Evidence that the nipples can be just as stimulating to the brain as genital stimulation is being published in the newest edition of Journal of Sexual Medicine.  Some would say, however, that this is “unlocked mystery” has been well known to women for ages.

Dr. Barry Komisaruk, with a team of researchers at Rutgers University, studied a group of 11 healthy non-pregnant women, ranging in ages from 23 to 56.  Each woman was placed in an fMRI scanner, and they were then asked to use either a rhythmic finger tap or a dildo to stimulate their clitoris, cervix, nipple and vagina.  The images that were a result of these stimulations revealed that there was increased activity in the medial paracentral lobule for each area of stimulation, though each area stimulated would light up its own specific region in the medial paracentral lobule.

Four nerves are responsible for sending signals to the brain from the genital area.  The pelvic nerve is connected to the vagina, the pudendal nerve is connected to the clitoris, the hypogastric nerve is connected to the uterus and cervix, and the vagus nerve is connected to the cervix as well.  The vagus nerve bypasses the spinal cord, which explains why some people who have been paralyzed can still enjoy an orgasm.

Women who have breastfed may very well tell you that any kind of nipple stimulation definitely does cause a reaction in the genital area.  Breastfeeding moms enjoy a release of oxytocin as a result of nipple stimulation, which triggers uterine contractions.  These contractions can then result in orgasmic sensations.  A lot of women also say that their nipples are an erogenous zone, regardless of whether or not they are breastfeeding and enjoy such stimulation during foreplay.

A few men were also tested under the same controls as the 11 women selected for the study, and the fMRI scans revealed the same reaction in the brain to the nipple stimulation. 

A good handful of men and women also say that they do not find nipple stimulation creates any sort of sexual arousal, and that they tend to find it to be ticklish or just downright irritating.

The Rutgers research study has also confirmed that an orgasm does affect a very large part of the brain, though there is not one “standard” reaction to sex; sex can affect people of both genders in a completely different way, but almost everyone has the very same ability to experience the orgasmic pleasure from it.

Komisaruk states that this research was not to only help people learn how to have an orgasm.  He hopes that the study will also help unlock other deep secrets of the mind.  “If we can control a part of the brain that produces pleasurable sensation, what would that do in the case of, say, depression or anxiety or addiction or obesity?” Komisaruk recently told LiveScience.  “We really don’t now what the limits are as far as what we can make our brains do.”