A few years ago, you pondered on why, or even if, guys fall asleep after sex. They do get drowsy, and for good reason, as I learned in a Psychology class.
The goal of a species is to reproduce, and while that may sound frivolous, nature does its best to help us with that. Primarily, nature makes sex feel good, so we want to do it. A lot. It is well-known, though, that a female is not guaranteed to become pregnant from a single act of copulation, so the more times she can copulate, the increased chances of getting pregnant and reproducing. After copulation, a male has typically given the female all the reproductive “help” he can offer. For that male to continue attempting copulation with the female would not increase the chances of her conceiving. To increase her chances, we need a new male, who can offer additional “help”. But how does nature get the first male to leave? By releasing hormones that make him drowsy, so he’d rather go take a nap then try again with the female. On the flip side, females are capable of, and usually desire, multiple acts of copulation. Again, this is to increase the chances of conception.
Unfortunately, this does little to satisfy the frustration many women experience as part of humans monogamist society.
[[The goal of a species is to reproduce, and while that may sound frivolous, nature does its best to help us with that. Primarily, nature makes sex feel good, so we want to do it. A lot. It is well-known, though, that a female is not guaranteed to become pregnant from a single act of copulation, so the more times she can copulate, the increased chances of getting pregnant and reproducing. After copulation, a male has typically given the female all the reproductive “help” he can offer. For that male to continue attempting copulation with the female would not increase the chances of her conceiving. ]]Plassmeyer
You sure about that? I don’t doubt that the second (and third, etc.) time the sperm count is a bit lower, but I would still think another sperm armada would increase the chances of conception.
I may be wrong, but I heard a report that says that sperm already in the woman from one guy will actually attack and kill sperm coming in from another guy. Anyone else heard of this?
Wouldn’t the hardiest sperm survive? That would support the multiple-partner theory in that the female would be fertilized by the best of the bunch.
“A winner every time!” --old carney saying
Sperm killing sperm sounds like a “modernized” version of the old idea that the spending from two guys would cancel each other out. That idea shows up from time to time in nineteenth century erotica. (Sounds like a lame attempt to talk a girl into a threesome: “If you let both of us, you can’t get pregnant.”)
In fact, sperm are fairly passive critters that don’t do much of anything but mill around aimlessly until a pheromone or related “scent” is released by an egg to beckon them. I’m unaware of any offensive weaponry on the normal sperm.
I read an article in Details Magazine within the last year talking about how human sperm all, similar to an ant colony, all have special duties. One of these is to stick around and fight sperm from other people, another way of having the fittest survive.
I tried an internet search on this to get some more evidence since I threw out the magazine, but put “sperm” and “killer” in any search engine and you get a lot of whale websites!
Other interesting sperm facts researchers have uncovered recently (according to the article) show that sperm will take naps while in there, eat other sperm for energy to continue onward, and that a ton of the little guys get spilled out immediately afterwards due to contractions the woman has!
Re: The emotional reaction a woman is likely to have when a man falls asleep soon after coitus (even though it was not brought up yet)
While as a guy I am as empathetic to a woman’s feelings, I still can’t help but appreciate Pamela Des Barres’ attitude in her wonderful book I’m With the Band : Confessions of a Groupie, where she says that she likes it when her partner falls quickly asleep after the deed is done because it means he is totally content and she did a good job!
Of course, the simple answer also works. After a session of spirited congress I tend to fall asleep 'cuz I’m TIRED. 'course when I was 18 I didn’t tire out so easily (I did apologize alot, though).
Plass, I don’t see how the male falling asleep makes room for the female to get a new sex partner. I can recall instances from my own life when I fell asleep ON my partner. If another guy wanted in, he would have had to waked (woken?) me up.
Imagine the following hypothetical situation involving hypothetical cave-people:
Fred and Wilma ‘well-you-know’.
Fred falls asleep and Wilma is unsatisfied.
Wilma goes off to find Barney.
Now, according to the the theory put forth in this thread, Fred falling asleep was a biological function meant to allow Barney to produce Pebbles. Does anyone else see a problem with this? (Besides Barney having a low sperm count that eventually leads to the adoption of Bam-Bam.) If a biological function is to be successful in the Darwinnian world, it has to to promote reproduction in the organisim that carries it, not deter the organisms reproduction.
I didn’t want to get involved in this one, but I think the answer may lie in our closest relitives - other primates- do the male primates fall asleep after and when they do , do the females look for more- i find this unlikely since there is usally a competition between males for this but i don’t know.
Also someone may have inadvertantly hit the nail on the head when they said that they weren’t that tired when they were younger- back in the fred and wilma days man kind didn’t live that long so the men wouldn’t be falling asleep after and be alert enough to ward off any competition.
Taken a step further, it might be a primary function to introduce young blood into the mix of things. Y’know, so we don’t keep making square wheels just because “that’s the way we’ve always done it.”
Regarding the specific tasks of sperm…
There is an entire book on this subject entitled “Sperm Wars”. I can’t remember who the author is but it came out about 3 years ago I think. It’s ALL about different sperm having different functions. Some are just to get in the way of possible invading sperm, some just to get to the egg, etc. It’s actually kind of an interesting book. It goes into all sorts of details dealing with sex such as why a woman is more likely to become pregnant from an affair than with her partner and how masturbating before sex will create a “fresh batch” of sperm that may fare better in “the big race”. It’s all very speculative, but interesting none-the-less.
ciao-lou
Lou–I think I read that book. Aren’t there some sperm that are in touch with a mysterious “force”, and can use it to confuse other sperm? And something about a dark side…
Satan said: “… a ton of the little guys {sperm) get spilled out immediately afterwards due to contractions the woman has!”
I recall hearing (though I can’t confirm) that the contractions produced by a woman’s orgasm have the effect of creating a slight vacuum when finished, actually drawing semen further into her body. Finally, a biological justification for the joys of simultaneous orgasm!! Timing is everything.
Am I the only woman who falls asleep after sex? OK, preferably lots and lots of sex, but still… I like my cuddling beforehand, but afterwards, it’s “that was swell…zzzzzzzzzz”, lol.
Though I occasionally fall asleep “afterwards”, I don’t think it’s any kind of hardwired response. For me, it’s mostly a combination of: 1) being too relaxed and/or exhausted to want to get up immediately; 2) being in bed already; and often 3) being tired anyway because it’s early morning or late evening.