter term is about the actual semen emission only and includes premature ejaculation, inability to ejaculate and so-called retrograde ejaculation when semen fluid is thrown to the bladder rather than outside.

Sometimes also, too little amount of semen is produced during orgasms, which is known under the term of orgasmic anejaculation or dry orgasm. The condition occurs mainly after prostate or bladder surgery. Low testosterone levels, high blood pressure and an enlarged prostate can be the factors too.

Another common condition to mention is anorgasmia where a person cannot achieve orgasms at all. Being directly opposite to multiple orgasms, this condition can be found both in men and women. Most of the time, the underlying cause is psychological problems, which may include stress, performance uncertainty or psychological trauma. Hypertension, diabetes, low testosterone levels and other conditions can play their role too. Additionally, prostate surgery and taking certain medications to treat depressive states are known to add to the problem.

How anorgasmia should be treated depends on the specific underlying cause. Generally, the most common approaches are: psychotherapy, switching medications, taking drugs able to boost the male patient’s response, testosterone replacement therapy etc.
Notwithstanding a common misconception, erectile dysfunction-focused drugs, such as Viagra, are useless in treating orgasm-related problems. Affecting only the blood amount supplied to the penis, they actually do not boost a patient’s libido and work only when sexual stimulation is applied.

Orgasms in men are not as simple experience as many might think. In contrast to women, the major purpose of the male orgasm is sperm ejaculation. So pleasure and the insemination function come inseparable from each other. While this is the general case, it should be noticed that men do not always ejaculate when an orgasm occurs.

The study of processes behind male and female orgasms began as far back as in the 1950s, when Alfred Kinsey conducted his first examinations on the subject. Since then, a huge advancement was made in understanding this interesting phenomenon. Researches have been addressing both emotional and physiological aspects, so today, one can state that we know pretty much when it comes to what factors promote or impede the male orgasm.

Physiological Aspects

The male orgasm should be seen as a complex phenomenon, where multiple body organs, hormones and neural signals are involved.

Testosterone, the male-specific hormone, which is produced by a man’s testicles, plays a key role, namely boosting male libido (sexual desire). Consequently, sexual arousal causes the erection, with the orgasm being a culmination of the entire process. Once the ejaculation has taken place, the arousal plummets. Low testosterone levels tend to lead to decreased energy and poor mood in an individual making him more reluctant to respond to mental or physical sexual stimulation.

To summarize, a man, to achieve arousal, requires only physical stimulation, while a woman, in general, will need both mental and physical stimulation to get to the ultimate point.

To extend the comparison, the orgasm in men is much shorter and comes much faster than that in women. On average, the male orgasm lasts for only 5 to 10 seconds, while the female orgasm can last 15 seconds and more. According to some female respondents, they can experience orgasms up to one minute long, which is absolutely impossible for men, even in theory.

As a culmination of his orgasm, a man ejaculates semen, which consists of the seminal fluid and sperm cells, the former acting as a carrier, and the latter serving the purpose of impregnation. The average amount of semen shot at a time is about a teaspoon.

Major Phases of Men’s Orgasm

There are four major phases that can be classified when it comes to male orgasms. They can vary in intensity and duration in different men. Nevertheless, the process should always go the same path discovered by Virginia Johnson and William Masters in 1966.

• 1. Arousal

During this stage, a range of external and mental factors urge a man’s brain to produce acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter, which ultimately makes the penis’s blood vessels expand rapidly to accept and hold more blood. As a result, the erection occurs, which is accompanied by hurried breathing, increased overall muscle tension across the whole body and the scrotal sac retraction.

• 2. Plateau

This is the second phase occurring right before the orgasm. It is characterized by the fact that the voluntary pelvis thrusts become mainly involuntary and increase in speed and intensity. The heart rate soars up to 150-175 beats per minute at this stage, while both the body temperature and the blood pressure tend to rise too. From the urethra, the first seminal fluid traces may leak during this period of time, which has its physiological destination. On average, the plateau stage lasts 30 seconds to two minutes.