When you have sex, your body reacts in different ways to make it more pleasurable and enjoyable for you. When you’re in the moment you aren’t thinking about the increased blood flow to the vagina which enhances pleasure and all of the science behind it all you are just in the moment enjoying sex with your other half. There is so much that goes on behind the scenes as it were. Your brain and body are going off like a firework display. The process of this is called The Sexual Response Cycle.
The first phase in this is before the sex even happens. This is the desire to have sex. It is very different for everyone but more so between the sexes. For men, their desire to have sex is very physical, something that can even happen to them when they are asleep. For women, it is not as obvious but still very powerful. However all women are different and some women do not experience this desire beforehand and it is more of a reactive sensation once the act of sex is already starting, with the consent of course. There are lots of different things that happen with your body when you start to get aroused and although sexual interest and libido vary from person to person these are chemical responses in a way so would always happen. When you first start to get aroused your heart rate and your breathing speed up, it brings about the excitement you feel when getting ready to have sex. Just like in the movies where they rip each other’s clothes off but normally not as urgent in real life.
After you are starting to feel excited your body starts to release a chemical called nitric oxide, which helps create a domino effect of increasing blood flow to different areas in the body like the cervix, penis, and vagina. Not like in labor but when the desire to have sex comes upon you your vagina starts to dilate to make it easier for the penis to enter. Our natural bodily urge to reproduce and carry on our name and line is what has caused these bodily reactions to be there in the first place.
The increased blood flow can make your clitoris become erect in a way just like a penis as they are made of the same type of bodily tissues. So the extra blood flow will make it more sensitive and be able to be stimulated more, the blood also increases in your labia minora and your vagina walls. It also helps contribute towards the lubrication of the vagina which again helps the penis enter the vagina easier. Not for everyone but it can even make your nipples feel more sensitive to stimulation. Some women are even able to orgasm just from nipple play.
Then moving on to arousal there are incredible things happening in your body. This is the stage during sex where you are fully there in the moment, feeling every sensation, every touch, and all the worries and stress of everyday life just fade away. There are some big changes that happen too, not ones you will be able to see really but your vaginal walls start to change to a deep purple color and your muscles start to tense more which can lead to what feels like body spasms all over your body from the pleasure. The clitoris starts to become more and more sensitive but to avoid being over-stimulated it retracts itself under the clitoral hood.
The next phase of sex is the big O. The orgasm. It doesn’t always happen and that is okay, it is completely normal and a lot of women are unable to even orgasm from penetrative sex. Even if you don’t manage to orgasm you can still enjoy the sex and it doesn’t mean it wasn’t good sex. If you do get to that point and have an orgasm then your breathing and heart rate go off the chart along with the blood pressure. The rise you will have is in a different way to how it is during sexual intercourse. You also find that your muscles are contracting in such a way that your whole body reacts and spasms when you finally reach the point of orgasm. There is also another large release and increase of oxytocin which is feelings of pleasure and bonding. There seems to be what feels like a release of intense tension in a sudden moment during an orgasm, this always happens but the intensity can vary. Sometimes it can be very powerful and make you feel like you might collapse from the pleasure and there are sometimes when it may feel more of a softer reach to the climax. Everyone feels orgasms differently and everyone feels different orgasms differently, it isn’t the same every time.
Now, this doesn’t happen for everyone but some women even squirt when they reach orgasm but this can actually happen at any point in sex for a woman. It is different for everyone.
You passed the exciting and explosive feeling phase and now you are moving into the comedown phase. This is where your body starts to regulate itself back to normal breathing, normal blood flow, and everything else that has changed. Your breasts will return to normal, the labia will go back to normal and change back to their normal color. For men with penises after sex, there is a time where they are not able to go again straight away but a woman would be able to. They would also more likely be able to reach orgasm a lot quicker, so you might be ready for round two after or you simply might want to lay in bed and cuddle. The release of pleasure and hormones help you create a deeper connection with your sexual partner.
So it may vary from person to person and some people may have no interest in sex at all, but here is the science behind it and what actually can happen to your body during sex.