New publications
After orgasm, a man's brain shuts down
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
Men automatically fall asleep after orgasm, scientists have discovered. The male brain, it turns out, is initially programmed for this.
Scientists working for the French government scanned the brains of male volunteers during and after sex. The scans carefully recorded brain activity. It turned out that the prefrontal cortex of the male brain, which is responsible for conscious thinking, switches off immediately after orgasm. This puts the representatives of the stronger sex into a state of sleep just at the time when their partners want to communicate and continue caresses.
Two other areas, the cingulate cortex and the amygdala, send signals to the rest of the brain to shut down all sexual desire. This is done by releasing sleep-inducing chemicals, serotonin and opioids. This provides the first scientific evidence that men are not to blame for their post-orgasm "selfishness." Nature made them that way.
"After a man has an orgasm, he usually enters a special period of time when sexual desire is completely switched off," explains the study's leader, Dr. Serge Stoljaru. "In women, apparently, there is no such connection. After an orgasm, women want more, and men just want to sleep."
By the way, scientists have recently found out that men, on average, think about sex 19 times a day, which is about 8,000 times less than was previously believed. By the way, men think about food 18 times a day, which is almost comparable. In third place in the ranking of men's thoughts is the topic of sleep - 11 times a day. This refutes the popular stereotype that the stronger sex always and everywhere thinks only about sex. Women have intimate thoughts 10 times a day, thoughts about sleep 8.5 times, and thoughts about food as many as 15 times.