As much as we women like our orgasms, it has to be said that not many experience – or talk about – that elusive phenomenon: multiple orgasms. Whether you’ve had them or not, it’s probably something that you’ve wondered about at some point. That’s why we bring you 7 very common questions about multiple orgasms – and the answers to them!
1. Is it even an actual thing?
Yes, ladies, it IS. Not a myth! Women CAN have several orgasms one after the other.
2. Why and how does it happen?
Unlike men, women don’t have a refractory period after a climax – the phase when a guy ejaculates and, in non-clinical terms, feels, uh, “drained”. So for women, there’s nothing really to be done with, physiologically speaking. So, if stimulation continues beyond your (first) orgasm, you can build up to another and another.
3. What does it feel like?
Um, like a regular orgasm, but followed by more! This is a dramatic analogy, but it’s fairly descriptive: for most women, it’s like an earthquake and the aftershock tremors that follow. Your vaginal muscles spasm during an orgasm, they stop spasming, and they start up again – provided the stimulation pleasure continues, of course! It feels like wave after wave of pleasure, wherein your vaginal muscles contract repeatedly, pause for a while, and then the contractions restart.
4. How many can you really have?
This varies from person to person. According to this Quora thread, the lab recorded number is 134 in 2 hours (WTF?!), but there isn’t enough research available to support this. Most women I have spoken to report 3-4 in a single session of intercourse or being pleasured orally; one friend claims to have counted up to 38 in a single night, across 4 or 5 rounds of intercourse, and then having lost count – but other friends tend not to believe her.
5. Is it bad for you?
Simple answer: no! Why on earth would your pleasure being magnified or multiplied several times be a bad thing? Though it must be said that each orgasm releases greater quantities of endorphins and oxytocin into your system, so you might end up feeling a bit buzzed or woozy. Also, bear in mind that sex – and orgasms – burns a lot of energy, and so you’ll end up quite exhausted. The 38-orgasms friend claims to have been unable to move for many hours afterwards, and says she could not go to work the next day because she was too busy sleeping. There is a more immediately physical aspect to it too. If it’s from intercourse, the prolonged periods of penetration and friction might leave you feeling raw or sore. As well, even if it’s non-penetrational, your genital area might feel super-sensitive at the end of if from all the sensory overload.
6. Can men have them too?
Science says yes. Again, though there isn’t a great deal of readily available research about this, there are a couple of ways that men can have multiple orgasms. One of them is “dry orgasm” – wherein a man can actually climax without ejaculating, and can experience repeated such orgasms (until or after ejaculation). Apparently, practising tantric sex – which is driven more by the emotional and intellectual experience of sex and pleasure resulting from it – helps. The other way is supposed to be when a man might have a full orgasm (with ejaculation), but it all depends on the quantity of oxytocin and other hormones released in the body – which may reduce the refractory period, leading to subsequent orgasms. But I must confess that I have not actually had any male friends answer yes to this question!
7. How can I have them?
As with everything in life, practice makes perfect! The more your body becomes used to orgasms, the more likely it is to help you in your quest for attaining more of them. One of the key things, of course, is to keep the stimulation going. If you’re engaged in intercourse, and you come before your partner does, and he keeps going, your chances of achieving additional orgasms get higher. As well, even if he’s, uh, “done”, keeping up clitoral or vaginal stimulation using fingers or the mouth helps. Doing the Kegel exercise helps too: your pelvic muscles become stronger and you’re able to control them better, even after your first orgasm, and trigger more and repeated contractions. Also, it helps to slow down a bit right before you have a climax so that the first orgasm is less intense, relatively speaking – the stronger your orgasm, the more likely you are to go into a “pleasure coma”, wherein your system is so flooded with oxytocin and other happy-making hormones that your body basically goes to sleep on you, and is unwilling to work anymore. Sex toys are useful too – a vibrator (or a vibrating ring) can keep going until you decide stop, after all!
Images: Shutterstock
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