'A brain symphony': First MRI scan video of female orgasm shows how activity lights up EVERY region of the brain



Over 80 areas of the brain affected

Effect culminates in release of oxytocin - the 'cuddle hormone'

Little is understood about what actually happens to our brains during orgasm - but a video taken an MRI scanner shows for the first time how many regions of the brain are affected.

Scientists say that rather than a few, isolated areas of the brain being affected, the orgasm affects more than 80 brain regions.

The scan was taken of Nan Wise, a 54-year-old sex therapist, who volunteered to sit in an MRI scanner while stimulating herself.

Almost every part of the brain 'iilluminates' during the orgasm - starting with pleasure centres associated with the body and spreading through the whole brain

In the video, levels of brain activity are on a 'hot metal' scale - low activity is red, high activity is yellow and white

Professor Barry Komisaruk, a psychologist at Rutgers University in New Jersey, hopes that the research will help women who find it difficult to orgasm.



'This visualization shows themagnetic resonance imaging brain data of a participant experiencing an orgasm - and the corresponding relationships seen within these different regions based on oxygen levels in the blood.



'Oxygen levels are displayed on a spectrum from dark red (lowest activity) to yellow/white (highest).



'As can be observed, an orgasm leads to almost the entire brain illuminating yellow, indicating that most brain systems become active at orgasm.'

To watch, it's almost like a firework display.



Early on in the process, activity is limited to just a few areas of the brain - then it spreads to more than 80 brain regions

The film shows how activity sparks off in the sensory cortex - in the specific area related to the genitals.



But it spreads quickly through the limbic system, involved in emotions and memory.

As orgasm arrives, activity peaks in the hypothalamus, which releases a chemical called oxytocin ('the cuddle hormone').



After orgasm, the activity throughout the brain dies down. It's hoped that further understanding of these processes will help patients who are unable to achieve orgasm.



