The Love Doctor

Dear Love Doctor,

What makes one person constantly horny and someone else bored with the whole thing?

Signed,

Sexed Up

Dear Sexed,

Scientists say they've now discovered the answer to your sex drive, and that is proportional to the size of a part of your brain.

Australian researchers from the University of Melbourne believe the size of the amygdala, a miniature "emotion" center that is nestled at the base of the brain may determine how much sex a person wants, reports Nature News Service.

As small as an almond, the amygdala has long been known to process our reactions to fear.

Previous studies have shown, for example, that the amygdala is stimulated by erotic movies, and it's considered vital for mating behavior in many animals.

The Australian team, led by David Reutens, scanned the brains of 45 patients who had chronic epilepsy, which is known to short-circuit sex drive.

Nature News notes that as part of the treatment for epilepsy, each had undergone surgery to remove part of his or her brain, which freed up the remaining areas to run more normally.

Those patients who had the greatest amount of amygdala left intact after the surgery also had the greatest sex drives. Reutens suggests this means the amygdala boosts the likelihood of a sexual trigger that leads to arousal.


The Love Doctor

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