How to find these less well known erogenous zones
Read about the author Samantha Evans
We all know the obvious erogenous zones on our bodies that get our sexual juices flowing from nipples, to penis and clitoris but are you aware of the many other erogoneous areas on our bodies that can bring so much sexual pleasure?
The Brain
Not commonly thought of as an erogenous zone, the brain is in fact the largest on the body as it makes the connection between visual stimulation and physical touch.
As humans, many of us enjoy sensual touch though gentle caresses and feather like kisses, but the brain reacts just as strongly to seeing another person being caressed, according to research from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden (2011).
Being gently caressed by another person can elicit both a physical and emotional response and they found that the brain reacted not only stronger when a person was being stroked slowly, but also when a person watched a video of another person being caressed as if they were being touched themselves.
Using ticklers and other bondage can create different sexual sensations when touched in this way.
Being in the right frame of mind also affects how you perceive sexual stimulation, so switching off all the chatter in your brain and concentrating on what is happening to your body is important.
Being in love releases feel good endorphins which often make people believe that sex is better when you are in love.
Your eyes
Not considered an obvious erogenous part of the body, just looking at a person in a certain way or being watched can create sexual pleasure and sensations, from shivers down your spine to feeling breathless. Pupils dilate when we are aroused, making us appear more attractive to the opposite sex. The longer the eye contact between two people, the greater and deeper the intimacy.
When we’re trying to attract new mate, we employ all our talents of flirting but we often drop this act when we settle into long term relationships, yet a little flirting can really add some spcie to your sexual fun. Having a secret code in the form of a special look you can use across the dinner table or across the room at a party is great fun, meant for only you both but which can mean anything naughty.
Just as looking at your partner in a certain way, depriving your partner or being deprived of vision through wearing a blindfold heightens your sexual senses.
The lips
A kiss is like a drug triggering a cocktail of hormones and neurotransmitters to flow through our bodies and brain. Kissing keeps our bodies busy interpreting numerous signals distributed by billions of small nerve connections.
Some women can experience an orgasm from prolonged kissing without genital contact, which may seem unusual, but our lips are the most exposed erogenous part of our bodies. They contain a huge number of nerve endings that send a flood of information to our brains, making us feel good. They are 100 times more sensitive than fingers.
How and where you are kissed can create sexual arousal too. Many people are gently aroused when their eyelids, eyebrows, temples, shoulders, hands, arms and hair are subtly touched either by fingers, hands or lips.
The neck, collarbone area and the back of the neck are very sensitive in both men and women, which can be stimulated by licking, kissing or light caressing.
Many people who experience spinal cord injury can enjoy sexual pleasure and sensation through sensual touch of the body above the injury. Some individuals find the skin surface around the neurological level to have heightened tactile sexual response and is found to be extremely erotic and pleasurable.
Why not try food foreplay? Your tongue is an amazing sex organ, with all it can taste and feel. The 10,000 taste buds on your tongue can sense the basic sensations of bitter, sweet, sour and salty. Add in the olfactory sensors in the upper part of the nose, and you can enjoy all the subtle flavours of life. The tongue, lips and mouth have many nerve endings allowing them to experience the texture and taste of food, not to mention kissing and licking!
Having delicious food such as honey drizzled onto your lips, then gently kissed or licked off is extremely sensual. Your tastebuds can play havoc with your sexual desires when eating or tasting certain foods such as chocolate which contains phenylethylamine (PEA) and serotonin, natural feel good substances believed to evoke the same reaction in the body as falling in love.
The lesser known orgasm
We’ve all heard of clitoral and G-Spot orgasms but have you ever had a cervical orgasm? Commonly referred to in tantric sex, a cervical orgasm is felt throughout your body with continuing waves of pleasure. This can feel like pleasurable tingling and vibrations throughout your whole body and being, and can keep going for hours, as opposed to a clitoral orgasm, which typically lasts for seconds. Most women can achieve a cervical orgasm through penetrative sex or using a longer, girthier sex toy.
Body mapping
Body Mapping is a simple self-exploration technique in which people who experience decreased sexual sensation as a result of conditions such as multiple scelerosis can enjoy sexual pleasure. This involves gently touching all parts of your body to identify sensual pleasure, discomfort or sensory change. This is not only helpful for people with MS, but generally to find areas on your body you weren’t even aware were sexually arousing.
Sensate focus is a technique commonly used for sexual therapy which involves exploring each other’s bodies to find areas that are highly erotic. One person sits with their back against their partner’s chest and legs around each other. The person on front concentrates on their breathing and relaxing while their partner explores their body through gentle touch. They then switch. This can also be done in front of a mirror.
The feet
We often hear about people who have foot fetishes and those who hate having their feet touched, probably because they are ticklish. Foot massage has been around for centuries in the form of reflexology which restores the body’s natural balance and promote the healing process and boost your sex life too.
The inside and outside of the ankles are sensitive spots with many nerve endings that correspond directly to the most important erogenous zones of the body; the vagina, penis, uterus and prostate.
The reflex areas located just below the ankle bones correspond to the ovaries and testicles, responsible for helping fertility, increasing libido and improving sexual performance.
The middle/upper part of the soles of the feet respond to the chest and can send waves of sexual energy to the breasts and nipples.
Who is touching you
The gentle breath on the back of your neck, a brush of the knee or feather like kiss on your hand can produce a sexual sensation, depending on who is delivering the touch and to whom. We all know that unwanted touch can be highly aversive and unpleasant. Ticklish feet affect many people and they will not enjoy having their feet kissed, massaged or their toes sucked.
In 2012, The California Institute of Technology measured brain response in heterosexual males who were gently touched on the leg whilst they were being scanned in an MRI scanner. They watched a video of a woman caressing their leg and then watched a man repeating the same touch.
The men reported the experience as pleasurable when they thought the touch came from a woman and aversive when they thought it was a man and their brains showed the same response.
Unknown to the subjects they were touched by the same woman on both occasions but it felt different for them when they believed a man versus a woman was doing the touching. This shows that the brain not only responds to basic touch but also the emotional and social message conveyed through touch.
New research from the University of Colorado at Boulder (2017) has found that when an empathetic partner holds a lover’s hand, their heart rates and breathing rates sync and her pain subsides. This ‘interpersonal synchronization’ could play a role in the analgesic impacts of touch.
Enjoying a sensual massage can be extremely pleasurable but if you don’t have anyone to give you a massage, try a body massager instead.
Our bodies are covered in skin, one of the most erogenous zones in our body due to having some many nerve endings. However and wherever you enjoy being touched, finding your own erogenous zones is fun and will increase your sexual stimulation, so start exploring – you may be surprised at what sets your sexual pleasure soaring.