The sexual response cycle is how experts describe what is happening inside your body that makes you feel and respond the way you do during sex.
Back in 1966, sex researchers william masters, MD and Virginia Johnson came up with the term. They defined four stages or phases, from this cycle:
Phase 1: excitement. As you get excited, your heart beats faster and your breathing gets heavier. Your skin can red. More blood flows to his genitals. The swell clitoris and the penis gets erect. Nipples harden and the vagina can get wet. Muscles along your tense body, boosting sexual tension.
Phase 2: Plateau. The changes in your body intensify. Breathing, heart rate and blood pressure. Muscle tension increases even more. The swelling vagina and its walls rotate a darker color. The clitoris becomes super sensitive to the touch. Testicles pull up.
Phase 3: Orgasm. Sexual excitement reaches your peak. You feel a series of intense muscle contractions as your body releases tension. The muscles of the vagina and the contract of the uterus. The muscles at the base of the penis tighten and release, releasing semen into an ejaculation.
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Phase 4: Resolution. Now spent your lifted energy, your body returns to your pre-sexual state. Your calm breathing. Muscles relax. The penis and the vagina return to its original size and color. You can feel calm, satisfied or tired.
This four-phase cycle is a fairly simple way to describe human sexual response. In fact, human bodies (and minds) are unique. The way we respond to sex does not always fit perfectly in four boxes ordered.
"Since the Masters and Johnson model, we learned much more," says Kristen Mark, PhD, the Administries Joycelelyn have president in sexual health education at the University of Minnesota Medical School. "One thing that comes before the other is quite imprecise for human sexual experience."
For one thing, not all acts of sex lead to orgasm. Some people have sex without feeling any excitement. Others have several online orgasms, and they do not reach the resolution.
The sexual response cycle model has received some updates over the years. In the late 1970s, the Canter Kaplan sex therapist, MD, PhD, added desire to the cycle. In his vision, people need to be in a good mood and emotionally ready to get lost and have an orgasm.
In 2001, Rosemary Basson, MD, professor of sexual medicine at the University of British Columbia, played the entire model for a loop - literally. She created a circular sexual response model. Her major ideas are that people have sex for many different reasons, not just excitement. And every part of the cycle does not need to happen in any special order. For example, desire may come late in the process.
orgasm is not the only reward for having sex. You can do this for many other reasons, I would increase the intimacy or make your partner happy. "Just because someone does not have an orgasm does not mean they are not feeling some level of satisfaction," says Mark.
The sexual response cycle does not differ much by gender or sexual orientation, Mark says. But you can change against finding. "It's super-individualized and really unique for every sexual experience."
For example, if you wish someone for a long time and finally having sex, the excitation phase can be faster. At the beginning of a relationship, when the person you are dating is new to you, desire can come before excitement. After being together for many years, you can get excited before you feel desire.
Problems can happen at any stage of the sexual response cycle. Desire can darken, you may have difficulty waking up, or you may not be able to achieve orgasm.
Sometimes a physical problem is to blame. For example, erectile problems or vaginal dryness can make sex more difficult or painful. In turn, a physical problem can trigger an emotional response where you do not want sex so much, Mark says.
But again, everyone is different. Even if you never wake up, you may be well with your sex life.
If there is a problem that needs help "boils down to your quality of life and how important this is for you," says Irwin Goldstein, MD, medical director of San Diego sex medicine.
If you are unhappy with your sex life, tell your doctor. You could have a medical problem treated, such as vaginal dryness or erectile dysfunction. Some types of medications may also hinder desire. Changing the dose or switching prescriptions can help.
If the problem is not physical, your doctor can refer you to a sex therapist to help you work through any emotional, relationship or psychological problem that affect your sexual life. The therapist can teach you and your partner forms to manage problems as a lack of desire or difficulty in reaching orgasm.
It also helps to know the sex cycle of your body. Pay attention to how you react. Do you feel arousal? What types of touch do you reach orgasm? When learning about your own response, "you can have a more satisfying experience and better communicate or tell your partner what you like," says Mark.
