<< Other Readjustments >>

In addition to the physiologic readjustments noted above, all other functions which have been distorted during sexual response are quickly restored by orgasm to their normal .or even subnormal states.

Pulse rates which had reached 150 or more at the moment of orgasm are, within a matter of seconds or a few minutes at the most, returned to their normal 75 or 80 (Figures 120-128).
The rapidity of the decrease in pulse following orgasm is shown in Boas and Goldschmidt 1932:99, where the female's pulse fell from 146 to 117 in a matter of seconds, and the male’s from 143 to 117 within a minute. In Klumbies and Kleinsorge 1950a:953, 955; 1950b:62, the male’s pulse fell from 142 to 67 in four seconds.

Blood pressures similarly drop (Figures 129-138). The increase in the peripheral circulation of the blood quickly subsides, and tumescence may be abruptly reduced, although the speed of detumescence may vary considerably in different individuals. Younger males may maintain erection for several minutes after orgasm; most older males begin to lose erection immediately. If there is any continuing excitation, some younger individuals and even some older males may maintain full erection for five or ten minutes or even for a half hour or more after orgasm. It is sometimes possible for such a male to renew sexual activity and attain another orgasm without having experienced flaccidity between performances.

After the cessation of the respiratory convulsions which are the immediate after-effects of orgasm, the respiratory rate in most individuals quickly drops to normal or, in case the individual is already fatigued, to something lower than normal frequency (Figure 139).

Wounds which were acquired during the sexual activity, and which exhibited a surprisingly scant flow of blood at that time, may begin to flow more freely after orgasm. The menstrual flow, which may have been slowed up during erotic response, is resumed at its normal rate.

Even more remarkable is the sudden return of sensory acuity (or the reorientation of sensory perception) which may follow orgasm. While the increased capacity may amount to nothing more than a return to normal sensitivity, the contrast with the previous insensitive state may be enough to cause the individual considerable discomfort. Many males—perhaps a majority of them—become so sensitive after orgasm that they may experience considerable pain if there is any additional stimulation of the penis at that time. Marriage manuals frequently recommend that the male who reaches orgasm before his female partner does, should continue coital movements until she has been satisfied; but it should be recognized that such continued activity would be excruciatingly painful to many males, and for many of them a physical impossibility. There is some record of a similar hypersensitivity among females, although the specific data are more limited.

Various parts of the body may itch after orgasm. Many individuals become especially conscious of a full bladder after orgasm.
The secretion of urine, or desire to urinate during sexual excitement, is also noted by: Van de Velde 1930:244. Havelock Ellis 1936(11,1):154. Hardenbergh 1949:227.

Muscles, such as those of the groin, the legs, the calf, the fingers, and the neck, may go into cramps during sexual activity, but one may not be conscious of that fact until after he or she has experienced orgasm.

Some persons become conscious of the fact that they are hungry and thirsty after sexual activity. Sometimes such hunger or thirst simply reflects a return to normal perceptive capacities; but hunger, thirst, a general restlessness, a desire to get away from other people, a desire to smoke, and still other nervous types of behavior may, on occasion, be the product of the psychologic disturbance which is engendered by doubts over the moral propriety or the social acceptability of the act in which one has just engaged. Sometimes there are increased movements of the digestive tract following sexual activity, and an occasional individual may defecate or vomit in the course of sexual activity, or immediately after it. Such disturbances are not infrequently credited to the supposedly unsanitary nature of some sexual technique, but the true explanation of such activity is certainly psychologic.

A marked quiescence of the total body is the most widely recognized outcome of orgasm. The famous aphorism, post coitum triste—one is sad following coitus—, is not only a distortion of Galen’s original statement, but an inadequate description of the usually quiescent state of a person who has experienced orgasm.
Galen [ca. 130-200 a.d.] actually said: Triste est omne animal post coitum, praeter mulierem gallumque (every animal is sad after coitus, except the human female and the rooster).

There is neither regret nor conflict nor any tinge of sadness for most persons who have experienced orgasm. There is, on the contrary, a quiescence, a calm, a peace, a satisfaction with the world which, in the minds of many persons, is the most notable aspect of any type of sexual activity.

Sometimes, especially in youth, the post-orgasmic relaxation is hardly more than momentary. There are some individuals who, within a matter of seconds or minutes after the cessation of the orgasmic spasms, are ready for any type of vigorous exercise or mental activity. The average individual may require four or five minutes of repose before coming back to a normal state. Many persons promptly fall asleep after the termination of sexual activity, especially if it occurs in the evening when they are already fatigued.

It has been said that sexual excitement after orgasm recedes more slowly in the female than in the male. We do not know of data which warrant such a generalization, although it frequently recurs in the literature, sometimes with impressive but wholly imaginary charts to illustrate the concept. 55 The small body of actual measurements that are available (Figures 120-138) do not warrant any general distinction between females and males.
That excitement after orgasm diminishes more slowly in the female is often asserted in the literature, as in: Roubaud 1876:17. Rohleder 1907(1):313. Moll 1912:26. Talmey 1912:63; 1915:94. Urbach 1921:129 ff. Krafft-Ebing 1922:41. Bauer 1927(1):158. Hirschfeld 1928(2):230. Van de Velde 1930: 181, 248. Havelock Ellis 1936(11,1):168. Haire 1937:200, 211. Kahn 1939: fig.31. Faller in Hornstein and Faller 1950:239. Stone and Stone 1952:186. Few of the references give exact measurements. Klumbies and Kleinsorge 1950a: 956; 1950b :61, found no difference between the female and male in this respect, but the case is complicated by the fact that the female had several consecutive orgasms. On the other hand, the Boas and Goldschmidt female case (1932:99) returned to a physiologic norm somewhat more rapidly than the male.

A few persons may be fatigued for some hours, and a rare individual may be exhausted for some days following orgasm, but such cases represent ill health which is overtaxed by the additional expenditure of energy required by sexual activity. The physical exhaustion which is usually ascribed to sexual excess is probably the outcome of the late hours, the lack of sleep, the alcoholic dissipation, or other excesses which may accompany the sexual activity. Sexual activity itself is limited by a self-regulating mechanism which controls the possible frequencies of orgasm. When sexual performance has reached the limits of one’s nervous capacity, one is no longer interested erotically, and no longer responds to sexual stimuli. Once or twice in a lifetime, each male may deliberately attempt to set a record and force himself to perform beyond the limits of his spontaneous erotic responses; but such performances are infrequent in the histories of most males. Similarly, females do not respond in sexual activities which go beyond their physiologic capacities, although they may, of course, be forced into physical relationships in which they do not respond.

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