- [Narrator] Hey Psych2Goers, welcome back to our channel.
How much do you know about sex?
There are a lot of interesting
psychological facts about sex you may not know.
We've talked about this topic before in our video,
Eight Psychological Facts About Sex.
But now we have six more
interesting psychological facts about sex
you'd likely be surprised to hear.
Here they are.
Number one.
It takes less than a second for your brain to decide
if someone is sexually attractive.
How long does it take for you to realize
whether or not you're sexually attracted to someone?
Well, according to a 2008 study published in NeuroImage,
it takes half a second for your brain to decide
whether or not someone is attractive.
The author of the study, Stephanie Ortigue,
explained in an interview that they
"Found the brain knows who we desire and when we desire
"before we are aware of it."
Researchers also found that it may take our brains
less time to decide if someone is unattractive.
In a hurry much?
Number two.
Females can alter their voice to sound sexier.
What does your sexy voice sound like?
In a 2013 study,
published in The Journal of Nonverbal Behavior,
researchers Susan M. Hughes, Justin K. Mogilski,
and Marissa A. Harrison had 40 participants,
20 male and 20 female, manipulate their voices.
For one part of the study,
researchers had participants attempt to sound attractive.
The study states that "Among them,
"we found that when trying to sound sexy or attractive,
"both sexes slowed their speech
"and women lowered their pitch,
"and had a greater vocal hoarseness."
The results?
When subjects manipulated their voice to sound attractive,
researchers found women were able to alter their voices
to sound more attractive, simply counting from one to 10.
Men on the other hand were rated as sounding less attractive
when they throw on their sexy voice.
Number three.
Cuddling after sex can increase satisfaction.
Who doesn't love cuddles?
But apparently, cuddling after sex is the time to do it.
A 2014 study,
published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior
found that cuddling, kissing,
and affectionate talking after intercourse
can increase a couple's bond and sexual satisfaction.
When researchers asked partners to cuddle more after sex,
couples who did so
reported greater levels of relationship satisfaction
and sexual satisfaction.
They found this notably more true
for those couples with children.
Researcher, Amy Muise notes that
"When people think of sex,
"they tend to be focused on intercourse and orgasm."
This research suggests
that other affectionate aspects of sex
are important for sexual and relationship satisfaction.
Number four.
Not everyone desires sex.
As you may know, not everyone desires sex.
This is especially normal for those who are asexual.
Asexuality is a sexual orientation
where someone doesn't experience sexual attraction
towards others,
or they may experience little desire for sexual encounters.
Everyone is different, so it's seen more on a spectrum.
When it comes to sexual desire,
your normal may be different from others.
Sex therapist, and New York Times bestselling author,
Ian Kerner said it best, explaining that
"Normal, such an elastic word,
"it depends on what your baseline libido is."
Number five.
Sex before a stressful task may lower your level of stress.
Got a big test tomorrow?
Well, let's look at the research.
A 2006 research study,
published in the journal, Biological Psychology
had subjects take part in stressful activities.
These included giving a public speech
or taking a difficult math quiz.
Subjects who had sex before the test
had lower blood pressure and lower levels of stress.
This was when compared to those who had no sex,
those who masturbated,
and those who had sexual contact without intercourse.
The study even claims that penile-vaginal intercourse, PVI,
but not other sexual behavior is associated with
better psychological and physiological function.
And number six, sex can alter your pain perception.
According to some research,
sex may alter your pain perception,
making you feel less pain.
The section of the brain called the hypothalamus
releases the feel-good hormone, oxytocin,
also known as the love hormone during orgasm or arousal.
Researchers at Rutgers University
found that this release of oxytocin
may help women feel less pain.
This can be especially true during menstruation.
Another study, published
in the Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine
found that extremely low doses of oxytocin
reduce pain sensitivity in men,
lowering one's pain threshold by 56.5%.
Wowza!
So, which of these facts
were you more surprised to learn about?
Did you watch our other video
on psychological facts about sex?
Which facts are more interesting to you?
Feel free to let us know in the comment section down below.
We hope you enjoyed this video and learned something new,
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