The female orgasm is usually considered a happy byproduct of the baby making process, but new research suggests that climaxing during sex could actually boost your chances of conceiving by up to 15 per cent.
Researchers now believe that orgasms (even self-induced) can considerably increase your likelihood of becoming pregnant.
Why? Well, it’s all down to semen retention, apparently.
Working with six women aged between 26 and 52, a team from University College Cork taught the group a technique that would allow them to measure how much of a semen stimulant (a liquid similar to the viscosity of human semen) they retained.
“…we decided to investigate the phenomenon of sperm retention – possibly through orgasmic insuck – directly in human females.” the study authors state.
“To our knowledge, this has not yet been measured directly in humans. Anywhere from five minutes to two hours following intercourse, there is a phenomenon called backflow – an outflow of about 3mL of material, including semen, not taken up into the reproductive tract.”
The study worked like this: After masturbating, the women would insert the sperm substitute then insert the collection device (a Mooncup) to measure how much of it their body retained.
The study showed that women who climaxed retained more of the simulated sperm than those who did not.
According to the study, published in the journal Socioaffective Neuroscience & Psychology: ‘It appears that female orgasm does perform some sort of sperm-retention function.’
So there you have it – better work harder, boys.
