3. The physiology of ejaculation

Ross, has lots of qualifications in Veterinary Science, Teaching, Holistic Therapists and absolutely none regarding sexual health. Still hopefully you will find these blogs honest, amusing and informative.

This blog is an attempt to explain the physical and biological workings of ejaculation. A basic knowledge of what’s going on with our bodies helps empower us to take control of physical response to sexual stimulation.

I spent fourteen years researching and teaching biological science to both veterinary nurses and animal welfare students. However this chapter has been a confusing headache of technical terms and extremely complicated physiology. Its been a month of reading research papers, googling definitions and trying to piece together a simple coherent description. I hope you enjoy reading, its rather simplified and there are probably mistakes. If you happen to be a neuroscientist or know one I’d be happy for some constructive criticism, just leave me some notes in the comments or ping me an email.

Male ejaculation is actually very complicated. You might have thought that it was purely the workings of you cock and balls, however, its an all encompassing bodily event, with about 30 active parts of the brain involved in orgasm. (Clarke, 2018)

It also appears that the causes of male ejaculation is not fully understood, so that makes me feel better about how long its taken to get this chapter published.
“The central regulation of genital reflexes is poorly understood. “ (Normandin and Murphy, 2008)

Four big biochemical players.

Norepinephrine is produced by the adrenal glands attached to your kidneys, when released it gives us a rush. Increased heart rate and blood pressure, increases blood sugar for energy and triggers ejaculation. Norepinephine has dramatic effects but it doesn’t last long before its effects fade away.

Dopamine is produced in your brain and released by the hypothalamus (biochemical message center). It motivates us, makes us aroused, feels like a reward gives us sexual gratification and generally conditions our behaviors. Is some way or another we are all dopamine junkies, how do you get your fix?

Oxytocin is made in the hypothalamus and selectively released by the pituitary (both located within our brains). Oxytocin affect our emotions giving us warm, fuzzy feelings, reducing stress and anxiety. It can affect our behavior promoting trust, empathy, positive memories, and emotionally intelligent communication. Oxytocin can also stimulate strong smooth muscle contractions and cause out genital muscles to squirt cum at high speed, just thought Id mention it in case oxtocin was making you feel all squidgy.

Serotonin majoritively (90%) made by the digestive tract. It’s the key hormone that stabilizes our mood promoting feelings of well-being, and happiness. Seritonin also helps with sleeping, eating and digestion. Time to prick up your ears, seritonin is the most important biochemical to help reduce premature ejaculation (Boskey 2020). It keeps you calm, relaxed and strong.

Seritonin’s role in moderating our mood is also widely utilized in the treatment of depression and anxiety as these conditions are more prevalent when a person has lower levels of seritonin. Healthy and boosted levels of seritonin are proven to delay ejaculation.

The questions that motivated me to research the physiology of ejaculation are :-

• Where does the urge to ejaculate come from, and what is the process that triggers ejaculation?
• Why might we ejaculate before we are even fully aroused?
• Why can we withstand lots of physical stimulation sometimes and also cum at the gentlest touch?
• Sometimes we watch pornography and don’t get aroused other times just the thought of someone can bring about a full erection?

It seemed there was clearly a physical aspect but emotional and sensory aspects too. So to overcome premature ejaculation it was necessary to fully understand the process.

The Process of ejacualtion – (detailed enough to explain simple enough to understand)

It all starts with a sensation that causes arousal. While there may be different types of sensation they all impact on the sensory cortex in our brain. Sensory stimulation in the form of images or pictures from our eyes and optic nerve, smells, tastes or pheromones in the olfactory or the sound of our lover moaning with pleasure are just as important as the physical tactile stimulation of nerve ending in the penis or other erogenous zones. Another important type of stimulation is your thoughts and imagination.

I find it fascinating that we can be aroused into a full erection by thoughts and our imagination alone, Wise, Frangos and Komisaruk, 2016 used functional MRI scans to observe subjects while they imagine genital stimulation. They discovered the sensory cortex was significantly stimulated and thought some people could even achieve orgasm through imagined experience alone.

