With National Orgasm Day coming up on July 31, one of numerous sex holidays on the calendar throughout the year, we wanted to share five facts about orgasms you may not know. However you celebrate this holiday, we hope it’s a wonderful day in every way.
The word orgasm has been around since the 17th century.
According to Entymonline, the word’s origins as a term meaning “sexual climax” date back to the 1680s and could be from multiple sources, including “from French orgasme or Modern Latin orgasmus, from Greek orgasmos ‘excitement, swelling,’ from organ ‘be in heat, become ripe for,’ literally ‘to swell, be excited,” related to orge ‘impulse, excitement, anger,’ from PIE root *wrog- “to burgeon, swell with strength” (source also of Sanskrit urja ‘a nourishment, sap, vigor,’ Old Irish ferc, ferg ‘anger’).”
Orgasms can relieve pain.
Scientists have discovered that orgasms can relieve certain types of pain. Beverly Whipple, Ph.D. said in an interview with LifeScript that in her research, G-spot stimulation “elevated pain thresholds by over 47% and pleasurable stimulation increased it by more than 80%.”
Prostate orgasms are real.
The prostate is a powerful part of the body when it comes to orgasms. One 2017 study in Clinical Anatomy concluded that “there can be little doubt that stimulating the prostate via the rectal wall can create ecstatic feelings that are exceptionally pleasurable, often surpassing those obtained from penile stimulation.”
Orgasms aren’t always the result of sexual stimulation.
Just as human beings have varied sexual responses, so too do our bodies. Orgasms may result from a wide range of types of stimulation. One study found that “Orgasm types include those related to exercise, sleep, drug use, riding in vehicles, breastfeeding, eating, auditory stimulation, and childbirth, among others.”
Orgasms release endorphins.
Yes, those same feel-good sensations you get after a run or other exercise are also released when you have an orgasm. According to Medical News Today, “Orgasms release endorphins, known as feel-good hormones, which may make people feel sleepy, relaxed, or happy afterwards.”