A brain full of eroticism
The brain's very complex structure controls the glands that produce the hormones* required in our sex lives. Our brains also diffuse neurotransmitters, important elements for sexuality.
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Our brains are not made from one single component, and are not isolated from the rest of our bodies. Read on to learn just how your brain is intricately linked to sexuality...
Brain zones: instinct, emotion and logic
The human brain has evolved over time and still displays all the essential stages of this evolution. In short, the centre of our brain manages our 'instinctive' reactions. The centre receives information from our surroundings, from our entire bodies and, according to the situation, causes instinctive reactions of fight, flight or sexual desire.
Normally, when there is no urgency to the matter, all our instinctive reactions have the time to be ‘analysed’ by the part of the brain surrounding the centre that forms ‘emotion’. This area ‘produces’ an emotion relating to all our actions and keeps a memory of what we felt. This whole process takes place under the supervision of the third zone ‘logic’, aiding us to think before accepting a reaction triggered by instinct or emotion.
- When our bodies receive information coming from a man or woman who could potentially become a sexual partner, this information is sent to the ‘instinct’ part of our brains.
- Instinct asks 'emotion' what it thinks. Emotion then checks its memory whether events linked to the situation are good or bad experiences.
- At the same time, ‘logic’ analyses the feasibility of action in terms of social norms and moral principles. If the answers come back positive, 'instinct' can trigger hormonal secretions that control the suitable sexual response.
How eroticism works in the brain
- The birth of desire: When ‘instinct’ receives authorisation to react, it also triggers, with the other two parts of the brain, the release of several hormonal, neurohormonal and neurotransmitter products. These products stimulate both ‘emotion’ (giving the desire for pleasure) and 'logic' (arousing the production of fantasies and happy future plans) and also trigger a weakening of all inhibitive elements that could obstruct action (we forget our apprehensions and fears; we dare to do what we wouldn't normally).
- A chemical explanation of love at first sight: As ‘emotion’ doesn’t think before acting, it can provide a rapid reaction as soon as it spots any pleasure-related signs in a person we meet: a smile, face shape, shapely hips... And before ‘logic’ can get a look in, arousal neurotransmitters and neuron-hormones (adrenalin, noradrenalin, dopamine) are already released and trigger an increase in heart rate, increase in blood pressure, feeling warm and tingly... all the physical sensations of ‘love at first sight’.
- Sexual routine and the brain: The presence of the person desired sets off hormonal triggers again and again but with repetition, the glands reduce secretions. Less aroused, less excited by the now habitual presence of that desired person, ‘emotion’s’ reactions become increasingly weaker. And we logically reach a state of waning sexual arousal as an effect of routine.
But routine is not inevitable. You just need to make an effort to renew arousal by getting ‘emotion’ back into play in the whole system of pleasure. You need to know how to invent new situations for arousal to find its place once again.
- Sexuality and wellbeing: Fulfilling sexuality goes together with hormones – endorphins - flooding the brain with exhilarating sensations. These molecules, opium-based and produced by the brain, explain that post-orgasm feeling of euphoria. Sexual pleasure is therefore an essential remedy for stress and anxiety.
So is eroticism only about chemistry?
In some ways, yes. Without a body that functions correctly chemically, we cannot experience the different reactions that condition the different stages of a sex life. But these workings are indeed complex and leave much to the unknown. The magic of love, desire and pleasure remain mysterious experiences and fascinating adventures.
* Main hormones: growth hormone (produced by hypophysis); thyroid and parathyroid hormones, adrenaline, cortisol, androgens (produced by adrenal glands) and testosterone and estradiol (from testicles and ovaries). The main neurotransmitters are dopamine, serotonin and acetylcholine.
Posted 13.07.2010
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