Forget your five-a-day, if you want to stay healthy in body and mind, try having an orgasm as often as you can.

Scientists often come up with some crazy stuff, but a recent study by American neuroscientists unearthed a true humdinger recently. According to a report called The Orgasmic Mind in the Scientific American Mind journal, a woman experiences a ‘widespread neural power failure’ – or a complete brain shutdown – during an orgasm. In other words, nothing happens.“I have a theory that women’s brains are usually so active that maybe this is why we like orgasms so much, because it gives the brain a short break from thinking,” muses psychotherapist Trish Murphy (www.trishmurphy-psychotherapy.com).

Hot ‘n’ Healthy

So in the end, the big ‘O’ may amount to a big fat nothing for the brain, but that doesn’t stop us wanting as many of them as possible. In addition to the mini-brain breather, the side-effects of orgasms are bountiful. That’s right, not only do they feel hella good, they’re great for the body too…

For one, they’re known as a great natural form of pain relief from pre-menstrual tension, and can help to regulate periods. Endorphins are also released by your body during sex, and can increase your tolerance of pain by as much as 70% during orgasm.

Not only that, but our immune system gets a boost from the shot of feel-good hormones like dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin during sex. An orgasm also acts as a natural tranquiliser, helping us to sleep better (due to a drop in blood pressure).

Get Glowing

If that wasn’t enough to have you reaching for your phone to make an emergency booty call, get this; those happy sex highs can even help our diets. Sexual stimulation activates the production of phenethylamine, a kind of natural amphetamine that regulates your appetite. Skinny and glowing? What’s not to love about ‘em, right?

Finally, and most surprisingly, research now suggests that regular sex could also decrease the risk of childless women getting breast cancer. A study of 146 childless French women found a higher risk of breast cancer in those who had sex less than once a month. “The release of tension that orgasms create is massive, and cannot be underestimated,” observes Trish.

Stop Thinking

So now that we know orgasms would, in an ideal world, be readily available through the HSE, how the heck do we score one every time we indulge in a spot of bedroom gymnastics? Because one of life’s greatest injustices is that the big ‘O’ is not always a foregone conclusion.

“One of the main reasons women have to work so hard at orgasms is because they think too much,” notes Trish. “Women also tend to criticise their own bodies during sex, and how can you have an orgasm while you’re worrying about your stomach. Instead you need to focus on all your senses.”

Sexy Time

It is thought that a woman needs around 10 minutes of rhythmic manual or oral pressure to feel aroused, but often the feeling starts to creep in that you’re taking way too long to hit Multiple-O-ville. Yet in one of nature’s great quirks, our concept of real time seems to get skewed during sex (which is why that ‘quickie’ sometimes ends up being 45 minutes).

“Once you start worrying about anything, you’ll find it much harder to orgasm,” reminds Trish. “In the Durex Worldwide Survey, it was reported that Irish men spend an average of 21.8 minutes on foreplay. Some people laugh when I say that because it sounds like a lot.”

Think About It

Fantasising about another sexual scenario during sex often helps, as it helps us to be more physically responsive in the here and now. “Some of us need a psychological crutch to get there,” agrees Trish. “One particular study in Scientific American Mind magazine revealed that a woman was put on a hormone patch. It was a testosterone one, designed to treat hypoactive sexual desire disorder, in which a woman is devoid of libido, and she had to report on her sexual activity. She ended up having her first orgasm in years, but it was only afterwards that she was told that her patch was a placebo.” More proof, yet again, that the mind is our most powerful muscle.

Talk About It

As for positions, some work better for women in the quest for a climax. “The missionary position is traditionally not great for a woman, but then again it’s also worth noting that only a small amount of women climax through penetrative sex at all,” says Trish. “Positions where it’s possible to stimulate the clitoris work better; from the side, from behind or with you on top. Women are shy about asking men to pleasure them during sex, but most men want to please their lover, and get turned on when you’re turned on. Oddly enough, there are women out there who believe that men should be able to read their minds. You have to speak up and tell him what you want or need.”

Take It Slower

The more adventurous sexual spirit might also want to try tantric sex: it’s known to reinvigorate even the most weary of sex lives. In a word, the goal of tantric sex is to allow us to experience more depth and breadth in our sexuality. In tantric sex the point is not orgasm, the point is to feel. There’s no clear-cut beginning, middle or end. Instead, most of the exercises related to tantric sex involve slowing things down, trying not to focus on our external body, or orgasm, or anything outside of our experience of the moment.

Orgasm isn’t the be all and end all of tantric sex, or any sex really, but if it happens… well, suffice to say that it can be pretty mind-blowing.