There has always been a talk of post-coital depression. Well, far from being a myth, it is a very real feeling.
And when it occurs on a regular basis it is known as “postcoital dysphoria” or “postcoital sadness”.
It is a syndrome that causes people to feel sadness, discomfort and other symptoms related to depression after having sex.
To date, this syndrome has been well studied in female patients. Thus, in 2011, the University of Queensland conducted an investigation with university students, revealing that 32% of the participants had the symptoms of this syndrome.
Although, unfortunately, there were not many similar studies focused on male patients.
But now, a team from the same university has conducted a similar study with more than a thousand volunteers from the United States, Russia, Australia and Europe, discovering that 41% of them had experienced long-term symptoms of this syndrome at some stage of their life.
And that 22% had suffered during the four weeks before the study.
Everybody can have a feeling of “empty head” after sexual intercourse, but it is usually considered to suffer from the syndrome when it is repeated habitually. And that feeling can last from minutes to several days. The causes are not clear, but could be due to a combination of biological and emotional factors.
Some specialists have suggested that this could be due to an intense reactivation of the amygdala, a region of the brain linked to anxiety that is “disconnected” during intercourse.
Or an excessive production of prolactin, a hormone that counteracts the effects of dopamine released during sex.
But the Queensland also do not forget the possible psychological factors, such as the high expectations that we often place on sex.
