Is Stimulating the Vagus Nerve the Key to Mind-Blowing Orgasms?
What happens in the vagus nerve…stays in the vagus nerve. Even pleasure.
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I once had an ex-boyfriend who would stick Q-tips so far up his ear canal that I thought he was trying to dislodge his brains instead of ear wax. I would gently admonish him and point to the box that read: “Do not insert swab into your ear canal.” Of course, he ignored my warnings.
One day, he was doing his usual Q-tip ear rape when I noticed something strange — his orgasm face. That’s when it hit me…
The Q-tip in his ear canal felt good.
If you are addicted to cleaning your ears with Q-tips, you are not alone. The ears are an erogenous zone in many people, thanks to the vagus nerve.
The name “vagus” comes from the Latin term for “wandering.” There’s a reason it got the name. The vagus nerve bypasses the spinal cord and innervates the pelvic region (genital orgasms), ears (eargasms), and even the throat (thoatgasms).
But before you start sticking things down your ear and throat, let’s understand how stimulating the vagus nerve can lead to stronger orgasms.
The vagus nerve — the unsung hero of pleasure
The vagus nerve, or vagal nerve, is the longest cranial nerve in the body. It comprises two branches running bi-directionally from the brainstem through the face, neck, chest, and abdomen. The vagus nerve is mainly responsible for digestion, heart rate, and reflex actions such as coughing, sneezing, swallowing, and vomiting. It even regulates the immune system and mood.
The vagus nerve also plays a crucial role in sexual arousal. In 1997, Beverly Whipple studied sexual function in women with traumatic spinal cord injuries. Whipple found the vagus nerve conveys sensory activity from the cervix to the brain, independent of the spinal cord. In other words, women with spinal cord injuries could still orgasm.
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