Once the sensory cortex receives sufficient stimulus, then arousal, erection and pre-ejaculate fluid can occur. Arousal also increases systemic levels of Norepinephrine, quickening of the heart, elevation of blood pressure and feelings of excitement or agitation. Increased blood pressure will help engorge the penis with blood.

We will hear more from norepinephrine later in the process of ejaculation. The release of norepinephine can lead to poor cognition and judgment, be aware of the sensations caused by its release and also that your judgment may be impaired. If you have also recently consumed alcohol then its effects will be exaggerated to. Norepinephine and arousal are not a defense for thoughtless, uncaring or violent behavior sexual.

The next brain center to become involved in the arousal and ejaculation process is Hypothalamus. This is where dopamine and many other biochemical transmitters are produced. The specific part of the hypothalamus affected by sexual stimulation is the MPOA. When stimulated via the sensory cortex the MPOA stimulates release of dompamin that makes us feel pleasure, reward and generally fantastic. Dopamine is produced in response to sexual stimulation, and thanks to dopamine, we really do feel enjoyment.. The already released norepinepherine sensitivities the dopamine receptions thus exaggerating the effect of dopamine. This in turn increased the strength of erection and likely-hood of ejaculation.

The hypothalamus also stimulates the pituatory gland to release oxytocin that will soon trigger pumping contractions in the bulbospongiosus and ischrocavenous muscles in your groin, giving a squirting overcoming ejaculation. Remember the presence of oxytocin also triggers sensations of love and warmth.

The final stop in our tour of the brain and ejaculatorty processes is the brain stem. Under normal circumstances the brain stem has processes that are the “primary source of tonic descending inhibition of erectile and ejaculatory reflexes.” (Normandin and Murphy, 2008). To explain, usually the brain stem calms the erectile and ejaculatory reflexes, stops us having a permanent erection. However norepinepherine inhibits the brain stems normal function and ejaculatory signals can run wild.

Now ejaculative nervous are free to cascade down your spinal cord combine with the oxytocin and trigger ejaculation. At this point the ejaculatory threshold has been reached. But fear not, you still have options, because there are at least two part to ejaculation:

During the first part of ejaculation Emission Phase of Ejaculation is controlled by hormones such as adrenalin and noreoherine . The testes squeeze the sperm towards the prostate gland where they are mixed with more fluid to make semen. Loraine Ledón Llanes, Acosta and Lizet Castelo Elías-Calle, 2020 cite the sex experts Masters and Johnson suggesting men can feel the ejaculation coming; two to three seconds before the final stage. Incidentally Masters and Johnson also pioneered a technique where sexual stimulation is withdrawn at emission phase to delay ejaculation. There is more on this technique in a later chapter.

Finally, continued sensory stimulus exceeds the ejaculatory threshold with nerves in the spinal cord triggering the expulsion phase. rhythmic contractions of pelvic-perineal and bulbospongiosus muscle propel the semen through the urethra and out of the tip.

“The male feels pleasurable contractions during ejaculation, reporting greater pleasure tied to a greater volume of ejaculate” (Loraine Ledón Llanes, Acosta and Lizet Castelo Elías-Calle, 2020).

Incidentally in a piece of research I really enjoyed reading, Pham et al., 2016, ascertain that extended periods of cunnilingus is more effective at increasing the volume of male ejaculate than increased periods of intercourse. Now time to rest, enjoying those high levels of oxytocin leading to sensations of love and contentment.

Opportunities raised by your increased knowledge of the physiology of ejaculation.

Take it slow and keep it calm. Norephnephine, is the single most significant trigger of ejaculation, being released when we become very aroused. The opportunity that we have with norephnephine is that it is very short lived and blood levels will quickly drop. If we just cool the lust down, be patient and take it slowly the peak levels of norephnephine will drop and subsequent waves will be less dramatic than the first.

Keep the sensory levels of arousal to a manageable level. Remember the initial stimulation of the sensory cortex takes place through all out senses including out imagination. Think about ways that these senses can be moderated, it might be keeping your eyes closed, reducing tactile stimulation of the penis with he aid of a little lube or keeping our imagination in check with mindfulness.

