# Adrenaline and arousal **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 30, 2013, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adrenaline-and-arousal/654335 "2013-03-30T09:42:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tabrisangel19](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@tabrisangel19](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tabrisangel19)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adrenaline-and-arousal/654335/1 "2013-03-30T09:42:50Z")
I’ve been told by a friend that if you have an adrenaline rush it can sometimes make you excited in the sexual sense and even cause a male to ejaculate. Is this true? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adrenaline-and-arousal/654335/2 "2013-03-30T15:00:17Z")
> [@tabrisangel19](#): > > I’ve been told by a friend that if you have an adrenaline rush it can sometimes make you excited in the sexual sense and even cause a male to ejaculate. Is this true? Just the opposite, generally. Adrenaline will divert blood flow away from the genitals, and shut down libidinal urges. This enables the body to focus on ‘fight or flight’. ‘Fornicate’ is generally not part of the response. Afterwards, once the crisis is past, libidos have been known to rise abruptly. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adrenaline-and-arousal/654335/3 "2013-03-30T15:09:38Z")
I’m wondering if the OP is thinking about increasing their pleasure. Got epinephrine? ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adrenaline-and-arousal/654335/4 "2013-03-30T15:21:11Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Just the opposite, generally. > > Adrenaline will divert blood flow away from the genitals, and shut down libidinal urges. This enables the body to focus on ‘fight or flight’. ‘Fornicate’ is generally not part of the response. > > Afterwards, once the crisis is past, libidos have been known to rise abruptly. Lt. Col. Davis Grossman talks about this in his book “On Combat.” He mentions that mating is one of the four fs that people respond to stress with, along with flight, flight, and feeding. He said, "Understand that if this should happen to you, it is perfectly normal. There is nothing wrong with you if it doesn’t happen, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with you if it does. Once I had the pleasure of training a large group of FBI agents and their spouses at a conference in Reno. I told them about this common response and that it was perfectly normal, and there was a sudden roar as many of them turned to theirs spouses and said, “See. I’m okay. It’s all right.” Lt. Col. Davis Grossman, _On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace,_ (Warrior Science Publications, 2004), 275-276. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adrenaline-and-arousal/654335/5 "2013-03-30T19:05:39Z")
Erections are controlled by the parasympathetic nervous system which is mediated by the neurotransmitter Acetylcholine and in general is responsile for rest functions (digestion, urine production, etc). Ejaculation, though, is controlled by the sympathetic nervous system which is mediated by epinephrine (adrenaline) and in general responsible for fight or flight responses. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adrenaline-and-arousal/654335/6 "2013-03-31T23:42:52Z")
Some people, however, are somehow turned on by fear responses. It’s part of the reason for the asphyxiation fetish, for example. It’s caused by the misattribution of arousal. The arousal caused by fear is mislabeled as being sexual. This misattribution is also the reason that doing something physical together, such as running or other intense exercising, can increase attraction. This wasn’t my original source, but it’s one I found quickly on Google: [http://faculty.mckendree.edu/scholars/summer2011/mckinney.htm](http://faculty.mckendree.edu/scholars/summer2011/mckinney.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adrenaline-and-arousal/654335/7 "2013-04-01T15:35:44Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > …Afterwards, once the crisis is past, libidos have been known to rise abruptly. > [@RandMcnally](#): > > Lt. Col. Davis Grossman talks about this in his book “On Combat.” He mentions that mating is one of the four fs that people respond to stress with, along with flight, flight, and feeding. > > He said, "Understand that if this should happen to you, it is perfectly normal. There is nothing wrong with you if it doesn’t happen, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with you if it does. Once I had the pleasure of training a large group of FBI agents and their spouses at a conference in Reno. I told them about this common response and that it was perfectly normal, and there was a sudden roar as many of them turned to theirs spouses and said, “See. I’m okay. It’s all right.” > > Lt. Col. Davis Grossman, _On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace,_ (Warrior Science Publications, 2004), 275-276. I too have experienced that (Thank God). At the time, the bestest sex ever. “Life: I’m back, you and me are going to get to know each other real well now”?