“Early To Bed…”

In yesterday’s newsletter, we asked you for your (health-related) views on orgasms.

But what does the science say?

Orgasms are essential to good health: True or False?

False, in the most literal sense. One certainly won’t die without them. Anorgasmia (the inability to orgasm) is a condition that affects many postmenopausal women, some younger women, and some men. And importantly, it isn’t fatal—just generally considered unfortunate:

Anorgasmia Might Explain Why You’re Not Orgasming When You Want To

That article focuses on women; here’s a paper focusing on men:

Delayed Orgasm and Anorgasmia

Orgasms are good for the health, but marginally: True or False?

True! They have a wide array of benefits, depending on various factors (including, of course, one’s own sex). That said, the benefits are so marginal that we don’t have a flock of studies to cite, and are reduced to pop-science sources that verbally cite studies that are, alas, nowhere to be found, for example:

• For women: 9 Orgasm Benefits That Might Surprise You
• For men: 9 Ways Orgasms May Benefit Your Health

Doubtlessly the studies do exist, but are sparse enough that finding them is a nightmare as the keywords for them will bring up a lot of studies about orgasms and health that aren’t answering the above question (usually: health’s affect on orgasms, rather than the other way around).

There is some good science for post-menopausal women, though! Here it is:

Misconceptions About Sexual Health in Older Women

(if you have the time to read this, this also covers many very avoidable things that can disrupt sexual function, in ways that people will errantly chalk up to old age, not knowing that they are missing out needlessly)

Orgasms are good or bad, depending on being male or female: True or False

False, broadly. The health benefits are extant and marginal for almost everyone, as indicated above.

What’s that “almost” about, then?

There are a very few* people (usually men) for whom it doesn’t go well. In such cases, they have a chronic and lifelong problem whereby orgasm is followed by 2–7 days of flu-like and allergic symptoms. Little is known about it, but it appears to be some sort of autoimmune disorder.

Read more: Post-orgasmic illness syndrome: history and current perspectives

*It’s hard to say for sure how few though, as it is surely under-reported and thus under-diagnosed; likely even misdiagnosed if the patient doesn’t realize that orgasms are the trigger for such episodes, and the doctor doesn’t think to ask. Instead, they will be busy trying to eliminate foods from the diet, things like that, while missing this cause.

Orgasms are better avoided for optimal health: True or False?

Aside from the above, False. There is a common myth for men of health benefits of “semen retention”, but it is not based in science, just tradition. You can read a little about it here:

• What to know about semen retention
• What are the side effects of not releasing sperm?

The short version is: do it if you want; don’t if you don’t; the body will compensate either way so it won’t make a meaningful difference to anything for most people, healthwise.

Small counterpoint: while withholding orgasm (and ejaculation) is not harmful to health, what does physiologically need draining sometimes is prostate fluid. But that can also be achieved mechanically through prostate milking, or left to fend for itself (as it will in nocturnal emissions, popularly called wet dreams). However, if you have problems with an enlarged prostate, it may not be a bad idea to take matters into your own hands, so to speak. As ever, do check with your doctor if you have (or think you may have) a condition that might affect this.

One final word…

We’re done with mythbusting for today, but we wanted to share this study that we came across (so to speak) while researching, as it’s very interesting:

Clitorally Stimulated Orgasms Are Associated With Better Control of Sexual Desire, and Not Associated With Depression or Anxiety, Compared With Vaginally Stimulated Orgasms

On which note: if you haven’t already, consider getting a “magic wand” style vibe; you can thank us later (this writer’s opinion: everyone should have one!).

Top tip: do get the kind that plugs into the wall, not rechargeable. The plug-into-the-wall kind are more powerful, and last much longer (both “in the moment”, and in terms of how long the device itself lasts).

Enjoy!

The Dopamine Myth

There’s a popular misconception that, since dopamine is heavily involved in addictions, it’s the cause.

We see this most often in the context of non-chemical addictions, such as:

• gambling
• videogames
• social media

And yes, those things will promote dopamine production, and yes, that will feel good. But dopamine isn’t the problem.

Myth: The Dopamine Detox

There’s a trend we’ve mentioned before (it got a video segment a few Fridays back) about the idea of a “dopamine detox“, and how unscientific the idea is.

For a start…

• You cannot detox from dopamine, because dopamine is not a toxin
• You cannot abstain from dopamine, because your brain regulates your dopamine levels to keep them correct*
• If you could abstain from dopamine (and did), you would die, horribly.

*unless you have a serious mental illness, for example:

• forms of schizophrenia and/or psychosis that involve too much dopamine, or
• forms of depression and/or neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s (and several kinds of dementia) in which you have too little dopamine
• bipolar disorder in which dopamine levels can swing too far each way

See also: Dopamine fasting: misunderstanding science spawns a maladaptive fad

Myth: Dopamine is all about pleasure

Dopamine is a pleasure-giving neurotransmitter, but it serves more purposes than that! It also plays a central role in many neurological processes, including:

• Motivation
• Learning and memory
• Motor functions
• Language faculties
• Linear task processing

Note for example how someone taking dopaminergic drugs (prescription or otherwise; could be anything from modafinil to cocaine) is not blissed out… They’re probably in a good mood, sure, but they’re focused, organized, quick-thinking, and so forth! This is not an ad for cocaine; cocaine is very bad for the health. But you see the features? So, what if we could have a little more dopamine… healthily?

Dopamine—à la carte

Let’s look at the examples we gave earlier of non-chemical addictions that are dopaminergic in nature:

• gambling
• videogames
• social media

They’re not actually that rewarding, are they?

• Gamblers lose more than they win
• Gamers cease to care about a game once they have won
• Social media more often results in “doomscrolling”

This is because what prompts the most dopamine is actually the anticipation of reward… not the thing itself, whose reward-pleasure is very fleeting. Nobody looks back at an hour of doomscrolling and thinks “well, that was fun; I’m glad I did that”.

See the science: Liking, Wanting and the Incentive-Sensitization Theory of Addiction

But what if we anticipated a reward from things that are not deleterious to health and productivity? Things that are neutral, or even good for us?

Examples of this include:

• Sex! (remember though, it’s not a race to the finish-line)
• Good, nourishing food (bonus: some foods boost dopamine production nutritionally)
• Exercise/sport (also prompts release of endorphins, win/win!)
• Gamified learning apps (e.g. Duolingo)
• Gamified health/productivity apps (anything with bells and whistles and things that go “ding” and measure streaks etc)

Want to know more?

That’s all we have time for today, but you might want to check out:

10 Best Ways to Increase Dopamine Levels Naturally ← Science-based and well-sourced article!