Orgasms Better for Your Brain Than Crossword Puzzles, Study Shows

This is your brain. This is your brain on sex. A recent study on human pleasure by Rutgers researchers Barry Komisaruk and Nan Wise has discovered what may be the best news since science discovered that pot smokers are skinnier...

By Katie Johnson

August 7, 2013

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This is your brain. This is your brain on sex.

A recent study on human pleasure by Rutgers researchers Barry Komisaruk and Nan Wise has discovered what may be the best news since science discovered that pot smokers are skinnier.

The study conducted in Newark, New Jersey, required female subjects to bring themselves to orgasm in the not-so-sexy surroundings of an fMRI machine. According to one subject, one of the challenges of this task, besides masturbating to orgasm in a room full of scientists, was maintaining perfectly still so the machine could accurately measure blood flow to the brain.

Ultimately, the tests concluded that orgasms triggered increased blood flow to the brain and, unlike mere mental exercises such a crossword or sudoku, orgasms brought blood flow to the entire brain, rather than just localized regions. This increased blood flow benefits the brain by carrying with it oxygen and nutrients.

Following the good news, researcher Barry Komisaruk plans on taking his sexual experiments to the next level, by measuring how orgasms might also block pain.

Finally your shameful masturbation habits can be written off as productive brain teasers. Thanks, science.

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