8 Things You Didn't Know About Orgasms

Working out at the gym? Sleeping on an airplane? Giving birth? Women (perhaps even you!) have reported experiencing orgasms in all of these unconventional situations. This has nothing to do with subconscious fantasies: Spontaneous, non-sexual orgasms can be caused by increased blood flow to the genitals combined with vibration or contact with the clitoris (during labor, there are also massive surges of ecstasy-inducing hormones like prolactin, oxytocin and beta-endorphins). Exercise-induced orgasms, in particular, seem to have been the gym addict's best-kept secret, until a study late last year by human sexuality researchers at Indiana University revealed that about a quarter of the 530 women they interviewed had climaxed while working on their abdominals, riding a bike or lifting weights.