hot sex
March 13, 2020 11:08 AM Subscribe
Background: Previous research has found that unusually hot temperatures reduce birth rates eight to ten months later.
Objective: We examine one of the potential mechanisms behind this relationship: the connection between ambient temperature and sexual activity.
Results: Hot temperatures do not have a significant effect on sexual activity on a given day. (Demographic Research full text, PDF). Studying the dynamics of the relationship, we found that temperature does not influence sexual activity on subsequent days either.
Via the New Shelton wet/dry
Objective: We examine one of the potential mechanisms behind this relationship: the connection between ambient temperature and sexual activity.
Results: Hot temperatures do not have a significant effect on sexual activity on a given day. (Demographic Research full text, PDF). Studying the dynamics of the relationship, we found that temperature does not influence sexual activity on subsequent days either.
Via the New Shelton wet/dry
(I was just going to say, did "Too Darn Hot" lie to me all these years?!?)
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 11:13 AM on March 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 11:13 AM on March 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
Ooh, is it Sexy Smarch on Metafilter? I approve.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:19 AM on March 13, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:19 AM on March 13, 2020 [5 favorites]
But does sexual activity influence temperature?
posted by biogeo at 11:44 AM on March 13, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by biogeo at 11:44 AM on March 13, 2020 [5 favorites]
Oh yea
posted by gottabefunky at 11:45 AM on March 13, 2020
posted by gottabefunky at 11:45 AM on March 13, 2020
socks are staying on
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 12:09 PM on March 13, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 12:09 PM on March 13, 2020 [7 favorites]
DATE RECEIVED: 19 Oct 2017
DATE PUBLISHED: 20 Feb 2019
What's the statistical relationship between temperature and obviously worthwhile papers finally being published 16 frickin' months later?!? Asking for a friend
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 12:16 PM on March 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
DATE PUBLISHED: 20 Feb 2019
What's the statistical relationship between temperature and obviously worthwhile papers finally being published 16 frickin' months later?!? Asking for a friend
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 12:16 PM on March 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
As a counterpoint I would like to commend Dr Marvin Gaye and his foundational work in this field, Sexual Healing.
Baby I'm hot just like an oven
I think you will find his case compelling.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 12:25 PM on March 13, 2020 [5 favorites]
Baby I'm hot just like an oven
I think you will find his case compelling.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 12:25 PM on March 13, 2020 [5 favorites]
Maybe heat is debilitating for sperm.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 12:29 PM on March 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 12:29 PM on March 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
Nancy Lebovitz - yeah, that was what I was thinking; internal thermoregulation is good and fine, but the scrotum in humans are semi-external. If tight clothing is also worn to prevent the testicles from fully descending for cooling, that could definitely affect sperm quality.
posted by porpoise at 12:56 PM on March 13, 2020
posted by porpoise at 12:56 PM on March 13, 2020
About hot sperm: That crossed my mind, too, but the research was done in Hungary, and there are places much hotter than Hungary where people reproduce just fine.
posted by clawsoon at 1:00 PM on March 13, 2020
posted by clawsoon at 1:00 PM on March 13, 2020
You know, MetaFilter turned into a hardcore sex blog so gradually, I didn't even notice. Yeesh!
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 1:21 PM on March 13, 2020 [9 favorites]
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 1:21 PM on March 13, 2020 [9 favorites]
Sperm remain viable for up to 3 days in the vagina, supposedly (or apparently even longer if there's blood around, I've read), so I don't think body heat hurts them that much, but sperm production is interfered with by heat. Why that would be is an interesting question in evolutionary biology.
Maybe initial encounters during a hot spell are as likely to produce a pregnancy, but after the supply of already matured sperm is exhausted, subsequent encounters suffer.
posted by jamjam at 1:39 PM on March 13, 2020
Maybe initial encounters during a hot spell are as likely to produce a pregnancy, but after the supply of already matured sperm is exhausted, subsequent encounters suffer.
posted by jamjam at 1:39 PM on March 13, 2020
This brings up something that's always bothered me about scrota: how is it that rats, and dogs, and people, and cattle all have different internal temperature, but somehow their optimal sperm production temperature is just a few degrees cooler? Is it a conspiracy? I think it's a conspiracy, but between whom and for what purpose remains a mystery (like all the best conspiracies).
But the first mammal that can produce sperm at standard internal temps will rule the world. We can call it Ferrocrotchus Rex.
posted by five toed sloth at 1:54 PM on March 13, 2020 [3 favorites]
But the first mammal that can produce sperm at standard internal temps will rule the world. We can call it Ferrocrotchus Rex.
posted by five toed sloth at 1:54 PM on March 13, 2020 [3 favorites]
Even whales and dolphins need lower than body temperature for sperm production, and have apparently evolved circulatory arrangements to cool their internal testicles.
posted by jamjam at 2:00 PM on March 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by jamjam at 2:00 PM on March 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
Relevant previously: at some point they backtracked on scrotality:
Some of you may be thinking that there is a simple answer: temperature. This arrangement evolved to keep them cool. I thought so, too, and assumed that a quick glimpse at the scientific literature would reveal the biological reasons and I’d move on. But what I found was that the small band of scientists who have dedicated their professional time to pondering the scrotum’s existence are starkly divided over this so-called cooling hypothesis.posted by clawsoon at 2:13 PM on March 13, 2020
Follow me for more hand carved ice sex toys.
posted by CynicalKnight at 2:49 PM on March 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by CynicalKnight at 2:49 PM on March 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
"Cool your internal testicles!" is now my go-to response to agitated people (of any reproductive formation).
