Xiao Zhou and Xiao Li are a newlywed couple. They have been married for less than a year, but Xiao Li has been feeling very depressed lately.
In TV shows, couples always cuddle and kiss after sex, but her husband always falls asleep right afterward, which makes her very sad. Is it because she's not attractive enough?
Why do many men fall asleep immediately after sex?
Actually, it's understandable that men tend to go to sleep immediately after sex:
1. Physiological reasons
In the journal *Review of Neuroscience and Animal Behaviour*, researchers scanned men's brain activity during and after intercourse and found that the cerebral cortex plays a crucial role in attention, consciousness, and perceptual sensitivity. Once intercourse ends, the brain shuts down these sexual signals, and then the brain is filled with chemicals that guide people into a sleep state.
Secondly, the hormone levels in men change after sexual intercourse, which stimulates the central nervous system and thus has a hypnotic effect.
2. Psychological reasons
In daily life, most men experience significant work pressure, leading to physical and mental exhaustion from excessive daytime labor. For men, sexual intercourse is a strenuous activity; while it can be relaxing, they often feel physically drained afterward, sometimes even feeling completely drained. This is why men tend to fall asleep immediately afterward.
It's important to note that if men go straight to sleep afterward, they might actually feel more tired!
During sexual intercourse, men experience a surge in the secretion of various hormones, especially sex hormones, leading to a state of high blood congestion in key organs. In this process, the man is the "active participant," engaging in numerous bodily processes from arousal to ejaculation. This results in phenomena such as increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, and rapid breathing, all of which accelerate energy expenditure and enhance metabolism.
For men, the fatigue after intercourse is mainly due to the relaxation of the brain and spinal cord reflexes that control ejaculation. If one falls asleep immediately after ejaculation, the fatigue-related reflexes cannot receive the fatigue signals from the brain in time, resulting in lingering fatigue that may even affect daily life the next day.
Further reading: For men, it's recommended to change these two bad habits after sex!
In general, falling asleep immediately after sex is not a good habit, and men should also pay attention to the following two taboos after sex:
1. Blow air immediately
After sexual activity, the body needs to release heat. If you are exposed to a draft immediately afterward, it will cause the sweat glands and pores to contract, making it very easy to catch a cold.
2. Urinate immediately
After sexual intercourse, a man's genitals remain congested, and the urethral sphincter and detrusor muscle are still contracted. At this time, urethral resistance is high, making urination difficult. If a man tries to urinate urgently at this time, it can increase urethral pressure, easily causing urine reflux, which can lead to bacteria and metabolic waste entering the prostate and potentially causing prostate problems.
Having appropriate sexual activity in daily life can have certain health benefits, but it's important to get rid of any bad habits!
References:
Li Ming. Why does the husband fall asleep immediately after "finishing"? [J]. Medical and Dietary Reference, 2015(12): 53-53.
