At any moment of any day,
the odds are that someone around the world is having an orgasm.
We don't really like to talk about them, but
they're an integral part of our lives.
Billion-dollar industries have been built around them.
People have become addicted to them.
And scientists have studied them for eons.
While there's still a level of mystery surrounding them,
some experts believe that orgasms were designed to keep humans reproducing.
This is WHAT IF,
and here's what would happen if orgasms didn't exist.
Without orgasms, sex would become a practical act,
like working out.
And just like working out,
people might quickly become bored with it,
which could cause a global decline in birth rates.
But that's just the beginning.
Without orgasms,
we'd be less healthy, our education system would change,
and our environment would get a much-needed boost.
How can this small physical reaction have so much control over our world?
If none of us were able to experience orgasms,
do we really know the extent of what we'd be missing? Well,
during orgasm, your brain shifts most of its resources to achieve one goal:
pleasure.
One sector of the brain produces oxytocin, a hormone that helps coordinate arousal,
another sector digs deep to bring together all your touch sensors,
sexual fantasies, and memories.
Other parts of the brain provide a handful of feel-good hormones and neurochemicals,
most notably dopamine.
Mix that all together and
BOOM! You've got something so good
that it's been compared to trying heroin for the first time.
And just like heroin, it can lead to plenty of bad decisions.
Not only do orgasms feel good, but they're actually good for us too.
They can act as painkillers.
They can reduce menstrual cramps,
improve circulation, fight aging,
boost your immune system, and even help you live longer!
Over a ten year study, men who had two or more orgasms per week
had a 50 percent lower mortality risk than those who experienced fewer "happy endings."
Similar results were found with women.
But if orgasms didn't exist,
it wouldn't only be these individual benefits that we'd be missing out on,
our society as a whole would be impacted too.
Some couples would keep procreating because
it's what the human body is programmed to do, but
with no pleasure involved in the process,
the birth rate would still take a significant dive.
And if you weren't trying to make babies,
chances are that sex would become kind of boring.
Who wants to run a race where you can never make it to the finish line?
With less time daydreaming and fantasizing about sex,
teens would probably do better in school.
The dynamics of dating and relationships would completely change,
and things like one-night-stands would cease to exist.
With each new, post-orgasm generation,
life on the planet would look increasingly different.
Economies would shift with fewer children,
housing markets would be affected as demand declines,
and schools would suffer
as enrollment numbers would drop with the decreasing population.
It wouldn't all be terrible news, though.
With a decrease in population growth, we might see some benefits for the planet,
since there would be fewer people polluting it and depleting its resources.
Life on planet Earth might feel a little more focused, perhaps even a little boring.
Maybe one day we'd grow so bored with sex that
all of our procreation would come through artificial insemination,
but that's a topic for another WHAT IF.