Question
What is a refractory period?
Answer
The sexual refractory period is a normal part of a male’s sexual response, and occurs after orgasm and ejaculation (these usually occur together). During the refractory period, sexual arousal, erection, orgasm and ejaculation are all inhibited, making it virtually impossible to have sex.
How long is a normal refractory period?
The sexual refractory period in men varies in duration from a few minutes to many hours.
Females can have a similar reduction in arousal and sexual responsiveness after orgasm but their refractory period is usually shorter than males’, and some women can have multiple orgasms if sexual activity continues.
Nobody knows why we have a sexual refractory period. All animal species seem to have one, so presumably, it has some benefit for reproduction. Perhaps if we didn’t have a refractory period we’d keep going until we were exhausted! (I’m glad I’m not an antechinus.)
The biological mechanisms that are responsible for the sexual refractory period are not well understood. It’s probably due to a combination of hormonal and nervous system effects that kick in after ejaculation.
How to reduce refractory period
There are no drugs that can shorten your refractory period, but it does seem to get longer with age.
There’s one thing the refractory period isn’t: a reason to stop having fun.
Tim Moss
Healthy Male Health Content Manager
Associate Professor Tim Moss has PhD in physiology and more than 20 years’ experience as a biomedical research scientist. Tim stepped away from his successful academic career at the end of 2019, to apply his skills in turning complicated scientific and medical knowledge into information that all people can use to improve their health and wellbeing. Tim has written for crikey.com and Scientific American’s Observations blog, which is far more interesting than his authorship of over 150 academic publications. He has studied science communication at the Alan Alda Centre for Communicating Science in New York, and at the Department of Biological Engineering Communication Lab at MIT in Boston.
