Understanding The Female Orgasm With Brain Scans

Finding a solution for Female Sexual Dysfunction is what all drug companies would love to do. The financial rewards would be huge and they could possible outstrip the money earned from Viagra, Cialis and Levitra which is in the region of 2.5 billion US dollars yearly. Research has shown that women have more of a problem enjoying good sex than men do and that a drug that could cure FSD would actually sell more than the drugs for male erectile dysfunction.

Despite extensive investment into FSD the drug industry has yet to discover the definite drug that will solve the problem. Reports that Viagra could also help women were examined seriously by Pfizer and despite a massive clinical testing program involving women the results were lacklustre and not worth continuing with. The results did show that when women took Viagra the blood to the vaginal area did increase but women require more than the purely physical stimulation that men need.

The research has however led to a clearer knowledge of the mechanisms that cause arousal in a woman and whereas most male sexual dysfunctiuon is a physical problem, female sexual dysfunction tends to be generally pyschological and the new avenues of research into FSD are concentrating on this aspect.

Scientists have therefore been looking at the brain of a woman to try to understand what turns on a woman and using sophisticated brain scanners and other neurological devices so that they can see what areas of the brain are functioning during sexual arousal and orgasm. One interesting observation is that the vagus nerve is an essential part of arousal and orgasm and this is the nerve that is the messenger for the brain for mood. Other areas of the brain were seen to be active and stimulated during orgasm and these are the areas that the scientists are concentrating their research on.

The volunteers have to put their heads inside brain scan machines which can show the blood flow to different areas of the brain. The blood contains the oxygen that is needed by the brain when it wants to function and the scanners can pick up the increased blood flow and show it on a computer screen to be analysed. The researchers noted that when a woman orgasms, the brain section that controls pain shuts down and the part of the brain the controls pleasure is especially active.

While it is essential to examine what is happening in the head of a woman when she is aroused, a brain scan is not the simple answer to finding a cure for FSD and how the brain and body interact during sex is important for the final solution. Millions more needs to be invested and much more effort needs to be spent on finding a cure for the complicated problem of female sexual dysfunction.