Reproductive System & Sexual Disorders: Current Research
Open Access

Sexual Disorders Journals Impact Factor

The sexual response cycle consists of four phases: desire, arousal, orgasm, and resolution. Phase 1 of the sexual response cycle, desire, consists of three components: sexual drive, sexual motivation, and sexual wish. These reflect the biological, psychological, and social aspects of desire, respectively. Sexual drive is produced through psychoneuroendocrine mechanisms. The limbic system and the preoptic area of the anterior-medial hypothalamus are believed to play a role in sexual drive. Drive is also highly influenced by hormones, medications (e.g., decreased by antihypertensive drugs, increased by dopaminergic compounds to treat Parkinson’s disease), and legal and illegal substances.Phase 2, arousal, is brought on by psychological and/or physiological stimulation. Multiple physiologic changes occur in men and women that prepare them for orgasm, mainly perpetuated by vasocongestion. In men, increased blood flow causes erection, penile color changes, and testicular elevation. Vasocongestion in women leads to vaginal lubrication, clitoral tumescence, and labial color changes. In general, heart rate, blood pressure, and respiratory rate as well as myotonia of many muscle groups increase during this phase