What's Up With Post-Nut Clarity?

We are over here crying and he is over there having an epiphany.

- Taylor Andrews

It's late Saturday night. You and your guy are lying in bed panting. While you are considering going another round or eating that leftover pizza in the fridge, he has a smug look on his face, staring up at the ceiling as if he has just discovered something as major as how to shave 30 minutes off his morning commute. You nuzzle into his shoulder, but he seems like he's somewhere else. Just lying there in a glorious stupor with his mouth slightly agape. This, my friends, is what we call post-nut clarity.

It's the aha moment a guy experiences right after having an orgasm, coined by US-based Call Her Daddy podcast hosts Alexandra Cooper and Sofia Franklyn. And it is the reason some dudes make pretty heavy, life-changing decisions about work, their daily routine, and yes, even you immediately after having sex.

THIS SEX PERK IS NOT A JOKE, K?

As Justin Lehmiller, Ph.D., a social psychologist and research fellow at the Kinsey Institute in the US, explains it, a guy may be too horny before hooking up to focus on much besides getting it in. "But once someone experiences an orgasm, their thinking can become more clear," he says.

Having sex also releases tingly endorphins the same chemicals responsible for that awesome mental high you get after a run or a night of actually decent sleep. The same is true of dopamine and oxytocin, hormones that flood the body post-O and leave a happy, glowy buzz for up to 48 hours. This may be why Justin says some men report that right after climax, their life feels more meaningful.