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:31 PM on March 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:31 PM on March 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
(though to be fair, I hardly ever say that sort of thing to anyone anyway, so maybe I should cool my own first)
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:33 PM on March 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:33 PM on March 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
That's pretty good advice though, Greg, since those of us whose testicles have been reluctant to descend into the cold cruel world face greater chances of testicular atrophy and tumors, and people with androgen insensitivity syndrome who are XY yet phenotypically female and whose testicles end up in the abdomen or pelvis have about a 5% chance of developing testicular cancer.
And does anyone else remember the old AskMe from a male whose testicles pulled up so far they were deployed to the side of his penis like water wings during intercourse and ended up getting painfully mashed against his partner? As I recall, someone answered saying they had the same problem, and it turned out that both asker and answerer just happened to shave their pubic hair. That was nicely accounted for by the 'cooling hypothesis', I thought.
posted by jamjam at 5:44 PM on March 13, 2020
And does anyone else remember the old AskMe from a male whose testicles pulled up so far they were deployed to the side of his penis like water wings during intercourse and ended up getting painfully mashed against his partner? As I recall, someone answered saying they had the same problem, and it turned out that both asker and answerer just happened to shave their pubic hair. That was nicely accounted for by the 'cooling hypothesis', I thought.
posted by jamjam at 5:44 PM on March 13, 2020
Hot Sperm were a sleazy funk/metal band from Detroit who were once bottled off stage by impatient Led Zeppelin fans at Knebworth in '75.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 6:58 PM on March 13, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by thatwhichfalls at 6:58 PM on March 13, 2020 [5 favorites]
This may not be true in general, but I can confirm it does, in fact. Source: my sweltery apartment in summer where the bedtime activities are reduced to hugging a frozen hot water bottle grouchily.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 9:52 PM on March 13, 2020
posted by Jon Mitchell at 9:52 PM on March 13, 2020
Another puzzling thing the cooling hypothesis might be trotted out for is the 200 year decline in body temperature in the US a recent study has uncovered:
Various possible reasons for this state of affairs are mentioned in the link, including higher indoor temperatures and lower levels of infectious disease, but none have anything to say about the fact that the decline is only about half as great for women as it is for men.
But that's perfectly in line with the cooling hypothesis, and the long and gradually sloped timeline raise the possibility that the decline in body temperature isn't merely something our bodies have learned to do, but is something we have unwittingly selected for.
posted by jamjam at 2:04 PM on March 14, 2020
The new study shows that this ideal temperature sought by the human physiology may have shifted away from 98.6 F. In fact, since the 19th century, the average American has had a steady drop in the body temperature by about 0.05 F (0.02 C) per decade. Thus, for those who were born in the early years of the 21st century, the average body temperature is about 1.06 F (0.58 C) lower than those in the corresponding years of the 19th century. For women, the gap is about 0.58 F (0.32 C).A study based in England seems to point in a similar direction, but a 2008 study shows that Pakistan is holding the line at 98.6.
Various possible reasons for this state of affairs are mentioned in the link, including higher indoor temperatures and lower levels of infectious disease, but none have anything to say about the fact that the decline is only about half as great for women as it is for men.
But that's perfectly in line with the cooling hypothesis, and the long and gradually sloped timeline raise the possibility that the decline in body temperature isn't merely something our bodies have learned to do, but is something we have unwittingly selected for.
posted by jamjam at 2:04 PM on March 14, 2020
My wife and I just rewatched The Big Easy last night. That New Orleans heat did nothing to dampen Dennis Quaid's 1980s moves on Ellen Barkin.
posted by mecran01 at 6:01 AM on March 15, 2020
posted by mecran01 at 6:01 AM on March 15, 2020
Interesting - the decline in average internal body temperature; do they control for body fat percentage?
That it declined less in women than in men, and that it held steady in Pakistan might be a clue...
posted by porpoise at 8:56 AM on March 15, 2020
That it declined less in women than in men, and that it held steady in Pakistan might be a clue...
posted by porpoise at 8:56 AM on March 15, 2020
Decline in amount of physical labour is the hypothesis for lower internal body temperatures that makes the most immediate sense to me. That would explain some of the developed/developing nation differences and sex differences. I'd expect that somebody heaving rocks by hand all day would have higher temperatures than the rest of the population, and men in developing nations (including Western nations a century ago) would be the group most likely to be heaving rocks by hand all day. Would obviously need more research to confirm or deny.
posted by clawsoon at 10:51 AM on March 16, 2020
posted by clawsoon at 10:51 AM on March 16, 2020
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posted by mikeand1 at 11:10 AM on March 13, 2020 [4 favorites]