Sex and Happiness

During sex people experience high pleasure, does it mean that more sex makes you happier?  On the other hand, mind-wandering makes people sad. Indeed, the science of happiness indicates that flow states - when one is immersed in what they do without thinking about anything else - make us happy. I will discuss the complex interaction between sex, relationships and happiness, I will discuss what makes us happy, and will show how our intuition is remakebly helpless regarding our happiness.

Our intuition is that we want because we like but brain-wise, the two are distinct. Therefore, addicts want but get no satisfaction. I will discuss the circuitry of wanting, common mis-conceptions regarding Dopamine and pleasure centers, the case of too much wanting as in porn addiction, implications to long-term relationships, learning, and will finalize with love, is it an addiction? 

A Trilogy: Sex, Love and the Paired-Bond Part I

Love is a mystery that its nature has kept poets, philosophers, and writers busy. Does Biology have the answer? In the following 3 lectures I will discuss initial findings from rodents, human studies, and up-to-date understanding of the paired-bond.  In this lecture, I will discuss the brain-science of love, monogamy, empathy, paired-bond and of the broken-heart and how sex is related to all of those.  Is there a gene for empathy? a gene for monogamy? Those are complex behaviours but surprisingly a single molecule - Oxytocin - has emerged in animal studies as a chief mediator of those. 

This lecture finalizes the trilogy with the most updated, realistic, and mechanistic science of the paired-bond. I will explain complicated high-end brain research concepts simply and accurately. I will discuss how the paired-bond is achieved through the activity of neural-networks. I will explain how information is transferred and processed using neuronal communication, and neuronal codes so that a preference to the partner is achieved. The lecture will also demonstrate the shift in brain-science from a region-specific view to a network view.  

It is known that the brain is the largest sexual organ, and indeed sexual activity is controlled by the brain. I will discuss the central circuit that controls erection and ejaculation through the autonomic nervous system. I will cover central suppressors and facilitators such as Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin, and Testosterone. In addition, I will discuss a link between sexual activity and violence, sexual orientation, and gender differences in arousal.

In this lecture, I will explain what are pleasure and euphoria in the brain. I will present a dedicated neuronal pathway for pleasant touch and will draw conclusions for the language of touch. I will discuss the science of orgasm, what is orgasm in the brain, and finally what makes sex great.