"Not tonight, dear, I have a headache." But maybe sex, via relaxation and release of pain-killing endorphins, will relieve that headache. Any research to buttress this
timely rejoinder?
Nice try! But while one study does mention "a rise in the endorphin rate accompanying orgasm", most research points the other way, says Erick Janssen PhD of the Kinsey Institute.
Rats and hamsters show, if anything, decreased sexual behaviour under the influence of endorphins, and in humans, sex sometimes triggers headaches!
There is even a clinical subtype called "benign vascular sexual headache", with possibly "acute headache and hypertension occurring at the height of sexual excitement. "You might call this the "Not tonight, dear, I'll end up with a headache!" subtype.
Moreover, there are different types of headaches - migraines, tension-types, clusters, chronic dailies and so forth - and these can't be expected to respond uniformly to sex, or vice versa.
Arousal might diminish attention to pain, but the physical activity itself could bring on an "exertional" headache, after which orgasm has who-knows-what effect.
And, finally, how about Viagra, known to cause headaches in some men. Do we have a new type here? The "Not tonight, dear, I just took a Viagra", or, in other words, the "Just-wanting-to-have-sex-can-cause-a-headache" subtype?
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