Relationships

The Most Outrageous Facts About Sex

by Julian Sonny
Stocksy

Recent studies and research about sex has revealed many things that most don’t know, no matter how much of it they have. From how the body works to how the mind thinks you will surely be surprised to find out many of the common, unknown facts.

So educate yourself and more about the world’s favorite pastime.

These are the most outrageous facts about sex.

10. Vibrators were used as medical treatment during the 19th century

According to the Museum of Sex, the vibrator was originally used as a medicinal treatment for female "hysteria" during the 19th century. The vibrator-induced orgasms helped doctors dissipate hysteria's anxiety-related symptoms.

9. Female orgasm is a form of natural selection

Orgasm is an evolutionary function of nature. In 1967, a man named Desmond Morris wrote a controversial book called "The Naked Ape." The book looked at the female orgasm, suggesting that its purpose was to not only encourage interest in sexual activity, but also to promote exhaustion to encourage her to remain in the horizontal position (preventing sperm from leaking out). He also suggested that women's difficulty in attaining orgasm with men was, in fact, a form of natural selection. Only the most patient, caring, and imaginative men (considered preferred traits) would have the best chance of eliciting an orgasm, and thus successfully conceiving a child.

8. Finger length may indicate penis size

Hold up your right hand. Are your index and ring fingers mismatched? Congratulations, you're more likely than men with matching digits to have a long penis. A smaller ratio between the second and fourth fingers is linked to a longer stretched penis size, researchers report in the Asian Journal of Andrology. The findings go beyond providing a new finger ratio-based pick-up line for men in bars, however; researchers say that a quick look at a man's fingers could reveal his exposure to male hormones in the womb, providing a hint about his risk for hormone-driven diseases like prostate cancer.

7. 25% of men over 65 use the magic blue pill

According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, approximately 5 percent of 40-year-old men and between 15 to 25 percent of 65-year-old men experience erectile dysfunction. Another interesting fact about middle age sex is that 46 percent of people over 50 claim to have sex once a week. 85 percent feel that sex at a more mature age is less pressurized than when they were teens or young adults, suggesting that sex can get better with age (like many things in life).

6. Men think about sleep & food as much as sex

Men think about sex every seven seconds, right? Not according to a new study that finds men ponder sleep and food as much as they do sex. The study found that the median number of thoughts about sex by college-age men was 18 times a day to women's 10 times a day. But the men also thought about food and sleep proportionately more.

5. Scratching your ankle feels as good as sex

The old phrase ‘You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours' may need updating. The ankle has overtaken the back as the most satisfying spot to scratch, according to researchers at the Wake Forest School of Medicine in North Carolina. In the study, reported in the British Journal of Dermatology, healthy volunteers were made to itch on the forearm, ankle and back by rubbing them with cowhage, a plant with tiny hairs that irritate the skin. Professor Francis McGlone, a member of the International Forum for the Study of Itch, said, "It was interesting that the ankle was the itchiest site and that the most pleasure came from scratching it, because the back has been well-known as a preferred site for scratching."

4. Sex cures headaches

If you think sex can't be had due to a headache, how wrong you are, at least according to headache specialist Dr. Vincent Martin. Amazingly, it's just the opposite. Martin stated that the increase in serotonin levels which happens during sex eases the pathways in the brain that can lead to and sustain a headache. Now, this isn't to say that sex is the answer to all headaches or there would be massive tardiness in the corporate world every day. However, with the act itself being quite a bit more powerful than popping a few ibuprofen or aspirin, perhaps this new headache cure will be tested soon by, well, many.

3. Oral sex could be a cure for morning sickness

One academic is proposing a cure for morning sickness that some moms-to-be might find in bad taste — sperm. Gordon Gallup, a psychologist at SUNY-Albany has a theory that pregnant women who are continually exposed to the father's semen are less likely to suffer from AM nausea. Gallup, who specializes in human reproductive competition and behavior, offers the theory that expectant women become ill and vomit because their bodies are rejecting the semen's genetic material as something foreign and unfamiliar. The theory could feasibly quell their queasiness by ingesting the same sperm in order to allow the body to build up a tolerance. The idea, while likely appealing to dads, is only a theory and has yet to be tested.

2. Heavier men last longer in bed

Put down the weights and grab a hamburger: Researchers in Turkey have finished a yearlong study that correlated body mass index with male sexual performance. Their findings may surprise you: Heavier men were able to make love for an average of 7.3 minutes, while slender men lasted an average of 108 seconds. The study, published in Nature, showed that overweight men had higher levels of the female estradiol hormone, which blocks male hormones and delays the climax.

1. The average frequency for sex is two times per week

A Durex survey outlined that the average number of times people have sex is 103 times per year, 1.98 times per week and 0.28 times per day! Incorporating sex into your life does have its benefits, including stress relief and increased energy, but there is no right or wrong quota you need to hit – we're not all bunny rabbits!

Top Photo Credit: Getty Images