Reduce stress and anxiety in your general life. Everyday stress and anxiety elevates levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol makes the nervous system more excitable (Psychology Today 2019). Whilst it might not be immediately possible to change your job or lifestyle, consider taking positive steps in coping with stress. Reduced stress will improve the enjoyment of all aspects of you life including sex.

Boost your seritonin levels. Remember it acts as the brake on ejaculation. In future chapters we will discuss holistic ways of boosting seritonin levels both naturally and with the aid of drugs.

Self Practice

If you feel the urge to masturbate, take time considering your sex drive. Is this urge driven by libido, enjoyment of the sensations, boredom or the desire to chase the profound relaxation that ejaculation causes? Which driving hormones and previous conditioning is at play here?

If you do ejaculate make a cold mental note of the sensations, remember to be physically present. This means not thinking about some porn scene but literally experience just the sensations.

Experiment with extremely slow ejaculation, gently and allow the the semen to ooze out. Try to become aware of the different stages of arousal and ejaculation and ways to interrupt the sequence.

Future blogs in the pipe line – still requiring a fair bit of writing.

• Meditation, mindfulness and delaying ejaculation
• The magic bullet – my experiences of drugs and ejaculation
• Initiating sex, relaxing positions and easy riding for long lasting sex
• Dates, honesty and non egocentric love making
• Tantra, more than just sex

Reference list

Clarke, M. (2018). What’s Going On With Hormones And Neurotransmitters During Sex. [online] Atlas Biomed blog | Take control of your health with no-nonsense news on lifestyle, gut microbes and genetics. Available at: https://atlasbiomed.com/blog/whats-going-on-with-hormones-and-neurotransmitters-during-sex/ [Accessed 1 May 2021].

Boskey, E. (2020). Serotonin’s Role in Male Ejaculation. [online] Verywell Health. Available at: https://www.verywellhealth.com/serotonin-s-role-in-the-biology-of-ejaculation-4156268 [Accessed 1 May 2021].

Loraine Ledón Llanes, Acosta, G.L. and Lizet Castelo Elías-Calle (2020). Male ejaculation and sexual pleasure: A complex relation with multiple determining factors. Revista Sexología y Sociedad, [online] 19(1). Available at: http://revsexologiaysociedad.sld.cu/index.php/sexologiaysociedad/article/view/236/297 [Accessed 1 May 2021].

Normandin, J.J. and Murphy, A.Z. (2008a). Nucleus paragigantocellularis afferents in male and female rats: Organization, gonadal steroid receptor expression, and activation during sexual behavior. The Journal of Comparative Neurology, [online] 508(5), pp.771–794. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2823478/ [Accessed 1 May 2021].

Normandin, J.J. and Murphy, A.Z. (2008b). Nucleus paragigantocellularis afferents in male and female rats: Organization, gonadal steroid receptor expression, and activation during sexual behavior. The Journal of Comparative Neurology, [online] 508(5), pp.771–794. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2823478/ [Accessed 1 May 2021].

Psychology Today. (2019). The Latest on Curing Even Chronic Premature Ejaculation (PE). [online] Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/all-about-sex/201905/the-latest-curing-even-chronic-premature-ejaculation-pe [Accessed 1 May 2021].

Pham, M.N., Jeffery, A.J., Sela, Y., Lynn, J.T., Trevino, S., Willockx, Z., Tratner, A., Itchue, P., Shackelford, T.K., Fink, B. and McDonald, M.M. (2016). Duration of Cunnilingus Predicts Estimated Ejaculate Volume in Humans: a Content Analysis of Pornography. Evolutionary Psychological Science, [online] 2(3), pp.220–227. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40806-016-0057-5 [Accessed 3 May 2021].

Wise, N.J., Frangos, E. and Komisaruk, B.R. (2016). Activation of sensory cortex by imagined genital stimulation: an fMRI analysis. Socioaffective Neuroscience & Psychology, [online] 6(1), p.31481. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5084724/ [Accessed 1 May 2021].‌

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