Image by baboo mcfoo.
Over on what might be one of the best blog names ever Neurotic Physiology: Are You SciCurious?, Praemedia sends me a link to their Friday Weird Science post, Groaning and Hyperventilation during Sex. Which, essentially takes a ponderingly scientific look at breath play — that’s sexual breath control encompassing holding your breath while masturbating. Some of us learn to do it during masturbation simply for the sake of staying quiet and undetected; it also includes plain old heavy breathing, to advanced BDSM breath control play, or more dangerous forms of auto-erotic asphyxiation which leads to fatalities. (I sometimes wish I could have been Michael Hutchence’s‘ more understanding girlfriend, in a different life.) Snip:
(Passie et al.) “On the function of groaning and hyperventilation during sexual intercourse: intensification of sexual experience by altering brain metabolism through hypocapnia” Medical Hypotheses, 2003. Yes, people DO really study this stuff. I now present your Friday Weird Science, and I don’t even have to play with the title!
Now, I’m going to start by saying that I do not want to hear about YOUR groaning and hyperventilation experiences. This is a clean blog, thank you! Unless, of course, you have a random sampling with p<0.05. ‘Round here, even the sex is geeky. As some of you may be aware, hyperventilation, along with suffocation, can produce altered states of consciousness. You can see examples of this when kids choke each other to get high (which is a HORRIBLE idea). This is because hyperventilation and other kinds of breathing differences drastically reduce blood flow to the brain, sometimes as much as 50%, and this can produce drastic changes in mood, particularly inducing a feeling of euphoria (I believe in ‘Sex and the City’ they call it “seeing God”. The authors here thought that changes in blood flow to the brain caused by hyperventilation might increase the sexual experience. Sexual arousal has lots of difference symptoms: release of many different hormones, increases in blood flow to the lips, cheeks, and genetalia, increased heart rate, and a definite inability to think clearly. Hyperventilation and vocalizations such as groaning are considered common features of sexual response (Masters and Johnson, 1966), though interestingly the authors say that women are more likely to have this than men (I’d like to see that study, Davidson, 1980). Many of the physiological sexual responses that we have are those that produce increased sexual responses in our mates, facilitating reproduction. For example, flushed lips and cheeks are a sexual attractant and a sign of health, and of course pelvic thrusting can always get a response. However, here the authors hypothesize that hyperventilation may produce increased sexual response in ourselves. What’s the purpose of this? (...read more.)
