Here's what happens to a woman's brain during orgasm

Do you know what happens to a woman's brain during orgasm? It becomes more active, not switch off, according to a new study.

A research carried out by the Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey has revealed what exactly happens to a woman's brain before and after orgasm. This study is claimed to be more researched than the before ones on the subject.

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Some studies conducted earlier regarding the pain levels women face had stated that the parts of women's brain actually 'turn off' while she orgasms. But a new study conducted by Dr Nan Wise on the orgasms women get tells something different.

Dr Wise carried out the study on 10 women whom she asked to 'donate their orgasms to Science' as reported by Daily Mail.

A slow build of activities was observed in the parts of women's brains which were linked with memory, emotion and movement that trigger when orgasm peaked.

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Women were asked to orgasm twice in whichever way they preferred, either by being stimulated by their partners or by stimulating themselves all while the person is in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine.

"Studying the brain while a woman orgasms presents a number of challenges, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machines 'aren't exactly sexy'," Dr Wise stated.

A machine was devised by Dr Wise and her team called as "the happy helmet" that supported and stabilised the heads of women in order to get precise photos using the fMRI while the rest of their bodies were free to move.

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The women who participated in this research were provided with bathrobes and comfortable socks in order to make their experience as erotic as possible.

"The women felt like they were doing something empowering, akin to 'burning their bras as a kind of sexual liberation thing," said Dr Wise.

The participants 'felt really good that they got to a place in their sexuality and bodies' that they could take part in the study, she added.

This new study, contrary to the old finding by Dr Gert Holstege of the University of Groningen, Netherlands that women's brain switches off during orgasm, reveals that the brains of women instead become more active when sexually pleasured.

According to Dr Wise, here's what happens when a woman orgasms — "A lot of different areas (of the brain) start ramping up: sensation and integration of sensation, motor areas - orgasm involves a lot of muscle tension in the body - and areas that come online when we are experiencing something rewarding."

The previous study carried out by Dr Gert Holstege at the University of Groningen used a scanning technology called positron emission tomography (PET) to take snaps of the women's brains. The participants of this study were stimulated only by their partners.

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Dr Wise says that while PET scans are effective for many things, in the study by the University of Groningen, the pictures showed a fall in the activity taking place in the frontal cortex of the women's brains. The fall observed was below the normal resting levels.

"We didn't have any indication that the frontal regions went below baseline," Dr Wise stated about the new study she carried out with her team.