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4Intimacy & Diabetes

elevates our moods and helps create the falling-in-love feeling so many of us enjoy. One reason chocolate is such a sought-after delight is because it is a source of PEA. When we eat it, we experience a feeling that resem-bles this warm and wonderful emotion. Similarly, norepinephrine has the following effects:

Elevates our blood pressure

Raises heart rate

Causes our palms to sweat

Prompts us to intensely connect to the object of our attraction

Think back to your first love. If you became tongue-tied, sweaty, and nervous, you felt this way because of the norepinephrine in your system. When Cupid’s arrow strikes and these chemicals are released, our bodies respond more intensely, especially if we are able to transform our attrac-tion into a physical relationship.

Our bodies respond to sexual stimulation in different ways. The typical male sexual response involves a series of changes—excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution. A stimulating touch, smell, vision, or thought prompts their brains to activate nerves that tell the tissues of the penis to relax. This process allows blood to flow into the penis, which be-comes erect. Stimulation causes the penis to contract and send semen out through the urethra, the tube that normally carries urine out from the body. The pleasurable sensation that is felt when this occurs is called an orgasm.

The female response to sexual stimulation can be quite different. Un-like men, women don’t always feel sexually turned on when their bodies become aroused. Many find that it takes a while, sometimes after sex-ual activity has already started, to become “turned on.” Not all women need to have an orgasm to feel satisfied; the intimate connection they have with their partners fulfills their needs. To fully enjoy the sexual ex-perience, many women need to connect both mentally and physically with their partners. A woman’s orgasm will begin with an increase in her breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure, and blood will begin to flow to her pelvic area. Her skin will also start to flush. Tension will increase throughout her body until an orgasm finally occurs.