Italian photographer Nicola Vallotto shares an editorial ‘La Petite Mort’ posted on the excellent blog The Ones2Watch.

“The title is a French circumlocution, a metaphor for orgasm but more widely, it can refer to a spiritual release.” says Nicola.

The Orgasmic Brain

I’ve previously written about the health benefits of sexual activity alone in masturbation or together with a loving partner.

I say ‘loving partner’ or even ‘good friend’, knowing that some women truly do enjoy drop-over, no strings attached sexual activity.

Research does suggest that among women, the greatest levels of sexual dysfunction (that nebulous term undergoing medical redefinition) occur — not among older, menopausal women — but among single, younger women with multiple sex partners.

Hence my focus on orgasms alone or with people a woman truly enjoys sensually and emotionally.

One of the greatest benefits of orgasms is stress reduction. Few challenge the medical research confirming:

Oxytocin released during orgasm definitely reduces stress, by lowering cortisol levels.  Women stress about money more than men and tend to take To Do lists to bed with them. Sexual intimacy can be a richly-rewarding, free experience. Properly planned and with both parties being “present” and engaged during sex, many more stress-reducing health benefits of sex are outlined in research. AOC Health

Rutgers researchers Barry R Komisaruk, Carlos Beyer-Flores and Beverly Whipple have studied female orgasms in depth. Using brain scan techniques, the team studied the brains of eight women who masturbated themselves to multiple orgasms while lying under a blanket in a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner.

Despite the clinical surroundings, all the women were able to experience orgasm, mostly in less than five minutes — although some took up to 20.